Jussi Ekholm

I was very priviliged to join a sword viewing event today that featured 20 high quality swords. And I agree with others that there are levels to collecting. However not everything in my collecting dream is focused on quality. I cannot afford that way of collecting. I believe it is important to find your own way in collecting. I have realized my own ultimate preference hasn't really changed all that much. 😅 However it is important to try to understand quality, and the difference in items. I admit I often struggle with some very high level items, while with some it is easier to understand the desirability. For example perhaps my favorite sword of the day was big naoshi with Hōju attribution, it just hit me. However I understand that for example the Tokubetsu Jūyō swords were far above that one, still I cannot explain it by reason. I am just looking the list of all the wonderful swords I wrote down, and I even puzzle myself how I liked the Hōju so much. I don't think the naginata in the opening is a bad item. I feel it is just a normal sword. For my own collecting preferences it lacks the size that is very important to me, and it is of shape that I dont personally like. On the plus side it is ubu and signed.

Thanks for posting this Adam. It puzzles me even more, as it does seem they did use slight variations of the paper overlapping for several years. Of course I won't be getting a Jūyō sword so on personal level it is irrerelevant. As here are other references from Jūyō 26.

I hope that info of this exhibition would come something like 6 months advance to make it possible to prepare attending it. How long would the exhibition be open for public? I would be very interested in attending. The amount of high quality items sounds very high. However I would even be happy with more basic arrangement of various interesting items. Shinsa could be a fun addon. I think it might be difficult to pull it off though. I remember we had discussions how many swords for example NTHK requires as a minimum amount.

I am curious about the Tadamitsu wakizashi paper you posted Jacques, could it be a reissue? Here are 4 reference papers from Jūyō 23 that have same type of red seal as the Yahoo Auctions Masamune. As I was doing some info digging it seems that the red seal on top right was changed to form featured in Tadamitsu paper in Jūyō 28. Similarily the hitsu ana of upper leftmost tsuba were also changed this time. So I would think reissue would be a reason why the paper would have a form of seal that wasn't used for several years when the paper was issued. Of course there can perhaps be other reasons too.

I do think it might not even be possible to know the specific smith. I have 45 signed early Muromachi Norimitsu references, out of which 36 are dated earliest is 1414 and last 1459 (I stop keeping record of dated ones after that). Out of all these only the 1459 dated Jūyō Bunkazai blade features personal name in the signature. The historical significance would be that it is signed and dated sword from 1446.

I do believe it is genuine Masamune sword. The sword has very strong backing. It has Tokugawa history, Kunzan featured it in Kantō Hibishō and wrote sayagaki. It was featured it in Nihontō Shūbi and Tanobe wrote sayagaki for it. NBTHK passed it at Jūyō 23 session. I would think it will stay as Masamune forever. Now I will admit my own ignorance when it comes to suriage mumei blades, the sword looks nice but does not really evoke feelings in me. I am not at the level of just appreciating workmanship alone. It is superior sword to anything I will ever own.

I do believe you are correct with that Manuel. I remember Darcy also talking a lot about the qualitative attributions. I am just not personally a huge fan of that way. Over the years I have found out I would prefer more simple approximate age and province, I wouldn't need very specific attributions. Of course as the attributions are judged by quality for mumei items, there would be a very big gap from Rai Kuniyasu to Chiyozuru, and it is financially big one too. I do feel there are good and interesting items that get Echizen Rai attribution that are financially possible for many people. I am liking the blade of the OP actually, I have noticed I personally like bit bolder items where craftsmanship can be seen easily more than super finely detailed items.

I believe Manuel is correct with how the lineage goes. The problem for me arises in that who would the smiths that the work is attributed towards, and how they come to that conclusion for a mumei item. As I have been tracking down old items, I have found out only 1 ōdachi and 1 signed katana that would be work of Chiyozuru Kuniyasu. For Chiyozuru there is smith Morihiro that was for few generations. He is currently the only early Muromachi Chiyozuru smith for whom I have many signed items in references. NBTHK has many mumei attributions directly for Chiyozuru Morihiro. This is not the only school/attribution where this happens to me, I am often puzzled how things can be attributed as X when there are extremely few signed references of X. I do think you got a very good deal. The negative of the blade is the short length but I feel it was more than compensated by the price you got it for.

Oh, sorry Mark. I have been member of NBTHK for 10+ years but I haven't realized they do not have an email on their website... The organization is so slow in their modernization. I think I have never contacted HQ in Japan by email, I think I should have an email somewhere for them as I did an online registaration of some sort few years back but couldn't find it anywhere... As you live in Australia, perhaps you could try to contact the American Branch: https://nbthk-ab2.org/ or the European Branch: https://www.nbthk.ne...opean_branch_english if they would have an email for the Japanese NBTHK. It is bit comical how difficult it seems to be to find an email... I will be visiting the HQ in probably c. 3-4 weeks time when I get to Japan. If you haven't gotten the email by then I can try to ask about it when I buy some of the books for myself.

Congratulations Adrian & Andrew

If you are needing some specific info on an item or 2 in the book you can PM me and I can send it to you after the weekend. Depending on how dire your need is for the book, NBTHK will probably have a new one in storage: https://www.touken.or.jp/shop/ Of course their price is quite steep but it is a sure way to get one. If you are not in a hurry they do occasionally appear on Yahoo JP or Japanese book dealers, that is how I got mine but it could be a long long wait that is unpredictable.

