raynor

Interesting nakago if Showa. For comparison a late shinshinto blade.

Thanks all, Ray he is who I had help me with the Shinsa at the start of the year as offered on his website. But either he is too busy or whatever to get back to me. I know most of the kanteisho is distributed to recipients now with tracking numbers and if there is some that is a later batch and mine being one of them there is no problem with that, but weeks and months without even replying to several inquiries.. I'd rather ask the NTHK directly.

Greetings, I wonder if anyone know where to contact the NTHK, Yoshikawa branch in Japan to obtain Shinsa origami? I sumbitted a katana for the Shinsa held in Tampa, Florida earlier this year and it passed to kanteisho. Unfortunately I have been unable to get anything but the worksheet from the session despite several inquiries lately. I know people have obtained their origami by now so after several unanswered inquiries I now consider it lost and would like to get in touch with the organization directly, rather then through the agent submitting my blade to get what I paid for. Any help appreciated.

No turn back of the boshi? Or is that a thing on post Edo blades?

Not a good advertisement for the auction house this. Hopefully it works out in the end.

Great examples, thanks Uwe.

I've started to consider my next blade purchase, and have run into a bit of a dilemma. For my next purchase, the main goal is blade quality when forged. I am not yet locked into specific schools, periods or smiths, tho I think I am turning into a bizen and soshu fan given a few more years to ripen. I will probably look for a Koto blade, and paper level not that important but at least hozon level. My dilemma is should I go for the signed dated ubu freshly polished blades, or the mumei osuriage slightly more tired blades within a similar level of papers and price range? If I am aiming for quality will I not with careful vetting be able to get a higher quality blade at my set budget if I accept conditions such as mumei, suriage, older polish and even other factors such as non fatal kizu or even tiny traces of old halted rust? The reason for asking is both seeing what others experiences and opinions are but also that I have seen blades with some and even all of these "detrimental" conditions sometimes strike me as equally or more beautiful then others without. For example I saw a osuriage mumei koto blade with old rust damage to a small part of its hamon near the nakago on one side with tokubetsu hozon papers (didnt know scarred mumei shortened blades could pass TH) awesome elegant shape and a flawless chu suguha hamon that left a striking impression not matched until deep into browsing Juyo blades after pretending I had no bills to pay for the rest of the year.

Someone didnt put on their glasses before selling..

Oh wow, that escalated quickly. And here I am skipping the line on slight buyers remorse for a tsuba I picked up in the $200 range to mount on my practise sword.

Am I correct in assuming practical tsuba, as in made for mounting on a sword meant to be used would very rarely if at all have any of the decorations bleed into the seppa-dai?

Maybe shibuichi? With definitively some wax or lacquer or God knows what on it to boot. Beyond my eyes to tell, but seems like a similar material as this one, is this also a fake?

I agree - they're cute. It is very diplomatic of you to call it not spectacular workmanship. It is quite clear it is not something Gotô Ichijô pulled out of his sleeve but charming still. I actually find the sloppiness of some of the lines humorous. Maybe too much sake in the workshop, or the start of someone's career.

Spittle is bad, if caught early a bit of bone or antler and great care and patience rubbing on the rust spot can save you a costly restoration. Even better, as mentioned - talk away from the blade.

Man on a mission.

I am going to have a copy of this shipped to my house in Norway, should make spending the dark cold post Christmas holidays there extra fun this year! Lovely that books of this level is made for such a niche subject, hat off to Mr. Pechalov.

Also the things wrong with and around the bohi is another red flag.

Are you sure its lacquer and not renaissance wax or something similar?

Also Kaga style habaki, when I think Muramasa's school worked out of Ise? The alarm bells are a cacaphony at this point.

A fool and his money are easily parted. Yikes that is one abused piece of steel.

So far I've spent less then $3000 on a sword. My top limit would be south of $10000. It would really take a special blade to get me to consider that sum. Past that sum you have more sensible things like getting cars, a garage, new kitchen or a nice trip.

I bought my very first pair of menuki from katanacentre, a while ago. While they are far from masterpieces I am fairly confident they are genuine, but will always bow to more learned opinions. https://imgur.com/a/7q4Awsw Suspicious with the swords. Someone who is in the business of selling these items are usually somewhat knowledgeable and then none of this would make sense.

Birds, kiri leaves, in general trees, animals and plants. Some dragons are appealing too.

Unrelated but have anyone gotten their origami from the Tampa Shinsa earlier this year?

I saw king Tuts treasure in Egypt years ago. While I do not remember that dagger I do remember other pieces especially the mask. It is a lot smaller then you expect. To this day it remains the most impressive work of art I've seen. The craftmanship is incredible. I would not put it past the ancient Egyptians to have knowledge of iron hardening back then despite what modern theories say. If anything archeology worldwide keeps revealing and rising the bar on the knowledge and skills of the ancients.

Blade steel looks oily and the hamon very controlled.. high quality koto bizen work maybe?