Bugyotsuji

正茶 三茶 Surely that second Kanji is not 粟… Neither of these make much sense to me, but just to get your ball rolling! Help!

Jussi, the Japanese sentence says roughly that “the nakago features in the ‘Kōtoku Oshigata’, but the actual object itself has never been seen.”

Two people asking this question now! I once had a blade by this smith and probably did my search among Japanese sources, mainly on the internet. I found contradictory material and ended up somewhat confused, tracking across the changing names. For this reason I wrote, this will be a 'fun' search! I probably searched through various Meikan too. This Aoi Art auction page (for example) shows a '3rd Generation' wakizashi, from around Kanbun, and they say there were 13 generations of them from the start of Edo, but the NBTHK paper shown below that says, for the same blade, like yours, 後代 'Later Generation' Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro. 輝広の初代は慶長頃で作品は極めて少ないが、 本作は3代目が作ったものである。 その後も13代までの間一門を継続する。 AS21594-脇差：播磨守藤原輝広作(3代) – 日本刀販売の葵美術 (sword-auction.com) Perhaps Aoi makes this assumption from the overall shape of the blade, i.e simply 'Kanbun Shinto'.

Agreed! But you have to start with what you’ve got, and then work from there. Yos143? https://nihontoclub....ovince_value&sort=..

Your primary concern is to establish the validity of the Mei. Has it been added later, for example? Can we see the outline of a different, erased Mei underneath? Why is the character 住 (living in) not included? Etc.

The papers tell you only that the smith is Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro (later gen.) I believe this smith changed names and titles so it will be a fun search!

Start with the above date "Ryakuo 4" (alternative reading Rekio 4) and work from there.

Please see the answer over on your Kantei thread, Walter.

暦応四年 神力加錬 千手院 源吉廣　Ryaku-o　４、 Shinryoku Karen (Tempered with the power of the gods) Senju-in Minamoto Yoshihiro From here: 美 WA133 鎌倉 南北朝期 暦応四年 神力加錬 千手院 源吉廣 日本刀 ／登録証付 H zy(刀、太刀)｜売買されたオークション情報、yahooの商品情報をアーカイブ公開 - オークファン（aucfan.com）

From the printed form and the handwriting, the Kantei is Chinese. That does not mean it is automatically bad, but you need to do some more research.

If it bothers you, do not buy it. Was it done to deceive??? If not, why? A rabbit warren. Many people will offer their opinions on the reasons for Shinto or Shin-Shinto shortening, but such a blade will never satisfy you more and more. Probably less and less, until you are bored or disgusted, unless the work is so stunning that the critics are all blown away like flies.

And from the British Museum’s Netsuké (although the one on the left may be a Chinese medicine doctor’s help).

Yes, I like it! "Paradox embodied".............. two birds with one stone, the best of both worlds, perfect balance, any more (?)

There were two or three smiths using these Kanji characters. Both readings are possible, although sometimes people will refer to one specific smith with the alternative reading to distinguish him from the others.

Colin, thank you.

The video is in this thread. Search function works.

What the man said!

Fujiwara Kinju, as Ray says; the same 金重 Kanji are also sometimes read with their alternate reading as Kaneshige.

There was a very good video on Japanese axes posted somewhere on this site just recently, well, a few months back.

John, the quick answer is yes, you are correct. The reality is however that there were degrees of subtlety in genuine old Netsuké. Use of a shell for example would say more than overtly open legs. And ladies might not have followed our modern ideas of beauty. See this stag antler Ama San.

It is a crucifix, but the question remains as to when it was inserted there, centuries ago or more recently.

Bladed cross 剣十の字 'Ken Jū-no-Ji' Mon motif. Not recorded, but from circumstantial evidence, probably the Hachisuka Mon while they were openly Christian.

Perhaps not 'explicit' as it would have been somewhat covered by both seppa.

線刻銘「法實」 Search Results (nii.ac.jp) Compare with Hojitsu Netsuke.

劍白　靖俊　Yasutoshi Saku (variant Kanji?) See https://www.samurais....jp/sword/15137.html