Ray Singer

Hi Brian, After you have collected for a while you will see that mumei shinto and shinshinto swords are not generally considered desirable by more senior collectors. As a minimum standard, a sword from Shinto or later should be signed and preferably ubu (with one mekugi-ana). One like the example you have shown us here, what appears to be a tired, mumei Shinto blade with what looks like patches of shingane showing, has very little collectible value. There's an expression "bad swords hurt your eyes". As people have said several times in your previous postings it is your money and you can collect whatever you like, but IMHO you are doing yourself a disservice collecting swords like this which do not have a great deal to offer in terms of teaching you about quality. For less (perhaps far less) than the amount that you have spent recently you could have purchased a truly wonderful late Kamakura or Nambukucho period o-suriage mumei wakizashi, in polish with a quality habaki and likely already Tokubetsu Hozon. That sword would have served as good study material as you move forward and might be a sword that you never want to sell/could not be upgraded even when you have gained much more knowledge and experience. - Ray

There was another osuriage mumei blade attributed to Kiyomaro, a wakizashi, which was auctioned not long ago by Christies. One could speculate that the mei was removed and the sword made osuriage to attempt to pass off as a Shizu, Naoe Shizu or other Nambokucho masterwork. Doing that obviously wouldn't make a lot of financial sense now, but the change could have been made a long time ago. - Ray

If they felt that the work exceeded the quality of others in his mon, and was unusually good for Kiyomaro himself (displaying more hataraki, etc... than one would typically expect to find in an authentic work of Kiyomaro) then this may explain the attribution and the use of Den in this case. It's unfortunate that we don't have more (written) insight into why the shinsa team makes these judgements... - Ray

Moses recently moved his shop to our area: http://www.nihontoantiques.com. There are actually quite a few of us here in South Florida. It's perhaps long overdue that a local study group is formed. - Ray

Reviving this old message thread because a Kiyomaro daito (mind you, a mumei one) was just listed for sale. http://www.nona.dti.ne.jp/~sword/katana/kiyomaro.html

One of my favorite 'nihonto stories' is about the buried Kiyomaro tanto. When it was exhumed from the ground, the sword was significantly corroded and in basically relic condition. After a great deal of material was polished away, a beautiful tanto emerged. This was the same tanto that sold a few years ago on Aoi Art in the neighborhood of 90k. The Nihonto Koza talks about this and compares the Kiyomaro with another sword which was buried, recovered and restored. The second example did not fare nearly as well, so again how well a sword sustains polish over its lifetime is case-by-case. - Ray

This will vary from one sword to the next. I used to own a Heian jidai ko-Senjuin blade in which the hamon was only a remnant in some places, just 1-2mm wide. Even in those areas, the hamon remained absolutely brilliant. I have also handled a Rai Kunitoshi tanto which, although significantly polished down and having a only parts of the hamon remaining, still exhibited a very bright and clearly defined yakiba. On other swords yes, the hamon may deteriorate as it is further polished down. There is also a school of thought that some of the characteristics that we value in koto work, such as a wide nioi-guchi and thick ashi may actually be revealed after the sword has been polished several times and werenot present in their first polish. Hope Ted will forgive my linking to his page. These are the cross sections I was referring to earlier,,, http://legacyswords.com/nihontoCS/crosssections.htm

Hi Brian, I believe that there have been a few past discussions here where examples of nihonto cross sections were shown. Use the search feature. You can also do a google image search for "nihonto cross section". You will see in the photos how the yakiba continues uninterrupted across the interior of the sword at the ha. - Ray

There is a koshirae for sale now with the fuchigashira done in this technique. http://www.yamabushiantiques.com/KOSHIRAE19.htm

Please do not lay the sword directly on a rocky surface like this. Even though it clearly needs to be (professionally) repolished, it is best to do what you can to avoid adding more deep abrasions.

I was just very surprised to hear that there will be a sword show in Orlando in a few weeks. Information on their site is very light, anyone have additional details? Is this affiliated with the Florida Token Kai? I am curious to know how attendance will be. The 'current dealers' section of the site is password protected and does not work even after registration. http://www.orlandojapaneseswordshow.com

If you are decided not to send your sword to Japan for restoration then Jimmy Hayashi is an excellent polisher. Not to beat a dead horse, but before you make a decision I would encourage you to calculate your expected total costs including what you originally paid for the sword + habaki, shirasaya, polish, papers (including agent fees). Most times it is not advisable to go through this process with a sword that has notable flaws or if the mei is questionable. - Ray

