Jussi Ekholm

I wonder how the blade feels in hand because of the offset of differing sides. I believe the long hi on one side is compensating the weight reduction on the other side. Would be very nice to get a feel on how your sword feels in hand. Of course it's not too big factor when considering artistic merits or quality of worksmanship of the sword but for me it is important how the sword feels in my hand.

I could jump in on a group project like that. Sounds like fun and I guess I might actually be of some use. :D I could tackle some easy to low medium stuff and leave difficult stuff to more qualified folks.

I knew Darcy had done some statistics research on Norishige. It seems Norishige has 94 blades that are Jūyō or better. So I believe a Norishige submission would have a lot of competition in form of already passed blades. So I could understand well that a sword of his with a kirikomi might not pass for Jūyō as there are already so many blades that have passed. Where as kirikomi could be almost totally overlooked when it's a question of a blade with historical signifigance. For example if there are only few signed works of a particular smith remaining then the condition will not be as important as for a smith who has a lot of signed works remaining to this day.

Yamanaka Newsletters Book 3/4 has 14 missing Kokuhō and 25 missing Jūyō-bijutsuhin on pages 239 - 252. (EDIT just finished reading the great article by Jim Kurrasch and he has also oshigata and pics of the missing JB and cross referenced them to Yamanaka)

伝尻懸則長 - Den Shikkake Norinaga

I wouldn't get too caught up on terminology. Couple cm either way does not change the sword much and there are no exactly set limits what seems to be called katate-uchi and what is bit over that limit. Longer swords for two handed use (morote-uchi) usually started coming back and trending during Eiroku -> onwards but of course there can be longer examples even at the heart of katate-uchi era. Spears & rifles were just so much more useful than swords in warfare. Tenbun is mentioned usually as an era when swords gradually started getting slightly bigger again. Sources for that information are NBTHK and Tokyo National Museum.

I'm not really collecting at Juyo level (and wont be for a long long long time), so my advice is not that viable. I'd just recommend trying to enjoy the sword as it is and after studying it and comparing to works that passed Juyo by this smith, maybe give it a go in few years if you feel like it then. Getting Juyo status does not change the actual sword in any way so you can enjoy it as much collecting point of view regardless of the papers it has. Of course Juyo status will affect the monetary value. I tend to view the world with collector glasses and business with swords ain't my strong suite. Looks to be quite nice sword and I am sure you will be happy with it.

I think they should have included brackets for 5k and 10k for this survey too. I think investing 20k is a major investment for most of collectors. I know for sure that if/when I have that much savings to put on a sword it will be towards a neat antique. However I do know that there luckily are serious collectors of new swords that help to keep the craft alive. Unfortunately the survey didn't have much questions for me as I couldn't afford 20k blade. I'd think they would have gotten more usable data by including lower tier options too.

I know we are not really supposed to comment ongoing sales but I would second Jacques on the date to Keiō on ura side. Also I think it's the same thing on the blade featured in 1972 Metropolitan Museum volume 5 blade that has similar inscription start on ura side. I believe that Keiō is written here is sōsho script similar to this. Here is an actual mei which has Keiō written in similar way: http://iidakoendo.com/1195/ I wish not to hinder the sales in any way. I think it's nice piece signed & dated (at least I think so) and papered.

That is a nice catch for 150€'s. You can't even get a decent replica sword for that price for iai practice.

I'd look into Kaga Kiyomitsu.

Thanks for the meeting report, it's always nice to read them. We have lovely Goto items in Europe.

What if the eBay seller had already started the deregistration process so it would be finished when the auction ends? When you have a nihonto with NBTHK papers starting from 0,00$'s on eBay it's most likely that someone outside Japan will buy it. Just my thoughts...

I really like the shakudo - gold contrast. Can't wait to see this one in hand.

Explained here in much more detail than I could. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/shingane.html-> blue hyperlinks will guide you to more information too.

I think Ian nailed it with Baku as the creature. You can see quite similar short nosed variant in menuki at Usagiya: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/animals.html

It's a good obsession Jason, you are researching the blade you own.

I agree that it is fun and difficult. I'd guess the 14 could be Oei or late Nanbokucho. Some tricky ones in that mix too.

I think you did very well with your oshigata Hamfish.

Sometimes you'll get only plain Kanemoto attributions but sometimes you can get a little more on NBTHK papers. Here are few examples. http://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2015/15117paper-1.jpg http://www.e-sword.jp/img_wp/15/1510-2056kantei_big.jpg http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2011/1110/1031kantei_big.jpg I like NTHK papers because they give you bit more information. As they will pinpoint it to a certain era it will help you to decide which Kanemoto it might be.

I agree Ian it most likely is Tomoyuki. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/3699-bungo-tomoyuki-collection/

I think it reads 豊後住久行 Bungo ju Hisayuki.

I'm on my phone and on the move so this will be bit short reply. Research as much as you can before the purchase. I found a year ago that my tachi that I purchased from a friend many years ago came to him from Nakamura-san. After seeing the pictures of it that were on the sales ad back then, I can say at least the sword I own looks much better than in pictures. That being said, Nakamura-san has been a seller who I've browsed for many years. I think myself as a tachi collector and he often has fairly priced tachi for sale. As a low budget collector I really enjoy the items he has. He often has stuff that I like and I think are quite good deals. I think it's a fair deal. I try to always browse for signed old tachi online, and finding them under 5k is quite rare. Of course the ones you find under 5k are not perfect but that should be expected. I don't really care about that koshirae and for me it would be something extra that comes along. But you'll get signed & papered tachi from early Muromachi in shirasaya & koshirae for under 5k, so my guess is the condition could be the issue. Still that is the fact you have to deal with, you can't usually find a pristine sword like that for less than 5000$'s. I've accepted that I have to slightly have a "blind eye" to some condition issues in order to be able to collect swords I like the most.

Congratulations to everyone.

I think it's Yoshihide 義秀.