Lewis B

Hard to define 'best' as these makers worked in different styles but were equally accomplished in technique. I would also say Rai Kunimitsu should also be up there. He and Shintogo Kunimitsu are regularly referred to as the best Tanto makers. As representatives of their respective schools I would say these 3 are the pinnacle of whats been accomplished.

The 3 on Nihonto.com are some of the best currently available online.

My first opinion is that it is at least a partial depiction of a flood event. The submersed Torii, tops of trees, what appear to be a pair of sails on one side of each tsuba etc. Any idea what the vertical poles with golden supporting elements represent? I like the depictions and storytelling in these tsuba.

I agree. Who would you say was more accomplished, Sadayoshi, his adopted son Sadakazu or 3rd gen Sadakatsu?

So we get to see the subject of this epic thread from a few years ago? Even more exciting. Such an amazing journey.

Speaking of Kiyomaro, the NBTHK-EB will have an opportunity to study his work at the next meeting together with his closest rival Koyama Munetsugu, as well as blades by students of the two smiths. Should be interesting as these are considered 2 of the best Shinshinto smiths.

A Reddit group such as https://www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/ might be more useful for fact finding for the type of blade you're looking to buy.

Unfortunately, unlike for modern blades you're not paying per mm.

Some of the blades in the Albrecht von Roretz collection have Mei. And some of these have been examined in hand by an expert and all those blades were deemed gimei by the expert (there is a signed Yukihira tanto and a Sadamune katana for example). Of course, I wouldn't be saying all big names in Western collections are similarly questionable, just that many of those swords that left the country in the 19th and early 20th century (as gifts, purchases by wealthy collectors, often purchased through unscrupulous middlemen etc) are not what they purport to be. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/49787-today-is-a-red-letter-day-a-personal-audience-with-the-albrecht-masamune/#findComment-518658

I'm highly suspicious of the 'utsuri'. Andrew Ickeringill brought these artificial utsuri effects by unscrupulous sellers to light some years ago. The blade might have been acid etched as the features look rather forced and unnatural, at least from these photos. Worth bumping for all the new members

I concur. I got an excellent deal on my Yamato Shikkake with sayagaki and custom Tensho Koshirae at the Japan Art Expo in Utrecht last year. Dealers are very keen to negotiate as they don't want to lug their items back to Japan. Also no tax to pay unlike if you had the sword shipped directly from Japan. And you can see the blade in person. Win win win. I will attend the next show in June and will have my eyes open for the next addition to my collection. Shows are brilliant.

Saw one of those 'Masamune' in the Samurai Museum in Berlin. It was clearly not a Masamune and the name was typed in exclamation marks to confirm its dubious attribution. That 'Masamune' has been up for sale for donkeys years waiting for a donkey to buy it. The Steyr Museum has a bring back Masamune from the 19th century. They are convinced its genuine but its quite clearly not. The majority if not all the big name attributions are gimei. As some have said, Japan was not in the habit of giving gaijin top tier makers prior to Compton.

Such as the saiha Juyo Shintogo Kunimitsu retempured by Yasutsugu and was the victim of the Osaka castle fire.

I paid a visit to the Samurai museum in Berlin today and saw some excellent blades including a TJ Rai Kunimitsu and a juyo blade by his father Kunitoshi. The Kunimitsu was spectacular. Other standouts for me were 2 Gassan Sadakazu swords, a TJ Bizen Kageyasu and a Juyo Sa Kunihiro Naginata Naoshi from the Nanbokucho era. The Kunihiro had so many interesting features such as midare utsuri along the length of the blade and guess what, a kaeri boshi. You can't tell me a boshi like this was envisaged and executed by the smith. This is the result of some major reworking to create the Naginata naoshi.

It's one blade that can only be appreciated in hand. Just look at all that activity in the oshigata

If it was this one (99% sure) then seller was taking a huge loss. Asking price was 45 million back in Jan.

I think this more than the actual asking price was what really caught my attention. I would have to assume that at some point an attempt at TJ was made (Kotetsu blades have passed TJ) and failed. AOI (its not stated that this is a consignment piece so therefore part of the company inventory) seems to be capitalizing on the Kotetsu hype train.

I should have qualified the OP as Nihonto without historical figure connections, or outlier, head scratcher Christies/Sothebys/Bonhams results.

https://sword-auction.com/en/product/26439/as25067-katana-nagasone-okisato-nyudo-kotetsu-with-saidan-mei45th-nbthk-juyo-token/

Yes, and even saiha pass Juyo in rare cases. I bet this is a case of buyers remorse. That blade looks rough and tired. Still a lot cheaper than the 22mil Yen paid for the dubious condition TJ recently.

Very nice. I could almost guarantee this seller has multiple Ebay/Yahoo sellers accounts. The photos are just too well executed to be a noob on the scene. They are some of the best I've come across on those platforms. I would assume its gimei. There are kanji by 2 different hands on the omote. The bottom two appear older. The koshirae fittings also appear above average and can I detect a signature on the tsuba? Hard to tell for sure with all the patination. Overall if you like the blade its worth a punt at that price. The hamon seems quite distinctive so maybe this can be the subject for further research on the maker.

Waiting for Jacques to say thats not green, its lime.

The smith almost had a heart attack when May was reaching for the blade with his left hand.

Nice example of a saiha Shintogo Kunimitsu tanto, retempered by Echizen Yasutsugu (1st Gen) and passing Juyo. Hideyoshi owned.

A swing and a miss. Again. You are choosing examples that prove your point. What you refuse to see are the examples above that have different style of boshi such that if the blade was modified to naginata-naoshi, a small kaeri could be retained.