Hi Brian, you need to be aware that the Yasuhiro has several kizu and there is a fukure which is in the process of opening up. Consider carefully before making the decision to put this sword through a polish, and if you do decide to polish the sword make sure you are going to someone with the training and skills to address these types of problems. You should weigh the costs for restoration and what the end result will be with what you could buy with those same funds. I frequently see nice, signed, ubu, papered, shinto wakizashi in polish with no notable kizu in the 4-5k range. - Ray

Kiyondo. http://e-sword.jp/sale/2012/1210_3009syousai.htm

I have always enjoyed Hayama Enshin's work. There are a couple of tanto for sale right now, and I included links to one additional (for reference) which just sold. - Ray http://www.seiyudo.com/ta-08101.htm http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2012/1210_3003syousai.htm http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/11604.html

Or one could pay for a professional polish. The burnishing process does not simply create a mirror finish but is done in such a way that the hada can be seen and evaluated in this area (an important part of the kantei process). A DIY burnish with a dremel tool is not going to produce the same results. There is a reason this stage may take several days on a daito when done correctly, rather than a 30 minute express solution.

Hi Clive, there was a write-up on this sword attached to the sale of a Juyo Koyama Munetsugu hocho Masamune utushimono which sold at auction. Links below. http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=4919050 http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/LotD ... ID=4919050 The long inscription states that the sword is a copy of the large Hocho [kitchen-knife] style wakizashi listed as by Masamune and a treasure of the Egara Shrine in Kamakura Soshu Province. The sword was exhibited at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo between 2003 and August 2006 together with the original from which it was copied. An exhibition caption at the time told that the wakizashi known as 'Hocho Masamune', dating from the Nambokucho Period, was purchased on 4th November 1894 by, or for the Yasukuni Shrine, having been in the possession of the Egara Tenmangu of Kamakura in Sagami Province, and recorded in the Shuko Jushu of Matsudaira Sadanobu. The original piece in the Yasukuni Shrine has a straight utsuri with nioi-based hamon of midareba with ko-notare in gunome, and these characteristics together with the style of the so-no-kurikara horimono on the blade suggest that it might have been made by Tomomitsu, or another of the Nambokucho period Bizen smiths. Interestingly there exists another copy of the same Yasukuni shrine original which is signed Munehiro, who is assumed to be an otherwise unknown pupil of Koyama Munetsugu.

One of Atarashi's lacquer works sold at a recent Christie's auction. http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... ID=5253759 http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Zoom ... 7/D5253759

太刀 = tachi

Congratulations Eric, looks as though you did well. I love to see swords of this period with the length intact (even if machi-okuri). Hope you will share photos when the Ko-Naminohira arrives from Japan. In addition to Bob Benson, who was previously mentioned, I have also used Tsuruta-san at Aoi Art. He will assist with shinsa submissions, even for swords not sold through his shop. I would also suggest having Tanobe-san do a sayagaki if it can be arranged through one of these agents. - Ray

The sword in this thread previously had a Hon'ami Koson kinpun mei to Rai Kunitoshi. The sword did not pass in its initial submission, but after the kinpun mei was removed it papered to Enju. viewtopic.php?t=6283 Also, not the stamp you are looking for but there are a number of examples online which may be good additional reference for your research. Sayagaki http://www.nihontoantiques.com/fss367.htm http://www.hizento.net/index.php?page=sell-S1 http://www.shibuiswords.com/papers1.htm http://www.nihontocraft.com/Sadahiro_Honma.html Kinzogan mei http://www.sho-shin.com/kanemitsu.html Kinpun mei http://www.nihonto.us/shizu_saburo_kaneuji.htm

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/sword20.html

Hi Adrian, I am glad to hear that you are doing this. After Jim passed, I archived all of his articles in PDF format. There are some images missing, but the text content is fairly complete. The only piece I am aware that is missing is the addendum to his article "Hard to kantei" where he reports that the tachi was papered to Fujishima Yukimitsu by Yoshikawa-san. These articles were some of my first nihon-to study material I encountered when I started almost 17 years ago. Jim is sorely missed, I will be glad to see this content available online to collectors again. I'll email the files to you. Regards, Ray

A large iron ball pommel does not sound like a Japanese Sword, perhaps Chinese? There are faux tanto koshirae that you occasionally see which are entirely hollow and designed to store or hide a scroll. I can recall at least three of these from past shows.

The Nobuyoshi line is considered Mishina school. The shodai was one of the Kyoto Go Kaji. I'd like to say that the shodai was a student of Iga (no) Kami Kinmichi, but I'm going off memory and am sure someone will correct me here.