Toryu2020

they are not afraid of the Lawman, they are afraid of the Taxman. Inheritance tax is quite onerous so it is best not tohave a lot of assets on the books... -t

The finish on the nakago looks like factory work not the hand of a craftsman... -t

The finish on the saya is wrong - looks shelacked The horn fittings show no age and are poorly finished the habaki is poorly finished the blade shows an etched hamon not a true hamon. and I suspect no true hada either. the end of the hi (groove) stops well short of the yokote, not good workmanship but common on replicas -t

Have to agree with Michael, This is a replica... -t

I should add Hida no kami is the smiths title Fujiwara is his traditional clan affiliation Ujifusa is his artist name You concentrate your searches on this line of swordmakers, Ujifusa... -t

not sure who your translator is but, 飛騨 守 藤原 氏房 Hida (no) Kami Fujiwara Ujifusa the common reading of the Kami character is indeed mamori, or mamoru the unwritten rules of reading sigs dictate we add the (no) Fujiwara is indeed a clan, the mistake here however is that someone read the Uji in Ujifusa as a stand alone and since it can mean family or clan it almost makes sense. But the proper way is to read the last two characters as one name. Good rule to remember is to start with the last two or three kanji and build your mei from there... -t

"excellent antiques" but listed as Gendai "no damage" but pics show a ware in the habaki moto this is more like a blade for Iai and I would not even consider it for that... -t

鍛錬 Tanren equals forging -t

Jidai wa (ハ) Nanbokucho sueki mata Muromachi shoki The period is late Nanbokucho or early Muromachi. Ha in this case is read as wa... -t

明珍〇〇 紀宗近作 Just guessing really - not at all confident this is Mune CHIKA. However if you start looking at Myochin signatures I think you will fill in the blanks... -t

Very sad.

Seki stamp

Just announced! We will be offering mail-in service. $100 per item. We will be updating the website soon. In the meantime you can PM me for details... -tch

I had occasion to revisit the book Uchigatana Koshirae Most of the habaki shown are two piece - some are clearly fancy peirced constructions with extended bodies that must be Edo or later. However many are "short" plain two piece habaki that show age. Not conclusive but I would have to agree that high end swords got two piece habaki in the Momoyama and maybe earlier... -t

Andrey keep looking for examples of Hayashi work - I think you will see for yourself that this doesnt compare well. The iron looks dry, lifeless, the seppa dai is perfectly flat while the rest appears molded but not well, almost muddy. I would not spend a lot of time on this one. -t

Carlos Robert Hughes of Keichodo.com is based in Kamakura and would be an excellent resource as noted. Most sword shops are going to have fittings and koshirae but few may be interested in retrofitting a sword into items they have on offer. You may be better off looking for a modern artist doing this kind of traditional work but I can tell you it will not be cheap... -t

This of course is the crux of the matter, We would love to visit Australia again but is there enough pent up need to support it. -t

龍の図？ Ryu no zu - "Dragon theme"

he specialized in this molten finish - many copied it should it turn out to be modern it would be no loss, this to me has the look of a skilled artisan like Naruki...

成木一成

Johnny Very nice tsuba - not Myochin imo - but Yamakichibei google up the work of Naruki Issei... -t

Checked out issue 646 - turns out there is no Tadayoshi on page 34 Perhaps we are looking for the NPO's version of TKTR... -t

長曾根虎徹

This kanji 塔 is read To not hashi or bashi Your smith is Heianjo ju Ishido Suketoshi 平安城住石道助利 According to the Meikan he used Ishido 石堂and Ishido 石塔 in his signatures Fwiw... -t

I willl have to read that article by Markus, The nakago ana is just too small to be useful for tameshigiri - i would expect a larger opening that could be modified with shims as suggested. This is wakizashi sized. If I had to guess I would say this was off of some Kikuchi-yari or other specialized weapon as it does not make sense as a sidearm. It is just too damn heavy... -t