seanyx11

It’s definitely a katana. I accidentally posted the wrong description picture. That was the description for my Kinmichi Wakizashi, totally different blade.

Hello all. I’m (reluctantly) selling my Tokubetsu Hozon Hoki no Kami Nobutaka Katana. I’d love to keep this beautiful blade, but life gets in the way sometimes and you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. I bought this blade about 6 years ago from Danny Massey on Nihontocraft.com as my 2nd ever “real” nihonto. It comes with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers. I’m asking $5500 $4750 $4500 $4250 shipped CONUS.

Sold

I’m selling this beautiful Satsuma Kanko Masayoshi Wakizashi. I had the absolute honor of getting to know and learn from Arnold Frenzel before he passed and this blade was one that he recommended from Bill Miller. I wish I didn’t have to sell it, but such is life and circumstances require me to let it go. The blade is in perfect condition and needs nothing. The Saya is in mostly good condition with a bit of a split in the glue near the koiguchi where the two halves mate together. Please message me for more pics since I can’t upload some of the bigger files. I’m asking $7000.

Thanks for the suggestions Ray I actually know of both these guys, as Arnold actually recommends both of them frequently. I knew they both did habaki and shirasaya, I just didn't realize they both did full koshirae as well. Good to know, thank you sir. Wow thanks I'm definitely grateful for being able to have these great experiences so early on in my collecting career. Yes, sharing a table with Arnold was definitely worth it for sure, I'm so glad he accepted my offer to do so. I'm quite sure having a table with Arnold upped my credibility and standing within the community at the show immediately, such a great experience.

Thanks Carlo Probably not. As much as I'd absolutely love to have them mounted in matching koshirae, I don't want to send them to Japan. I'm sure I can get them done here in the states, but I've yet to see any work that I would feel worthy of these blades other than a professional in Japan. Plus, it would be another $5k at the very least to have them both properly mounted, not including tsuba, fuchi & kashira. I'd want to find a matching set of tsuba, fuchi, & kashira, even though I know that was not necessarily the way it was done back in the 1600s. If you or anyone knows of someone in the states that does high quality koshirae work, let me know...if I can find a nice matching set of hardware, I may do it.

Thanks Uwe Yes, they definitely both match and this signature is spot on to all other examples I've seen, including yours, fujishiro, and my wakizashi by the sandai. Here's a pic of my wak nakago for comparison, plus a closer look at the chrysanthemum:

No, this is just how the sandai Rai Kinmichi made his chrysanthemums. Non-symmetrical with longer top petals, shorter bottom ones, and a star in the middle. It's spot on to my Tokubetsu Hozon papered wakizashi by him. I knew immediately that it was genuine just from studying my wakizashi so much I did indeed Ken I had such a good time talking with everyone and picking their brains. In fact, I had such a good time I decided to bite the bullet and go to Chicago as well, which I had previously pretty much ruled out to try and save money. I decided the knowledge and experience was worth it in the end...you can't put a price on good information and experiences like that. I think most people are comparing it to the Iga no kami Kinmichi chrysanthemums, which by comparison, is quite symmetrical and round. As I said above, this is just how he makes them, his little nuanced way of doing it I guess. Yes, I would agree for sure on the signature, its a spot on match to my wakizashi by him, fujishiro, and other examples I've seen as well so I'm pretty confident it will pass shinsa with flying colors.

