Hoshi

I regard Tametsugu somewhat similarly in width as Sue-Sa. It's almost more of a school/regional attribution than it is a specific call to a singular smith. So much gets baked into it and the variability is pretty staggering. Concerning this first/second generation of Norishige, at the end when a blade gets "Norishige" as a mumei piece, it means the workmanship is up there with the grandmaster, but for all we know there may be a significant proportion of masterworks of lesser or forgotten smiths baked in as well. While the NBHTK never re-attributed to Norishige at Tokuju, it has re-attributed a Sanekage to Go.

A most excellent choice of polisher. I'm relieved and happy you decided to go "all-in" without cutting corners. This is the right way to do it. This is a very technical blade to polish, the shape is complex - numerous carvings, Masayuki worked with complex hamons with soshu flavours. You did right. I'm excited for the pictures.

Wonderful, congratulations Georg. I can't wait to see it polished. You should get it professionally photographed and filmed in Japan. I suggest Ohira-san, which can be reached here.

How eloquently put Michael. I can only wholeheartedly agree.

Sanekage and Tametsugu can overlap with Norishige and Go. You'll find blades re-attributed at Tokuju to either. Some work of Tametsugu may evoke Go. In this example here, the Sayagaki mentions that in the Monouchi area, the blade is reminiscent of Go Yoshihiro. This is not the case with the blade above though, which would be later work in my opinion.

I almost forgoet, Den Tametsugu can also mean "almost Go yoshihiro" I think there was a blade no too long ago with its Sayagaki alluding to Go on a Tametsugu...

More shots of the Hamon would be helpful here. At first glance, the togari elements evoke mino. If this is later mumei Muromachi Mino, it might not be worth the trouble. Other than that it looks good. It's old.

Oh my. Let's not throw the baby with the bathwater. Remember that in Kantei the right answer is to nail down the archetype. Whatever obscure look-alike smith comes from under the rug is of little importance for scoring the Atari. Next. Agreed that for a beginner these types of kantei are not useful. One must master the basics firsts. That said, Kantei with obscure look-like smiths are not "useless" after a certain level of ability. Once you know all the classics, you need to become aware of the exceptions to the rule. Even if these are not distinguishable, you will build a deeper understanding of what an attribution to a certain smith or school could mean. For example, great many smiths have been lost to history and their extent zaimei work are nill or very few. Hata Chogi, Soshu Kaneshige ...many early soshu disciples of Kamakura and beyond, and the list goes on. Fukuoka Ichimonji had a substantial amount of mastersmiths whose zai work are lost or extremely rare. Attributions to masters like Rai Kunimitsu, Shintogo or Nagamitsu can be product of their respective "corporations" or student work and vary wildly in quality (and price) - there are simply too many extant to be the creation of a single smith. All of these nuances require experience, and being confronted to atypical kantei can help in acquiring it. Finally the idea that internet kantei is pointless is no good. In this day and age there are beautiful videos being produced, or photos with description to fill in the gap. While these do not replace the real in hand experience, they do come close and will improve your knowledge. And these will keep getting better:

Go for quality. Some gimei blades are of high-quality. This is rather the exception than the rule, but one can typically find Shinshinto stunners with gimei throwbacks to Nanbokucho top smiths, along with all sorts of deceptive elements such as artificially aged nakago, extra mekugi-ana, etc. I would take a beautiful Shinshinto gimei to Kanemitsu over a run-of-the-mill soshin muromachi sukesada any day. Shinto and Shinshinto high quality swords get their value literally obliterated down 80-90% when they are mumei or gimei. So if you're hunting for top quality and on a strict budget, this is where to look for. You'll never know who made it as attributions in the latter periods on mumei blades are (mostly) statements of quality. But one needs to train the eye...it's an ongoing process. The blade above doesn't fit in this category. These dress-up packages on YJP, you need to think of all the elements as recently cobbled-up together, including boxes, fake Kinzogan or Kinpun, fake honami docs, fake sayagaki etc fake (and ugly) habaki...These guys run a business of turning low-grade shinto-to-gendai blades into national treasures. It's an investment for them to get the dress-up "done right" - so expect to pay for it. Much much cheaper to get an "honest gimei"

Tametsugu is one of the high variability Soshu attributions. "Den Tametsugu" broadens up the possibilities even further. In context this can be understood as some smiths working in the Nanbokucho period up in the northern parts (Echizen, Etchu, etc...). What we know for sure is that this is Soshu Nanbokucho. If we go a little further, it's very likely to be Soshu Nanbokucho from a smith working in the Northern parts in this tradition. And I agree with both comments above, the blade shares characteristics with both Sanekage and Hasebe.

