Ray Singer

Uda Kunimune

Hi Lewis, good luck with the process. I am looking forward to hearing the result of your submission either way. Transparently, I was in touch with the dealer regarding this sword as well. My gut feeling was that it was a legitimate Shintogo atelier piece, made as a daisaku daimei by one of his students. I have acquired two Shintogo in the rough in similar condition, both of which went on to pass shinsa and Tanobe-sensei evaluation (with sayagaki). The sugata on this one felt very right to me, but I could not come to an agreement with the seller and decided to let it go. I wish you the best in the process moving forward. Please keep us updated. Addendum: if you feel confident in the authenticity, the polisher Saito-san is the one I would recommend.

Munechika Most likely a reference to the famous smith Sanjo Munechika (but this is not an authentic example of his mei).

Appears to be signed 兼延 (Kanenobu). I would look first into Muromachi period Mino. https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearch?order=field_smith_start_era_value&sort=asc&type=All&mei_op=contains&mei=兼延

Steve, it is not that there are no deals but rather that it takes a lot of study to identify them. I am glad to hear that you were able to return the tachi. My suggestion is to focus in a serious way on reading good references, and develop a more specific goal for what you would like to purchase. Then research the candidates that fit your goals. Looking for a "navy cheap enough to get it polished" is fairly vague and open-ended. Are you looking for a gendaito in kai-gunto koshirae, or an older sword in the same type of mountings? I would suggest not rushing, take your time to think about what you would like to collect and study legitimate examples (in books, and in-person if possible). You may find that what you thought you wanted in the beginning is not where your collecting goals end up.

Jelle, this appears to be a showato arsenal blade by Seki Kaneyoshi (WWII era).

Yes, legitimate Kawachi (no) kami Sukesada show kikumon. https://nihontoclub.com/swords/0000-1443 https://nihontoclub.com/sword-images/19834/19835

The mei appears to be Nobutada.

I don't like to generalize, but these blue-background, cheap auction swords are very, very unlikely to provide you with a sword that is worthwhile to invest in restoration. Cheap swords like this are being sold at auction by dealers on eBay who know what they are selling, and are selling pieces cheaply for a reason. Like the "Original Old BIG Japanese Tachi Sword Signed Hamon Horimono" we discussed earlier, these are items which may look cheap on the surface, but if you look closely the underlying mess of issues makes it clear why the price is what it is and that these are not good candidates to invest in. You are much better off waiting and buying a kai-gunto which already has a blade in good quality Japanese restoration, and if you are patient you are likely to find one for less than it would cost to have a katana polished (along with new shirasaya and all the other restoration-related expenses).

I should clarify, when I gave the feedback above I was not just saying gimei but indicating that the blade itself does not look Japanese (typical for Komonjo and similar sellers). What type of feedback are you looking for on the hamon? It is notare, and appears to be vacant of hataraki from what I can see in the photos.

This is in fact a kamon, but it is very crudely executed. Does the blade has a mei of Inoue Shinkai? Compare with the precision of the example below.

This looks much like a Komonjo-type gimei.

Authentic Seki Showato arsenal blade by Kaneyoshi.

The blade is signed Bishu Osafune Sukesada and dated Eisho __nen __ gatsu hi. I believe it is Eisho san nen hachi/roku gatsu hi. A day in the 6th or 8th month of the year 1506. Sue-Bizen blades with dates usually use the months 2 or 8, but this looks like it may read the 6th month of that year.

Kogatana is signed Yamashiro no kami Minamoto Kazunori.