Jussi Ekholm

I think people might be too strict on the classification of daishō. The true daishō that has been mentioned in this thread is actually extremely rare. While Jūyō passed items are not the definitive in anything I can just put the numbers that there are 25 Jūyō papered Daishō blades. Only 3 of these Daishō had attachment Daishō koshirae being listed in the papers. 1 Of them has been at later shinsa "elevated" as Daishō & Daishō koshirae. This was Daishō with attachment koshirae in Jūyō 16 but both were added on the same appraisal in Jūyō 47. This is pretty much ultimate rarity. There are 87 Daishō Koshirae at Jūyō, and it seems that 3 of them have Daishō blades attached to the koshirae. There are probably some more completely matching sets in Daimyō collections, Museums, Shrines etc. but as the daishō paired blades are so new by default I don't really have personal intrest in digging them out.

As I am lucky to have collected a very good library of books, I think I should have images and info of at least 100+ surviving tachi koshirae from Kamakura to Muromachi. I think in general old battlefield tachi of Nanbokuchō & Muromachi were often quite plain when it comes to fittings, usually nothing too fancy.

How many qualified armor restorers there are in Japan? How many there are outside of Japan?

It is a great deal, like Marius seems to have very often. I think one possibility for mounting could also have been naginata / nagamaki koshirae.

I must say I am bit confused about their judgement. Is there lot more written on the evaluation paper?

It is actually Kanbun 3 like in the paper, it seems the gold inlay is missing on the middle stroke on 三. Aoi has lots of incorrect things on the description of this particular item. As Ray pointed out there are some older blades with cutting tests too.

As there is not yet a thread on the subject, I thought I would make one. Japan Art Expo returns to Utrecht, Netherlands, after few year break. https://www.japanartexpo.com/ Great event to visit, and hang out with likeminded folks, view some swords and related items. I will be there on both days, and will be very nice to meet NMB members like last time. I'm there to socialize so feel free to stop for a chat with me.

Thanks for the show reports guys, seemed like a great event

Bruce I would believe it is 正. The WWII mei are often bit hard to read

I think others above me said it well it is quite nice blade (of course with some issues that were discussed). Naoe Shizu is very rare attribution for a tanto, so far I am only aware of 7, 3 Jūyō, 3 Tokubetsu Hozon and 1 unknown. For the Tokubetsu Hozon ones - Darcy had a very nice one (that came with free Nanbokuchō period katana) for 23,000$. I remember I liked it a lot but it was lot over my budget. There is the one in this thread for X amount Aoi Art sold one for 550k yen, and to me that seems like it was an awesome deal: https://www.aoijapan.net/tanto-mumeinaoe-shizu/ I haven't seen any of the Jūyō ones appear on online market Short swords for Nanbokuchō Mino smiths like Kinjū I have seen in range from 850k to 2,5M (Hozon to Jūyō range) yen for the few examples that I have seen sold online. For very rare online sale Aoi Art had Tokubetsu Hozon tanto attributed to Shizu, I believe asking price was 2,2M and it sold very fast if I remember correctly.

The nakago condition is very apparent on the paper.

I think it is possible that some of the information about the sword might have been incorrect. Out of the 48 (if I counted correctly) Jūyō Bunkazai swords by Aoe school only 1 is a mumei katana. It has been attributed towards Moritoshi. You can find current information of the sword in this database (it has most up to date info on all Kokuhō and Bunkazai that I am aware of): https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/201/6338 The sword is currently listed as being in private collection in Aichi. However in a book from 1977 that I have the sword was at that point in the collection of Rendai Temple.

There are lots of highly designated tachi from Aoe smiths. Here is the Masatsune that was featured in Rays linked story. It is back in the collection of Kumano Hayatama Shrine. It still has the itomaki tachi koshirae too (unfortunately I don't have a picture of that). The Masatsune that Jan linked is another Jūyō Bunkazai that is owned by Tokyo National Museum. Unfortunately I don't think there is currently a public database of pictures that would feature all of the items. I think I should have pictures of all of Kokuhō and somewhere around 90-95% of Bunkazai and Bijutsuhin swords.

Already sold and paid for. I'll update the topic once the buyer has received the books.

Well just before Easter I got another big patch of books from Japan, I am getting more and more specialized in my book collecting. To gather up some funds I'll list this set as I plan to buy some more books in Japan when I get there this summer. (Sorry for picture orientation, I can make it appear anything other than correct position) The books are in good condition as I collect books I take good care of them. Part 1 and Part 2 are from same set with front page text from Afu to previous owner. Part 1 is February 1996 print, Part 2 is October 1997 print. Part 3 was purchased at different time it is January 1994 printing. I've had this set for a long time and paid a lot to get them originally. I think I'll offer them at fair price of 500€ + shipping (I'll calcute it for your country). Shipping shouldn't be too much within Europe but can get expensive internationally. Like usually would prefer bank transfer as payment method but Paypal etc. are possible just that they have more fees.

