b.hennick

I agree with Franco. I loved my first sword a WWII blade. I thought that is was wonderful. I still have it. Then I fell in love with Shinto Hizen blades. Masahiro was my ideal. Now I have moved again to Koto blades. I think that Soshu and Yamato blades as great. I expect that your view of "good" will change as well. Yesterday at a club meeting I saw some excellent Shinshinto blades. They too were quality blades. Good quality blades are always worth looking at. Knowing what you are looking at it also important - that is where kantei comes in.

I think that you got things wrong. In the case of the ebay sword the purchaser was the high bidder. He took a chance - good signature on a blade not in polish. He put up the money for polish - took the risks in submitting to shinsa twice. He received the rewards. I was happy to buy at the asking price.

In the second case, the blade was on a table at a sword show. Anyone could have recognized the diamond in the rough. Again the purchaser did the work - polish, papers etc. Both the finders of diamonds not only found but put time and money into their finds..

The finding is a result of years of hard work, money spent on books, trips and work.

A beginner may find a diamond but as a rough stone he may not know what he has. At a club meeting today several people brought swords to me to look at and offer an opinion on. The quality was not very high. Some time there will be a diamond in the rough and I will tell them that. Again some clubs are more cutthroat than others. I am fortunate to belong to a couple of great sharing clubs - the JCCC Token Kai in Toronto Ontario and the Rochester Sword Study Group (Muto Kai) in Rochester New York.

Diamond hunters need senior collectors who will give encouragement and honest opinion. I was lucky to have those people help me (and continue to help me) and I offer help to others.

I have two diamonds - juyo token blades. I bought them both as diamonds!

One was puchased on ebay, polished, papered and then received juyo papers.

The other was purchased from a well known collector who did not know what he had. His area of specialization was centered on different blades. That blade also was polished, papered and then papered to receive juyo papers. Both of these diamonds were found by knowledgeable people who bought them from less knowledgeable people. I was lucky that they had the knowledge to find the raw stone and turn it into a diamond.

So to answer your question yes it is possible.

In my own case I have found good blades by lesser smiths than the ones above and had them restored and papered. None of my finds have earned juyo papers.

Thanks gentlemen! This is much appreciated.

I looked at the link and found a similar but different mei. Help is still needed...

Thanks for the link!

I would appreciate a translation of this sword's mei.

I'm with Mariusz on this one; this is clumsy at best horimono.

Grey

I thought that it was just me in thinking that this is a terrible horimono. I was going to say nothing as the saying "If you have nothing good to say then say nothing." But I just want to agree with Grey.

I teach high school science. In my classroom I have a sign that reads:

"What good questions did you ask today?"

I value good questions. Some of the best posts on messageboard have started with a question. The answers developed over time and great discussion occurred. That is the value of messageboard and of good questions. Now to "bad questions" to me those are the ones you did not ask. Yes some answers are in FAQ. One should look there first but after that your questions can lead to learning - after all that is why people join the Nihonto Messageboard.

I'll end with this question - Did you support the draw by making a donation?

We need this forum so that people can ask questions.

Thanks for the heads up on how to do this!

Barry

Hi Rich:

I am not sure the URL of the site to which you uploaded the file. I clicked on your site and did not see a link to the file. Please post the link. Does the "members" reference refer to the members of the Nihonto Messageboard or to something else?

Thanks in advance for this great resource.

I do hope that there will be updates and many of them!

Hello Clive et al:

I have found an excellent type of magnet for holding the paper during an oshigata. There is a child's toy that has dumbbell shaped plastic pieces with magnets in their ends and metal spheres. The child uses them to build shapes. Those dumbbell shaped things have their magnets recessed so no magnet touches the paper. The magnets are strong (neodynium). Let me know how you like them.

Hi Guys:

You must have missed the $58 for shipping!

Thank you for the information. I will pass it on!

Please help with translation. I get the character Masa but I would appreciate some help.

I just finished reading my newly arrived issues of the NTHK - NPO publication. #693 had a kantei blade that looked like a Muramasa. The answer in 694 was Muramasa. I thought that some of you would like to see those images and the explanation.

I believe his name is Kotohen Kajihara. I do not know if he is still working as a polisher.

I have been enjoying this thread. I took the opportunity to work on the images presented and to make a little summary. I could not upload a Word document so I took screen shots of the two pages and am uploading them a pictures. If you want you can print them out as a quick summary.

Here is a picture I took of the sugata of the blade. Judge for yourself. I had a composite photo of the other side and put the two sides together so that you could see the matching hamon on both sides of the blade.

Hello:

Here is a photo of my nidai Muramasa for comparison.

Just a little side note...

I have a blade with a sayagaki by Kajihara. The actual writing on the saya was done by his wife. She is a better writter but she wrote what he told her to write. It is signed with his kakihan/name.

Tanobe san writes excellent sayagaki that often include extra information and if the blade merits it the word chin chin cho cho - indicating an excellent blade.

Here is the sayagaki from the Go Yoshihiro on Nihonto.ca

重要刀剣指定品

Juyo Token Shitei Hin

Important Sword Designated Item

越中國江義弘

Etchu no Kuni Go Yoshihiro

但大磨上無銘藩政期ハ鍋島家ノ傳来同工ノ一作域ナル

Tadashi o-suriage mumei han sei ki ha Nabeshima ke no denrai doukou no issaku iki naru.

Although shortened and unsigned, this Go Yoshihiro was one of three handed down from the feudal period by the lords of the House of Nabeshima.

大和氣質ノ混在スル出来口也

Yamato ki shitsu no konzai deki kuchi nari

The qualities of the workmanship show the spirit of the Yamato style.

沸ノ働キ見事亦地刃洗練味有之候

Nie no hataraki ki migoto mata jiba senren mi ari kore sourou

The activities of nie in the jihada and hamon are beautiful and of refined taste,

而格調頗ル高矣

shikashite kakuchou sukoburu takashi

as well as exceedingly noble in the highest degree.

珍々重々

Chin chin, cho cho.

It is very rare and important.

Here is a link to an image of the sayagaki http://www.nihonto.ca/go-yoshihiro/sayagaki-l.jpg

Many thanks Morita san.

I know that I have seen the second character in this mei before but I can't remember it. Help is appreciated. Kane ??

Toothbrushes come is soft, medium and hard. I use a soft used but well cleaned (no toothpaste!) brush. Go slow, be gentle....

Hi Jason:

To echo Grey I too used warm water and a soft toothbrush. I also bought some kids soap that comes out of the bottle as a foam. It is a pure product that I put on the brush and use to remove dirt. I have had no problems with this approach. Gentle does it. It is better to go easy and repeat things if necessary. After I do my initial cleaning I use a hand lens to see areas I need to go over again.

BTW the f/k look fine and Bori is always a pleasure to deal with.

Amazing trailer --- I can hardly wait for the DVD