Utopianarian

It does look like it from the limited quality of the pics

I did notice that and I asked the question if the blade was in a fire or signs of retemper. The seller said no. It could be that someone used some kind of metal cleaner which reacts with the metal and gives it that dull lifeless non reflective look on the surface. Curious to see it when it’s delivered. I am not expecting the blade to look any better and what I have seen is prob the best images from the seller. Prob other issues

Yes you are right of the known verified existing examples which are very few. I’ve read a little about the 2 generations of Kunizane and other theories of Kunizane which some examples may surface which may be verified and proven in the future to paint a better picture. The seller said the nagasa on this blade was 27.75 inches but it looks a lot shorter in the picture. Maybe because it is ubu and has a long nakago and the angle the picture was taken. Do you think all the things we can see are congruent with the possibility which probably is slim to none

Hey John, Yes I agree with you. That chip likely goes thru the hamon I would guess even tho it is not visible it goes quite a bit into the hada. I negotiated the price down taking that into account. It still makes a nice study piece but still not even sure if Gimei or not. I think the only original fittings to the blade are the saya and a habaki not in the picture. The seller was going to send me a Gunto tsuba and Tsuka but not original to the blade

More pics

I just acquired a new katana. Have not received it yet but so far I just have the pictures of the blade and wanted to share them with the board. The nagasa is 27.75 inches and is in a bad state of condition unable to make out the hamon. Signed Rai Kunizane dated Bunwa Ni Nen Hachi Gatsu Hi, also read as Bunna-year of 1353. Needs to be polished. There is a nasty deep wide chip and probably won’t polish out if the polisher even takes on the risk of doing the work or ever worth it. Anyways still it looks like an interesting blade with nice Tokko-tsuki-ken, Tsume-tsuki-ken

Boshi

Sa samonji chikuzen later generation or dime a dozen Gimei?

Thank you John

Here is a better pic

Thank you John and Jussi

Please help with signed mei and date

Here is a cut down Nanbokucho blade of mine to get an idea generally of what to look for. Sorry the end is out of the photo

Just an observation. There appears to be evidence of file patterns on the nakago. It doesn’t say much. It could have been original to the blade if ubu as stated above or added later if it was cut down and finished which I am kind of leaning away from. Hard to say without more evidence or most of all blade in hand.

The sori alone on this blade speaks volumes. Fine early example of a true tachi

I agree with others. Looks like crude WW2 theatre made blade. Looks like my late aunt Tilly used her old lace doily to make tsuka-ito to gussy up that ugly stick 🤔

Another pic

The Ana appear from the pictures like the edges of the Ana are sharp and have edges and burrs and are reflective on the edges and are not smooth and worn down with patina covering the outside edges of Ana. Check the inside hole of the Ana which should show well established patina as well. From my understanding punched holes were done from each side of the nakago and would meet in the middle. The exact method that was done I don’t think anybody is 100% sure and was lost to the ages. Probably something similar to the smithing process using red hot tooling approach from each side into the softer material. Definitely as you mentioned earlier the original nakago was cut away long ago and blade repurposed from tachi to katana. Probably refitted many times throughout time. I’ve seen old blades from Muromachi with drilled holes from WW2 refitted with Gunto fittings and Ana drilled holes look recently drilled and fresh even though it was 80 years ago. Sometimes with one or two original punched Ana which show the stark contrast. Here is an example of a Muromachi blade I used to have that was fitted in original ww2 Gunto that fit snug and perfect to the blade. I believe it was drilled during ww2. See attached pic of drilled Ana next to punched Ana.

The Ana do look drilled instead of punched. Hard to tell about the one at the bottom

Nanbokucho Sugata

Actually the more I study the pics I am with you guys on Yamato Shizu train with the rest of you. As mentioned above the shape gives that away and the Shinogi-ji isn’t high enough on this blade as most existing examples.

Blade has similar traits to Hosho

Yamato Hosho school. The openings in the grain which you mentioned throughout the blade. They are are known for generally masame hada. Ware is acceptable to a certain point (masa-ware) and an important kantei point. But even Hosho was in many cases not 100% masame hada. I know there are many other factors to take into account.

2 Crown Royal XR coming up!! 🥃🥃😵😵

I appreciate the comments it makes me feel a little better about missing out on this one. Please help me get over it. Cmon guys get on the band wagon help me… please