So, I went to my first big sword show in Tampa a couple weeks ago, which was an absolutely amazing experience. It was one of the best "vacations" I've had in a very long time (actually the ONLY vacation I've had in a very long time as well lol). I learned so much from so many people, some of whom I thanked in a previous thread I posted last Monday (I think) in the general nihonto related discussion section. I don't want to get too much off topic here, but I have to, once again, thank all you guys for welcoming me into the community proper at the show. Especially Bill M, Grey D, Mark J, Andy Q and most importantly Arnold F. Arnold was kind enough to share a table with me and has been extremely generous in sharing his wealth of knowledge about Nihonto. Ok, now that that is out of the way, let's get to the meat & potatoes here. I wasn't planning on buying anything at the show at all really, but as fate would have it, I ended up with 2 gorgeous blades. The 1st blade is a 3rd gen Izuma no kami Rai Kinmichi katana that I just happened to stumble upon at Andy Q's table. Some of you may remember that my first proper, papered nihonto was a 3rd gen Rai Kinmichi wakizashi that I bought last summer, which I've been trying to find a katana to match for a daisho. So, needless to say, I was pretty excited to find this after just a few hours of being at the show on that first morning. It doesn't have any papers, but I'm 99% sure it will paper at the Chicago shinsa that I'll be submitting it to in April. Anyway, here's a few pics: The 2nd is a Satsuma blade that I picked up from Bill M, though this one was not something I was looking for, nor did I really have any interest in, until Bill showed it to Arnold and I (we had the table right next to his, so it quite literally fell in my lap). I had not previously really showed much interest in shinshinto blades since I wanted to concentrate more on Shinto mostly and Koto if I could afford it. However, once I saw this beauty, I changed that tune pretty quickly. Anyway, its a Satsuma Kanko Taira Masayoshi wakizashi and here are some pics:

Thanks Stephen. I'm definitely learning a lot and enjoying the adventure

Thanks Barry It was great to meet you as well, I look forward to learning as much as I can from you gentlemen in the future.

I just wanted to thank all the guys who I met at the Tampa show this past weekend for welcoming me into the community proper. I'm sure I'll forget someone, but especially Bill M, Grey D, Mark J, Andy Q, and of course, Arnold F for inviting me and sharing a table with me. I learned so much this weekend from talking with all of you guys, and I am extremely grateful for making me feel welcome and not giving me too hard a time for being new to all of this I picked up a couple of great swords to add to my small, but growing collection (more on that in another topic), and I look forward to seeing a lot of you guys again in Chicago if I can manage it financially. Anyway, thanks again fellas, definitely one of the best vacations I've had in a while

Absolutely Dave. I second that for sure. I'm constantly reading threads and doing research to avoid just such a catastrophe, so if it weren't for guys like Grev posting such mistakes, we may make those same mistakes ourselves. Kudos to you Grev, for posting this. Everyone makes mistakes and luckily with forums such as this, some of us can hopefully avoid the same mistakes.

Interesting topic Brian Being new to nihonto collecting myself, I don't have much to add aside from the obvious. I would've taken one look at that horrible tsukaito and habaki and dismissed it immediately I'm sure, since being inexperienced I tend to err on the side of caution rather than finding the diamond in the rough. I, like Brian, also think that mei looks awfully suspicious as well, dremel seems a good guess. Though, without seeing it up close in person its hard to tell for sure. Either way, 3000 pounds seems a bit steep, especially if its a Chinese knockoff of course

I'm right there with you guys...except I really am an actual beginner. Even though I feel like I've learned so much over the last couple of months, I feel like there may not be enough years left in my life to learn all I wish I could. I'm damn sure going to try to learn as much as I can, though I will never be able to learn it all and that will continue to drive me to keep learning what I can.

Wow Jussi, I'd say that's a pretty good description...god-tier. I shouldn't be surprised I guess, as these are antiques and pieces of history on display, but damn is that awesome. I plan to go to Japan one day and I'd love to visit this place, though like you said, the language barrier will be pretty high unfortunately. I guess its time to start learning Japanese, so I can actually express my awe at the beauty of these blades and displays to someone I need to add mine to the insurance policy, that's a good idea. I've got my guns insured through NRA and USCCA, though I should probably add them to home insurance as well. I never thought about adding swords since I've only recently started collecting blades that are worth insuring

Ok, I see what you mean now. So, basically you have the same setup that I'm planning on using myself...a big vault with a dry-rod for guns and swords. Then, for extra protection on the higher value blades, ZCORR bags. I guess if you have enough swords, then keeping all of them in the safe or katanadansu isn't feasible, so you keep the more expensive ones locked away safely and the others in the katanadansu. I like this idea, though in order to implement it I would need quite a few more blades to add to my collection

