Mark S.

I do not wish to hijack or turn this thread away from its original intent, and not to try to justify gimei, but I do wonder how many blades were ordered to be shortened and the original mei lost to the suriage, but the owner wanted the smith who performed the suriage to engrave the original smith’s mei to ‘preserve’ it’s provenance? Gimei?, definitely… but ‘wrong’ or meant to deceive? I guess we will never know.

I think pretty much everyone falls into 2 general camps (NO JUDGMENT OF EITHER CAMP!): CAMP 1: Shoshin blade = highest level Mumei blade = middle level Gimei blade = lowest level or CAMP 2: Shoshin blade = highest level Mumei blade & Gimei blade = same level I think CAMP 1 follow more the NBTHK model and CAMP 2 believe the ‘opinion’ of a mumei blade and gimei blade are the same. The only real difference I can see is if you are comfortable looking past a gimei signature. Once again, not saying either camp is better or right.

I have 2 gimei blades. One is a gimei Tadahiro katana that the NTHK-NPO attributed simply to a “Kanbun Hizen” blade. Several people whose names you would know felt it was still a well made blade and a couple even mentioned that “you can see why they selected it as a good candidate for gimei because it very closely matches Tadahiro’s work.” The second blade is a gimei Awataguchi Tadatsuna wakizashi that the NTHK attributed to a lower level Awataguchi Tadatsuna student. I really like the activity on this one. Side note (and only my WILD speculation) on this one is the “-tsuna” kanji is clearly missing 2 main strokes to the character that you would think someone trying to fake it wouldn’t miss? Could it been someone’s way of clearly saying “It’s close, but fake?” for whatever reason? So at the end of the day, I have two blades I like that are examples that well exhibit the traits of the schools they represent for a fraction of the price. I know many would only want Shoshin examples of the top end smiths and I respect that and understand it. My collection is rather modest and these fit in a niche that make me perfectly happy. Can I impress you with a Tadahiro or Tadatsuna?… clearly “no”. If we meet and want to study blades, can we look at examples of the Hizen and Awataguchi schools?… “yes”, knowing the limitation that these are not ‘perfect’ examples. Will anyone else appreciate these someday? I guess I won’t be around to know.

Last 3 want to be “Kanzan Sato shirusu”, but there is no kao that usually follows his signature? Lots of examples of his signature and kao on line.

I mis-read mei…

There are days I have no idea why you are here other than to remind us that “pictures are useless”. What the hell does your post even mean???

Also, resist ANY urge to use any type of metal polish or anything else to clean blades. You can only do more damage rather than good. ‘Shiny’ is not ‘clean’ or ‘good’ in this case. Not trying to be rude. It’s just that it is really better to do nothing as opposed to ‘something’ right now until you can get some help with what you have.

If you used a wet sponge and ???, please wipe both blades down with as close to 100% isopropyl alcohol and then apply a LIGHT coat of oil to blades. Sewing machine oil or very high grade machine oil (available at local hardware store) NOT WD40 or gun oil with additives. Blades will rust very quickly if left exposed to air and any water or fingerprint remnants remain.

Maybe I have a magic link!

Love New Orleans! Been a more than few years since I was down there, but used to go regularly. Jealous, but at least I get to go to Vegas.

Weird… I have a shortcut on my I-phone (had for years) that still sends me to the site? I just checked and it still works for me.

I’m going… keep me in the loop for dinner or at least let me buy you an adult beverage!

Mine have not arrived either (as of today), so I must be in second group. Patience patience…

Probably not what you are looking for as ‘tree’ and ‘fence’ don’t match your example. Never really considered selling but if it helps someone out…

Thank you all. I really should have labeled this thread “smoky hadori’ and you would think I know better than to call it the ‘hamon’. Don’t know why I did that… but I did. So if I confused anyone, I apologize. I am focusing on the darker grey hadori polish above the hamon.

I know this is a really basic question and hope it won’t cause too many

In pictures, smokiness disappears from this angle, but is still evident in-hand.

A recent acquisition has brought a question to my mind about polish, and I apologize if previously discussed. Most of my blades have a rather ‘white’ appearance to the hamon, but what process is used that causes the ‘smoky’ appearance as shown in my pics? All are same blade, just different angles. I know I’ve seen it before (not saying it’s wrong or bad) and I just never thought about it, but I guess the reason I’m bringing this up now is how prominent it is on this blade and it made me go… hmmmm??? Probably a very basic question, but don’t remember it being discussed before?

I’m sorry if what I’m about to show is too rudimentary, but sometimes it helps to see the difference between the formal kanji with a different form laid over the top. Original kanji in black and kanji you showed in red (very rough ):

From Mino-To by Malcolm Cox

Please excuse the quality of the attached info, but it is from an on-line snapshot from another source… so a copy of a copy of a copy… From Japanese Swordsmiths Vol 1 & 2 by Hawley:

Well… that and a 10 year apprenticeship under a trained sword polishing teacher and there you go… a quick read: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/35486-a-word-about-amateur-polishing/

https://www.ebay.com...r=artemis&media=COPY

I’m going to go out on a limb with a few things. Gut reaction based on small Sori (curve of blade) is kanbun era or thereabouts. Due to condition, almost impossible to give a guess on school. Hamachi area seems pretty intact and there might be enough meat for a polish, but without being able to see any boshi in the kissaki, not sure if there is enough so it can be re-shaped without boshi disappearing. This blade would take a lot of work and not sure if economically wise… but if for sentimental reasons, $$$ isn’t always everything. Just be sure you understand that you may never get your money back should you decide to sell.

As you didn’t explain what you mean by ‘strange’, my following statements are a bit of a guess. I think what you see as strange is the difference between the actual hamon and the hadori polish… it may look almost like ‘two hamons?’ It is fairly common especially with a heavier hadori polish to have some difficulty seeing some of the activities until you can differentiate between the two.