One problem is that Shigeyuki lineage of Bungo school was quite unknown. I have Bungo Taikan, and I thought I would check signature for the smith but I couldn't find reference for any of the 2 Shintō Shigeyuki smiths listed in the book. I know Markus has 4 Shintō Shigeyuki from Bungo listed in his index. Well here is result of my quick online search. Unfortunately this Fujiwara Shigeyuki signature is not showing well in the pictures but in general style I feel this is quite similar signature: https://www.e-nihontou.co.jp/products/detail/1067 And possibly this might be closest in style with old attribution papers: https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords7/KT334737.htm These two signatures are quite different from yours and I do believe not the same Fujiwara Shigeyuki as yours. https://www.seiyudo.com/ka-020423.htm https://ikedaart.net/?pid=138492246 Then interestingly there was a Fujiwara Shigeyuki for sale few months ago that had NBTHK papers with Kuni Fumei (Unknown province) - Shintō. https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/f1082713353

Unfortunately koshirae is not my main focus but ōdachi and tachi are and I am lucky to have gathered great book collection. So I can provide few historical examples. Unfortunately most of the pictures are quite small and I can't figure out the exact pattern of tsukamaki very clearly on many examples that might have tsumami style. Here is an ōdachi from Itsukushima jinja by Suketsugu & Sukeie that is dated to 1346. Koshirae is dated to Nanbokuchō period and here is the tsukamaki description from the book: 上から黒革で菱巻にほどこし Second tsuka is from Ōyamazumi jinja, it is Muromachi period koshirae that is for Late Heian - Early Kamakura period tachi by Aritsuna. Unfortunately only the material is specified on this tsuka: 藍革巻 Third one is again very large ōdachi tsuka (76,0 cm) from Nanbokuchō period. I believe it is connected to the Uesugi family as this is featured in the Treasure swords of Uesugi book. It specifies tsumami-maki on this one: 上に黒革の双つまみ巻をしている Sorry about the pictures again, I don't know what messes them up. I took them phone vertically, they appear on computer vertically after resizing but for some reason they come here horizontally and even upside down...

Unfortunately I think that particular Niō is pretty rough. I would not invest in it and I would look towards other similar but better options. This seems to be priced at 850k yen which to me would be too much for this particular sword. Here for comparison is in my opinion much better quality Niō attributed sword: https://nihontoantiques.com/project/ko-nio-den-katana-fss-899/ There are few Niō attributed swords that approximately date to Middle Kamakura, while the majority would date around late Kamakura - Nanbokuchō. It seems there are currently only 33 mumei Niō swords that have passed Jūyō. Out of those 5 are tachi. Here you can see Tokubetsu Hozon tachi with Niō attribution that passed Jūyō. https://www.seiyudo.com/ka-030514.htm

Thank you for the video, I also watched some of your other videos. Very much appreciated content, please continue making videos

Awesome job Andrew and splendid attribution result.

Very interesting item Ron. Definately worth researching. Unfortunately Mōgusa group is very little known as Kirill said above. There is lot of historical legend but I believe surviving authenticated Mōgusa tachi date from early Kamakura to late Kamakura. There are only a handful of signed items by Mōgusa smiths remaining and unfortunately I haven't found info or item by this smith Nagahisa yet. I think one person who might have info on this school is Wataru Hara, he has great knowledge of old schools. I remember c. 10 years ago when TheJapaneseSword had forums there used to be long thread about Mogusa school where he shared a lot of knowledge. Unfortunately that forum is now long gone, and remembering things like that makes me feel old... He uses Instagram where I reached him some years ago and I believe he might also be on Facebook (as I am not, I can't tell who uses it).

That is nice looking blade Kamil, will be interesting to see what NBTHK judges. To me it would seem more like late Muromachi, and there was Gassan smith Gunshō working around Eishō (1504 - 1521). I only have 1 example by this Eishō era Gunshō but it features somewhat similar shaped nakago. Here is an example of Muromachi signature from Fujishiro. As for the Nanbokuchō period Gunshō information on him is very difficult to find. I am so far only aware of 2 blades by the early Gunshō (軍勝). There is a katana dated 1363 and a tanto that is actually signed Shōgun (勝軍) but is judged as by Gunshō that is dated 1386. Some sources for information in Japanese of this smith are Sano Museum catalog: An Early Style of Japanese Sword, Jūyō Nado Zufu 21, Nihontō Kōza (small bit in English in Afu translations), Few Tōken Bijutsu magazines, in overall it is very difficult to find info on this particular smith. Here are the two authentic Nanbokuchō signed items. I don't understand why it turns the pictures sideways. They are differently on my phone & computer.

Here is a picture of the other one.

I think there are 2 authenticated signed tanto by Niji Kunitoshi. Most famous is Jūyō Bunkazai and Meibutsu Aizen Kunitoshi (and I believe for long time this has been commonly known as the only signed one) but more recently there has been second one that passed Jūyō 61 and Tokubetsu Jūyō 25.

That Sadatsuna is very nice sword, I saw it appear to Nihonto US when it came up at the beginning of the month and liked it a lot.