Jussi Ekholm

Maybe I'll give up that hazuya idea, that's just something stupid that popped into my head while pondering possible solutions. Guess nobody thought highly of this blade since it doesn't have a habaki... Just a joke but the sword indeed doesn't have a habaki. The sword had only crude tsuka and saya that one previous owner made for easier keeping of the sword. The condition was the reason I got it so cheap from the seller on another forum, and I wanted it so I could start learning with actual hands on experience. At least years have brought some wisdom as I've mostly just gotten books since then. Well I should say now that if I'd have this polished, I'd have to get habaki and shirasaya too. Although I'd love to commission that kind of project one day, project like that would cost around 4 to 6 times as much as this sword (like I said I got a really good deal for my first introduction piece). And I do not want to make that kind of investment to this sword, as a student saving up for nihonto is not an easy job and currently I have my eye on a certain Nambokucho katana but for sure it'll be gone before I have money for it... Took me many tries as I'm not skilled as photographer but I managed to pull off a decent picture of my biggest concern with this sword. As the nick in kissaki is 1mm in depth, there is only 1mm of boshi left behind it. And as the boshi is only about 2mm wide throughout the kissaki to my understanding that makes the restoration almost impossible. http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8595/2 ... 180509.jpg (I have a super macro pic too but this one showed boshi better eventhough it's bit blurry overall) Thanks for the tips so far. Well booking a flight to somewhere in Europe and meeting up with a polisher would be so great. Meeting professional craftsmen is always so enlightening. Saving for a trip to Japan has been a work in progress for me, the bad thing about travelling is that it eats your sword budget. So it's either a trip to Japan or a nihonto... Well I know at least 1 togishi lives in London, Ryanair flight to Stansted and few days stay at the city, hitting some museums and bit of walking around town and shopping on the side doesn't sound too bad. And it wouldn't make a huge gap into my tight budget either.

It's only mumei. And even for me this one ain't worth the money that would go on polishing this (eventhough this was my first piece), I'd rather save that money for a finer nihonto. Well I've been reading a lot of polishing information lately. Maybe the sword could take another polish if you'd start it above hamachi if it werent for that kissaki nick... The boshi is just too weak to handle another polish, although it wont show in that 3rd picture I put up it's so thin in the whole kissaki that if one were to even out that nick it would leave an unhardened kissaki. And even though there would be enough boshi left, redoing kissaki is a major job and would cost plenty. And even though those nicks on monouchi seem small, there really aint too much hamon behind them either, like I said in opening post this has been polished almost to the end. Plus the current postal rates in Finland are pure murder, shipping this out of country will cost too much for the value of the sword (this is darn hard country for sword collectors sometimes). And I do not know any professional polishers in Scandinavia so the closest shipping country would be Germany. Just trying to figure out a possible quick fix that I can maybe do within Finland. If nothing almost purely cosmetic can be done, then I'll just try to enjoy this sword as it is now. Here are the pics of the nakago: (the flash lightened up the nakago on 2nd pic, both sides are same color in real life) http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/564/20120118164455.jpg http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5553/20120118163351.jpg

I was trying to translate this and had gotten Mu Shi/Shiro? Tarou Yasukuni, now my translation work is always slow and I tend to search references to see if I'm on the right track. Usually can't find them until I've gotten whole mei translated but this time I got an early hit. I say gimei since I found the identical mei on Houei-period NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon. Musashi Tarou Yasukuni, haven't even started to translate the otherside but as you can see it's perfectly same as in this Tokubetsu Hozon. http://www.sanmei.com/contents/media/T3 ... PUP_E.html I was really puzzled with that Tarou but english translation of Tokugawa-art site gives Musashi Tarou out as a title that was achieved by this smith. As a beginner I get a huge feeling of success when I manage to nail the correct reading...

Haven't been really active in this forum, mostly just lurking in the shadows and sucking up information. As I'm beginner and young collector, most of the times I've thought it's better just wait for answers from people with more knowledge. Now that I've gotten little more knowledge during the years, I'll be opening my mouth bit more in future too. Needless to say how valuable resource this forum has been during the years for me. I have this very tired sword that is in really bad shape, it's actually my first nihonto (only sentimental value, since its condition is horrible) and I've had it about 5-6 years now. I already know that it's beyond real polish, the hamachi is only about 0,5mm and the last real polish it had was already started about 1cm away from hamachi. There is really nasty nick on the kissaki, while it doesn't break the boshi now repairing it is impossible since the boshi is already at maximum thinness in the current state. Any kissaki work would destroy it cause there is not enough to do anything. Unfortunately some previous owner was little too eager trying to "polish" the blade... So the blade is pretty much living it's last days now. The amount of pitted rust would have not been half as bad as the scratches that it has now too. Now as bit older and wiser I wouldn't get this one in the first place but at 17-18 for bargain price, I just had to have this. Well onto my question then, is it possible to bring out the hamon a bit more by using only hazuya? I know that this is next to impossible question to ask with few pictures only and not the sword in hand but any bit of information would be helpful to me. I don't dare to touch the blade myself since I don't have necessary skill but I might let one finnish amateur polisher give it a try with hazuya (if he currently has any). I'm just asking here first if it would be stupid move? I have been pondering this for a while now cause there is a nice hamon and you can see it clearly in proper lighting but it's really hard trying to enjoy the details in current condition. Any improvement to the current state of this wakizashi would be a bonus. Now I don't have much knowledge about polishing but with my current knowledge I'd say this sword cannot handle any of the real "shape changing" stones. That's why I thought hazuya would be only suitable choice for this sword that has already had more than it's fair shair of polishes. At some places the hamon is only 2mm wide + the hamachi and kissaki problems... Yet I do not know if only hazuya would be even close to enough to buff the hamon because the overall polish is messed up. Here are some pictures to provide little help regarding my question. You can see the hamon in first 2 pictures, and the 2nd and 3rd really show those horrible scratches and 3rd shows the bad nick on the kissaki. (those closeup-shots really make me feel sad for this sword...) http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/4938 ... 163820.jpg http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8638 ... 164614.jpg http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2889/2 ... 163938.jpg

Well after seeing these pictures on another forum, and after spending long time trying to translate the mei, and then realizing that it had been already done, that Brians comment got me laughing so hard since I had drawn those kanji to paper so I didn't break my neck in the process... Well at least I got it pretty much correct which for me is a huge success. As a beginner it's always nice to know you were on the right track. I got only: Bizen ju Osafune, and now that you had those missing links of mine translated it all makes sense. I got little different dating, mine was: Eisho Jyu Nen Hachi-gatsu Hi 1513 August. To my eye that one kanji reads like 10. As I couldn't get registered yet on that other forum, I'll throw my tips in here. Not knowing where you are from but it you might want to meet some local collectors/sellers of antique weaponry. They would most likely be able to at least guide you in the right direction (where to find help with nihonto in your area). By reading these both threads I believe you live somewhere in US, so there will be lots of people with real wide knowledge. And of course, it would be nice if you could throw some close-ups for us.