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You might be on the right track. My answer is lotus roots. -Donovan

Ford might be able to shed some light on this. Strange thing is that if mounted, then you wouldn't be able to notice/see the marks at all. They don't appear to be punched, but actually chiseled out. Maybe it was a scrap peice that someone used for practice But i doubt it. -Donovan

My eyes will take any "candy" they can get . No harm, no foul. I just posted something on your forum in response, but you mentioned something here that i didn't touch on. I rather enjoyed the picture of it in your hand. Not only does it give the viewer a better idea of size and perspective, but the dragonfly and stone both appear less "flat". I am envyous of your work, as always. -Donovan

Hi Ford, You finished it! Just amazing work, as usual. I was wondering if you would do anything with the underside. I would love to see some high res pics. Considering the time, and thought, Ford put into this particular peice, it would be quite the expensive mouse. -Donovan

*just downloaded Firefox at work (for the 2nd time)* Even being IT, we get yelled at for using it..... I really like your sword. I do not have the time, nor resources here at work to compare the mei, but at first look it appears to be well chiseled. Hopefully the more experienced can chime in here about this. The hamon does appear to have some choji midare within the gunome, probably a bit easier to tell with it in hand. I am really drooling over this. I envy you. This is the Sukekane i recently purchased. I believe it belonged to a NMB member, but i do not know who. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Yokoyama_Sukekane.html -Donovan

http://www.japanesesword.de/menue/schwe ... 1/001.html This is absolutely beautiful. I really need to hit the lottery or something..... -Donovan

I would say that it is completely safe to say that they experimented on other styles. From what i find the typical for the yokoyama school is going to be choji gunome midare. But i have found several examples of the later generations working in other hamon styles. I make an assumption here, but the time period probably plays a major part in the "experimentation". On Danny's page he makes mention that I beleive i put this link in a previous post. But i will post it here for ez reference. http://www.japanesesword.de/menue/schwerter/002/002.html as a side note. Any and all references for later Yokoyama smiths would be much appreciated. -Donovan

Thank you Nobody, and Jos. I rather enjoy being incorrect, typically it means that i am learing something. I try to rarely speak/write in absolutes as i am still 3 years new to these subjects. I do wish i had more examples, and references of the later Yokoyama works. I have found a few, but you can never have enough IMHO. -Donovan

I am days late on this post, but figured it worth posting my opinion. Just in case it goes back up for sale. If i had ebay from work, i probably would have replied 3 days ago. The first thing that tipped me off here was the fact that the seller wrote "Tomonari 58th genaration". One could easily follow the link that Jean posted below from Nihontocraft, and tell that the mei here is all wrong. Being that i have that wakizashi i can say that Sukekane's work is well above what is(was) displayed on that ebay auction. As i have only seen a handful of other work by this smith, i could be missing lots of information. First opinions: The mei is incorrect (opinion based from comparison, cause i cannot read mei), the hamon looks suspect, and the hada looks muji. Of course it could be due to bad pictures... But my gut says this is a rip off. -Donovan

With my limited knowledge and resources i haven't found much information on any of the Yokoyama smiths, outside of Sukenaga. I have been looking around from more information, and examples, because i recently purchased a shinshinto wakizashi by Sukekane. From what i find, there is some inconsistency in the mei of the shinshinto yokoyama smiths. As well as hamon style. The time period probably plays a large part in this. Quickly, as i am at work, i can compare two made by Sukekane. Here is a good example of the Bizen Yokoyama school. Choji hamon, yakidashi, and other fine examples. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Yokoyama_Sukekane.html Here is another by the same smith. Different mei, different hamon style, but still a fine sword. http://www.japanesesword.de/menue/schwerter/002/002.html Being a novice, if anyone can correct or elaborate on anything here it would be much appreciated. -Donovan

This part is more my speed.

I have been looking at this post for a few days now hoping that people with a lot more experience then me would comment so i could learn. At first glance this looks to be a well made tsuba, and does look as if it was mounted at one point in time. The work itself is clean, and carving appears to be well done. With that said. I want to agree with Reinhard and Brian on this. Something strikes me a bit strange when looking at it. The wear around the seppa-dai points to it's odd shape. The whole peice feels to have an unnaturalness to it. The organic depiction of the tree does fit the theme, but the way the design is forced into the curvature of the circle seems strange to me. Sorry, but i don't know enough to give more then my opinion. Which, in this case, is more of my personal artistic taste. -Donovan

It is hard to tell by looking at these pictures. Photographing hada is elusive at best. It almost appears that you have similar hada or kizu that i have in my mumei wakizashi. There are 2 or 3 spots within the hada that appear to be either shingane poking through or O-Itame. Being the novice that i am, i can't make solid judgement... But i fear that it is most likely shingane showing through. -Donovan

Hello everyone. I just posted some less then perfect pictures from my trip to the Walters Museum in Baltimore, MD over on Ford's wonderful forum. Here is the link. http://followingtheironbrush.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=391 There was so much more that i wished i could have photographed, but i am sure everyone else knows that it is really hard to get good pictures with museum lighting, and not being able to use a flash.... -Donovan

*slaps self for not signing* Not being into Kendo myself, i will assume that Wiki is correct in saying that bugo weren't used till early Edo period. That being said, you can't really tell age from just design in this case. The description puts the material as Bronze, would this be accurate? Can bronze patina to this dark of a color? Looks more like shakudo to me. -Donovan