BreizhSamourai

hello what do you think about this signature? seems recent to me and a bit weird (a bit of a feel of chinese fake) thx a lot

waw thx a lot for your quick replies! so it was kind of a Tameshigiri?

hello I would be keen to get your help on this mei I think the date says Kei-o 2 (so 1867 I guess) February 10 and then not sure . what is odd is that there is saku at the end and the other side seem to be a smith too! thx a lot

Hello I have a kai gunto koshirae stuck with Buyee because it has a *shark leather* saya. I had other similar kai guntos shipped from Japan last November without any issue so not sure what went wrong this time. Buyee is nicely giving me 2 options, throw it away or have it shipped to a Japanese address... Would anybody have some contacts in Japan? Shipping would be to France. I would offer 150usd + shipping cost. Thx in advance for your help Eric

thx for your feedback. I guess the seller put *shark leather* in some papers and it went crazy from there. I already bought a few kai shark saya from Japan without any issue and the item was allowed to be purchased I do not want to have it thrown away Would anybody have another contact in Japan as Kelly is not able to do it?

Hello I bought a kai gunto koshirae on Buyee but I am now receiving an email saying that the item cannot be shipped outside of Japan because it has *shark leather*... *we have confirmed the package contents in accordance to the Aviation Law and International Postal Regulations, the following item included in the package is prohibited from being shipped internationally using any couriers including Japan Post and UPS* Prohibited Item： 【Shark leather】 There are kindly proposing to throw the item away & my money with it... Did anybody came across such a situation? I already bought another kai koshirae without any issue! thx for your help

his real name was Kanematsu but he signed under Kanenobu. his son signed as well under Kanenobu and was a good smith so this add to the confusion. what is odd is that he seemed to be as important as Watanabe Kanetsuna in the Seki world but it is very hard to find anything on him. eric

thx for your feedback all. I will work on doing better pictures & get the measures

thx Peter Eric

thx Ken I found him on Markus book p150 under Kanenobu (Niwa Kanematsu) but there is not much detail just name / dates I checked as well nihontoclub (he is listed there as Kanematsu & Kanenobu so KAN1388, KAN1815 & KAN1826) but not much detail unfortunately. His teacher was Kaneyoshi (KAN3067) a bit of a mystery indeed!

Hello I am a bit struggling to have more details on this smith. The NTHK NPO identified him as Tamba Kanematsu but I could not find much other example on internet. He was born 1874 / died 1941 & was also named Niwa Kanenobu and was in charge of the Nihon Token Tanren Jo in the Kasuga shrine (according to Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths: From 1868 to the Present). His son was a good smith (also named Niwa Kanenobu). Do you know where I could find more info on him? sounds like he was an important smith so a bit odd not to find much Trying to document a bit my collection Thx for your help Eric

Hello Have some of you tried ultraviolet black light on tassel? I read it was a way to identify fakes. I tried on mine but I could not see much difference (so I assume they are indeed real). If somebody tried on a fake, it would be great to see how it would look compared to a real one. Thx Eric

Hello I am trying to narrow down the age / school of this katana. I have it for quite a few years now and it is my favorite It was picked up by a GI in WW2 in the Philippines and has an early high quality shingunto 98 mounting (rare same saya with leather cover etc). It has a koto feel (very light blade) if I compare it with other shinto blades I have. I believe it is more mokume than itame. Hamon is a very nice suguha that is extremely straight. Based on the various books I read, I am a bit stuggling to narrow it down but I saw some examples of katana from the Rai and Awataguchi school in late Kamakura / early Nanbokucho that made me think of it. Any ideas / tips welcome Thx for your help Eric

on all the other company officer tassels I have, you always have some brown on the blue but never some blue on the brown part (which are a bit like on ohmura website & like in the pics attached); hence the reason I thought this one was maybe more high end (given it has blue on brown and brown on blue). I would be skeptic about the machine error, it looks rather nicely done ps: I like the General ones too bad they are not common to find

thx a lot for your help