Nagatsune and Ishiguro, can't judge if soshin but the workmanship is good. Unusual theme. Reveal more, I am most curious what comes next!

We cannot agree to disagree to misconceptions of this magnitude. The idea that Tanobe-sensei would lie and fabricate some nonsense to please a gaijin by stating a notion that goes against the surface level understanding is beyond preposterous. Where to start... And also the ubu zai ichimonji in suguha being the “majority” is plainly wrong. Early ko-bizen phase work of its founders may be found in suguha. Such works are less than 10% of extant ubu zaimei ichimonji. Mumei they would have gone to Ko-Bizen. May Hachiman give us the strength.

Market value will not increase here with papers once you account for the cost of the process. Better off to keep it as is or move it on.

Excellently put. Next level: think of attributions as a global maxima on multidimensional probability density distribution. Rarely is a mumei sword a slam dunk. You often have multiple good ideas coexisting together, with one taking over the others as more likely which then constitutes your attribution. In reality you need to accept uncertainty and part of studying the sword is to understand where it fits in the great interconnected web of plausible candidates. Think of all the smiths as an interconnected web - a graph - where the thickness of the links represents proximity in their work. If you end up right in between two or three nods you'll have a case for "Den" Attributions also capture uncertainty, and not just via Den. When you go down the less reputed schools and the work lacks differentiability, attribution to these schools on a mumei sword may be an admittance of uncertainty in the judgement. More important than the top idea that comes up on the paper is all the other ideas that have been put aside with high certainty. A sword that comes back as Bungo Takeda or Ko-Udo can be a number of things around these waters, but Ichimonji it is not, etc. On less highly rated school, these attributions are the fruit of a process of elimination when you go down quality ladders.

Helicopter Rabbit is awesome!

NBTHK does not attribute to Nagamaki-Naoshi. It's a Naginata-Naoshi, and the Nagamaki is to be considered a subtype of Naginata, which furthermore finds itself defined by its mounting. That said, katana-sized naginata Naoshi of the koto period, probabilistically were used at some point in their lives as Nagamaki.

Extremely Gimei example.

I would think Chinese too if you didn't tell me it was a prize-winning Shinsakudo. Nioideki on Muji hada... The difference in visual quality of a modern Hitatsura sword compared by one by Akihiro/Hiromitsu/Hasebe/Yozozaemon is simply astonishing. Has anyone in the Shinshinto realm of gifted smiths try re-creating Hitatsura? Naotane school perhaps? It would be interesting to compare results.

One of the best thread of the NMB. Keep 'em coming. I'll revive it with this image, which I found on the old archives of the forum. The most epic Higo lineup ever to have graced a table in Europe since Alfred Baur.

Lovely. Reminds me of an Ishiguro design by Masaaki if I am not mistaken.

Looks like the Chinese are into bad imitations of Hitatsura. Always innovating looking for the next treasure hunter.

Agree with Rivkin here. Likely dressed-up Shinto to look Koto, or some offshoot Koto Yamashiro if you're very lucky. It's the king of sword where faking O-suriage gives the seller a chance at pitching Rai kunimitsu to the unsuspecting buyer.

Run away Carl. That's going to turn into a regret buy real quick. Set aside the funds towards something beautiful which will bring you joy for a long time.

You did get burned. The Nakago is artificially aged, those pitting marks are in fact hammer punch marks to make it appear pitted. The blade looks gendai. It's been dressed up to make it look old and attract the treasure bargain hunter. For 950$ you could have done much better looking for sales on the board. The seller did well here.

These sorts of shape existed in the late kamakura to nanbokucho period and later in the Momoyama when the smiths tried to emulate the old masters, a few more were made. And then again in Shinshinto time certainly. This here reeks of made in china. Like all of Komonjo's stock. Just like John I don't buy the poor apprentice theory, but it's a theory that sells well.