raynor

afaik failure means no paper at all and the pink ones are considered genuine works?

Regarding the worksheets, are they normally provided for absent people with items submitted through middlemen, or should I ask for it?

The lacquer work is very similar to an old ailing saya I have as well, could anyone tell me what technique is used or called for this look? Appears as if rice was pressed into the surface for the patterns.

Are those VCR tapes? I found a floppy disk when cleaning my boxes recently.. now I cant toss it like I did the others years ago. Is that how it starts?

Congratulations! Are you attending the Tampa shinsa? I am awaiting results as well through the mail in service, I recon the results are out in a week or so maybe faster?

Personally I've never attended a Shinsa before. So I'd like to know things like at what blinding speed do they go through items? Are worksheets or results put up in public? What is the rough pass percentage, more tosogu versus blades submitted, etc. (How many people politely shown the door this time claiming they have the Honjo) Pretty much anything that might be of interest

Anyone mind dripping some details and tidbits from the Shinsa here the next few days? I am unable to attend in Tampa this year but would like to know how it goes. Extra exciting as I've got a katana submitted through the mail in service.

Also, in the sunlight there is caked old dirt around the raised inlays visible, in hand it is quite visible too with the sets smooth shakudo surface. Any way to clean old grime like this off safely with minimal risk to the patina and workmanship? What about the fading silver flowers? First idea I get is mild soap water with a soft paint or toothbrush for the surface. Will wait for any pointed fingers.

Brilliant! I weep tears of joy.

Hello, I wonder if there is any data, or good guesses on how many traditional blades there is currently? With tens of thousands of smiths over about a thousand years the total produced has to be in the low millions at least. Add the lost blades to time, war and special events like the US military mass destruction of blades shortly following the second world war there must be a big dent in the total number. I read that there are supposedly more Japanese blades in the US today then in Japan from GI bring backs, but from a first glance that sounds unreasonable to me. Some 2-300.000 blades were apparently brought back to the US and that exceeds the total remaining in Japan, does anyone know more about the real numbers here? A big percentage of the GI blades must have been factory made gendaito rather then traditional blades from before the Meiji ban.

It is a nice set, subdued rather then overly flashy. It was going for the price of a decent restaurant meal so I had to try. Interesting one would choose to scrape at the metal and not the wooden tsuka during removal. I've read some shakudo repatinates itself in air, is there something I could do to allow it to happen on it's own here? Either way the scratching was done on a non critical spot and is so tiny that it's not a big issue.

As a greenhorn this forum has been and is an absolute luxury in this field. On top of that the lack of caps lock usage and internet fighting is refreshing, I chalk it down to the kind of people usually in hobbies like these but also the effect of having people sign with real names is not to be underestimated. Thank you!

How come the dislike for shinshinto when they tried to emulate koto blades? Just curious. On that note I've sent a shinshinto blade by a relatively unknown smith to the upcoming Tampa Shinsa, should be interesting.

Thanks Ford. Silver does seem to be it, especially now that I just looked at it in sunlight. By the way that is the most epic Tengu nose I've ever seen. Reminds me of the Norwegian trolls back home. Here are some photos using sunlight. Am I correct that the tiny scratches on the underside of the kashira rim are just that, scratches? Seems like a strange place to put any kind of signature.

To me in hand it seems like accumulated dirt, I see no tiny bubbles etc to indicate lacquer and it does have the dark almost indigo blue raven feather like sheen. But then again I'm still very much learning, I will post some photos tomorrow with sunlight for a better look. Thank you all for the input so far.

Nothing against any good Meiji works, after all he was in my opinion the most influental emperor in Japanese history with what he started. I meant that the set seems traditional as in made for wear, not deliberately made to catch the eye of Western collectors as per post sword ban. The fuchi motif seems a little like that compared to the more subtle kashira.

Franco, I'm in no way claiming knowledge here, but the decorations seem normal, subdued versus the more random and often overly elaborate work done for western tourists after the banning of swords a decade or do into Meiji? Pewter makes a lot of sense too looking at it in sunlight.

Alright, are the photos that bad? :)

Grey is right offcourse, but for your very first item you could done worse. Its genuine and you did not pay an arm for it. Quite similar to my own first item, a late or mid Edo hammered iron tsuba with some unfortunately over cleaned inlay.

Greetings, I surprisingly won an auction for a set of fuchi kashira, and wonder if someone can tell me something about them beyond my beginner eyes. Appears to be shakudo with inlay, am I correct in that some of the flowers might be silver? Appears to be Edo period and not Meiji as the seller suggested, or am I wrong?

I often see people quoting Fujishiro, Hawley and the Toko Taikan etc. during sales especially. Aren't any opinions given just that, an opinion? Granted more informed then the vast majority of collectors especially outside of Japan but I would think Shinsa papers is where you will get the most informed opinions since they actually get to hold the blades in question and it is not just a single individual, maybe in a seller, dealer or other position who decides the conclusion. I read somewhere that there was an estimated 13000 known active smiths up until the Meiji restoration. With such a number of craftsmen there will undeniably be a huge gap from say Masamune's best work down to your obscure some days maybe drunken smith who produced subpar rushed blades during wartime, but certainly also a lot of underrated individuals. As I'm still very fresh in this game I'm trying to not be blinded by big names, not that there is nothing to it, there definitively is, but rather try to look at and learn from blades individually regardless of who the work is attributed to. Are there any known examples of underrated smiths, and indications of why they are so beyond merely falling through the cracks and not be mentioned in any Fujishiro, Hawley or Toko Taikan register? If I understand correctly smiths registered by name but not by known work is given a "default" rating sometimes, which may prove very unjust in some cases?

Guido is correct, it is a shakujo. Primarily a noisemaker as he said but in the hands of a skilled monk also a tool for self defense depending on its construction, wielded using spear or staff techniques. I do Shaolin kung fu, and some of them did not shy away looking very much as the weapons they could be if needed.

I'm still clueless compared to most people here, but if there was no photo showing the pieces backside, hard pass.

What's wrong with gorilla tape? Just noticed the sword tapering over a picture frame beneath. Wow! It really must be a joke but then again the longer I live the less surprised I get

Thanks for the welcome, this is a rabbit hole I most enjoy stumbling down, especially after starting to realize just how deep it is. So to simplify things, one could look for common practical construction factors, visual appeal nothwithstanding shared between the very top echelon of smiths to attempt to pin down what the best functional sword should be. From my limited understanding tight hada makes sense for blade integrity. Way out of my depth here but would not suguha do the same for hamon, as Suishinshi Masahide, Mr. back-to-koto dabbled with at the end of his career?