You made a nice find. I feel the research on the signature, and the whole item, is also warranted as there are several generations of Heianjō Nagayoshi. Here is quote from Seskos swordsmiths (I am not sure about the original source of this following information) for 4th gen Bunmei era Nagayoshi I know it is said in most (pretty much all) sources that there are no extant blades by 1st generation. However there is a 1339 dated katana in the collection of Kunōzan Tōshōgu Museum. For me it is way too difficult to differentiate various Muromachi period Heianjō Nagayoshi. However there is some variation in signatures that are authenticated.

The one with horimono that Ray pointed out above could be an interesting item. Still by only those pictures as information I would skip all the others. The katana length blades do not seem interesting based on those poor photos. The other wakizashi with 3 holes in the tang could be mildly interesting but looking at the low quality pictures its lines might have been buffed out.

Thanks for the awesome pictures Randell! I have not yet visited the new museum building in Berlin but your photos were so high quality it felt like visiting there. I would agree with Thomas that the Masamune is not by "the" Masamune but later Muromachi sword. There is (was) actually a meibutsu tantō called Kuroda Masamune: https://meitou.info/index.php/黒田正宗 but I believe it's current location is not known perhaps for few hundreds of years.

We have many collectors in the forum who specialize in WWII swords and have huge knowledge in these. They will be able to give you very good information. Unfortunately my own specialization is with very old swords, and I would probably lowball value these WWII items. Just to note some of the war time smiths did work of varying quality, some were of high quality and some were low-mid quality items.

15-20-30,000 dollars is a big budget. Like others above I would recommend seeing some swords in hand before deciding on the direction you are aiming for. Buying online can be bit problematic if you are new to swords and do not totally know what you will be buying. It can still be problematic even if you are experienced and know what you are buying. As for the high prices by (some) dealers, they are running a business and need to make a profit.

NTHK states this swords as ubu mumei - 生ぶ無銘 in their paper, so they see it as original length. By first glance it looked like a bit shortened sword to me but it is easy to be wrong when looking at items. You guys did well in finding that deal.

These look amazing

I will strongly recommend going. I went to both 2018 and 2023 events, unfortunately I have to skip this one as I will be in Japan. On both years I enjoyed lectures very much, I think on both years I tried to listen to all of them. They are very nice however they can be quite specific on certain subjects. For me the best part of the events is meeting the people around Europe. It is fun to meet some NMB members, NBTHK-EB members, people that I know from other sword related stuff. Previous years have been excellent on that front, lots of familiar faces. On 2018 event I enjoyed the joint effort of sword clubs/collectors as there was an amazing study section of very high level swords & fittings. Unfortunately that wasn't present in 2023. On both previous events there have been for sale swords and fittings etc. from affordable to very expensive. In general I didn't really see cheap low quality stuff being offered either year. The affordable items were also of quality, so I feel that it would be "safe" to purchase as first time buyer. Of course depending on what you are looking for there can be a variety of offerings. I have not bought anything from the events. The special Friday event might be a new one? I think the show last year was 2 days and 2018 special event was only for exhibitors etc. if I remember correctly. As you are from Germany there will be (most likely) lots of German guys with very high level of knowledge attending, so I hope you will meet some of them and maybe get to discuss some sword stuff.

If I have the correct seller I believe the seller often has ads on Yahoo JP & eBay. The items that he has are mostly not hidden gems but legitimate antique items yet often bit problematic. The pricing Japan vs. eBay can be very different, I think the current value of the item would be roughly what you got it for, as that was the price it changed ownership.

That was a fantastic display Thomas, so many interesting items in the pictures.

Nice list of dealers, many of them very high end. I think there was one bit of misinformation in the article. Authentic Japanese sword do NOT need NBTHK authentication to be considered as authentic.

Like others I would think ubu late Muromachi blade.

I believe mumei Bizen Yoshimitsu (賀光) as an attribution would be a mid-Muromachi attribution. I have not tracked work of these Yoshimitsu smiths as the earliest dated works I remember finding have been in Kanshō (1460 - 1466), and more works after that. Of course that would depend on how long you see early Muromachi going for and when you think it is mid-Muromachi as I don't think there are exact dates.

To my knowledge there is no public database of papered items, and no private data for members either. Staff most likely has the access to data as they can check the certificates. I agree with much that has been said earlier on this thread and it is complicated matter. It is unfortunate that probably NBTHK wont see international members (or non-members) as huge source to invest in as we are so few in numbers (international members). Still I think if I had any good ideas I should try to send them directly to NBTHK. Unfortunately haven't gotten them yet I never visited the old NBTHK museum so I cannot comment on that. I remember last summer I thought I would use the NBTHK reading room when visiting the museum but I was adviced I would need to call and reserve it in advance. Which I felt might be a bit complicated process with my very limited Japanese. As for comparison I was able to use Tokyo National Museum research facilities without prior reservations and got my hands on some books after filling in proper requests for them by their computer. I think I might try to reach out NBTHK if I could try to use their reading facilities this summer and see how that will go and what references I might be able to request. NBTHK publishes the Jūyō & Tokubetsu Jūyō books for every session and they are a huge resource. I believe when visiting NBTHK reading room you could request for example specific Jūyō book to study. So living in Tokyo area it would be easy to study them, for us international folks it is much harder often needing to buy the book(s) if wanting to study the items.