I wouldn't have them anywhere near the actual blades themselves anyway, just in the bottom of the safe. Either way, I'll probably just use a dry rod to be safe. I'm not sure its necessary here for ZCORR bags, that's a bit overkill I think. I understand maybe because you are in Hawaii, but I have the A/C on constantly in this house so the humidity is pretty low inside. Just out of curiosity, I know I'm new and inexperienced and all, but isn't a Katanadansu, plus dry rod and Zcorr bags a bit much? I could see if you plan on going out of town for a few months or for storage where you won't be checking and oiling them regularly. I have Chinese repros that I haven't even oiled once and they have yet to rust at all. Obviously, I understand that Nihonto are antiques and require much more care and attention than a simple $1k Chinese katana, but they're both made of carbon steel that rusts. I hope you don't take that as me being unappreciative of the help and advice, quite the opposite. I just want to make sure I find the happy medium between keeping my blades rust free and not driving myself nuts doing so

I know what you mean I'm sure some of the old timers who didn't respond in this thread, probably responded in the previous threads that I've seen anyway, so it all works out in the end. I got some good suggestions and ideas from a few guys, including yourself. Plus, by the lack of responses and content of some others, it shows that not all that many people actually display their Nihonto. I've seen a few really nice custom glass cases and the like, but most it seems keep them locked away in a safe or some sort of storage case with humidity control or desiccants. I've actually looked at some of those electric dehumidifiers for a gun safe, but like you, I'd be a bit weary of potential problems with the power going off and not working or something. Silica gel packs would not have this problem of course, but probably wouldn't be able to be as accurate for constant humidity. I'm sure there are trade-offs for each, but I'll look into it some more. Silica desiccants are readily available, cheap, and easy to use and recharge, so I imagine I will be using those to some extent either way.

Yes, I've seen and use the silica gel boxes in my AR-15 & Pistol cases. I was just trying to get an open discussion going to potentially learn of any other ways people have controlled humidity in their displays/storage. I've thought about using all of those you mentioned as they are fairly easy to come by online these days. I'm going to look into a katanadansu as well. Most likely I will just buy a big safe, bolt it to the floor and store all my guns and swords in there, except for a few I'll display on a table stand or something. I'll put a nice dehumidifier in there with a humidity gauge to keep an eye on it. I saw a lot of what you are talking about, and again, I was just hoping to get a new conversation going about it to possibly include anyone (like myself) who is new or may have a fresh perspective on the matter. I'd be interested in seeing this thread you're talking about involving search results and bandwidth. I have a very fast internet connection with high bandwidth, so I'm pretty sure I was able to get all of the search results that could be found, but maybe not. Thanks for your help, I appreciate all the suggestions.

I'm glad you were able to work it out and find some experienced collectors to study it with. Just out of curiosity, did you figure out which Kinmichi made it? In your first post you said that it was Izumi no kami Kinmichi, but Izumi no kami was usually given to Rai Kinmichi and there is definitely no "Rai" in the mei. Plus, I'm fairly certain it doesn't say "Izumi", but it doesn't look like "Iga" either. All I can definitively make out, is "kami fujiwara Kinmichi". I'm very new to collecting and just started to attempt to read mei a few weeks ago, so I'm just trying to make sure I'm correct in my comprehension of the mei. I actually have an Izumi (no) Kami Rai Kinmichi (3rd generation) wakizashi, so I'm interested in the 5 main Mishina lines of smiths and the differences in their mei. Any info would be great, thanks

Ahh, the search button, what a wonderful tool. Alas, I did do an extensive search and only found threads with people showing pictures of cases and safes. Most of these were several years ago, so I thought maybe someone that had joined since then or someone who came up with a new idea since then might have some input. I also was asking about specific types of cases, whether they needed to be climate controlled or airtight, since I have fairly high humidity here. There weren't very many specifics about case construction or humidity control...just pics and descriptions of items basically. Hence, the new thread

Very interesting topic I've never seen a shirasaya or habaki fitted that perfectly to futatsuji-hi before, of course, my experience is limited. Still, its pretty amazing that Brian goes into that much detail in his work...makes sense that he is so highly sought after for his habaki and shirasaya work now.