DTM72

I'll give it a shot. I believe it is this guy. https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SHI907 I believe it would be June of 1939 昭 Sho 和 wa 十 Ju 二二 Shi ( different way of writing 四 or the number 4 ) 年 Nen 六 Roku 月 Gatsu

Having the understanding of some tobiyaki and muneyaki are mistakes, my particular example is in my eyes a design that Saneyuki wanted to have on this blade. Each island looks like it was placed there for a reason and was not multiple accidents or mistakes. NTHK-NPO gave it a score of 76 when it was papered. With their expertise in mind I doubt it would have scored that high with 10-15 mistakes on each side of the shinogi area. I would just think that since the smith intended these features to be there, a polisher might break with conventional polishing and not burnish the shinogi area. <-- just thinking out loud. Sorry for the noise.

I have a signed and papered katana to Bungo Takata Fujiwara Saneyuki (SAN571) that has lots of TOBIYAKI (飛焼 - islands of tempering in the ji). It looks to have been recently repolished with a light hadori over the hamon, below the shinogi line. I, as well as many others, pretty much missed seeing the tobiyaki in the burnished area above the shinogi line. I only noticed it when I looked closely at what looked like a single area of tobiyaki that was in the upper part of the ji, extending over the shinogi line and into the upper shinogi area. Then I faintly noticed the other sporadic islands of tobiyaki running almost the entire length of the blade on both sides. In the right light at a certain angle, the islands can be seen. This is a stark contrast to the choji/midare hamon below the shinogi line that can be seen from across the room with no special lighting. My question is, for a blade that is of the shinogi-zukuri style with muneyaki, should the shinogi area NOT be burnished but rather just be a sashikomi type polish? This would be an easy answer for say a hira-zukuri Soshu blade with hitatsura. Thanks to all in advance! Dan

In addition to St. Croix, Grey @Grey Doffin and Mark Jones @Mark, I would also recommend Matt @mdiddy

The stamp is a Suya stamp. Suya was a supplier of fittings to different arsenals. Usually present on better quailty fittings.

I did a members search on there and did not see your name listed. Try messaging the mods to see what happened.

I'm a member there, but have no clue as to what happened. I have not been booted, but I don't say much.

I spy with my little eye some (recently) hard to find Naval kyugunto.

My father was a very wise man who taught me, "nothing is free." The first lie they tell you is, it's just 60 or 90 minutes. <-- complete B.S. Glad you survived Mark! Those sales people are all over the downtown area of where I live. I have NO problem telling them NO!!! Trying to arrange going to this show again. Had a great time earlier this year.

@Mark Mark Jones usually has a few of these in his fishing tackle box of parts he brings to shows.

There were 1 or 2 at the Orlando show, but I don't recall who was selling them.

@Winchester For a price of $3250, I would expect the blade to be in a little better condition. There is red rust on the mune (back edge). On the left side of the blade about 2-3 inches froward of the habaki, there looks to be a FUKURE - 脹れ (blister) opening up, and just forward of that, there appears to be a WARE - 割れ (a split or delamination in the layers). The overall polish is a little cloudy and the BOSHI - 帽子 (temper line in the kissaki-tip) is also not clear. If you were to offer $2500 for it, and had to pay another $2000-2500 for polish, you now have $5000 into it. You may struggle to get that return on investment if you tried to sell down the road. If you were able to get it papered with current papers, you may break even. The fittings on this example are high quality which helps your possible return on investment. Everything boils down to what you want it for. Are you happy with the fittings and the blade as-is? If so, go for it. In the end, it is your money and you are buying it for yourself, not any of us. If you are asking for opinions, I would say this is a tough one. I would want the blade to be as nice as the fittings, so I would want it polished. That takes time and more money. As Brian mentioned above, it may have failed a recent shinsa and is being offered with the old, not so trusted papers. Quick story, I bought 3 swords at the Chicago show. There was a shinsa just upstairs and they had openings. I just had to walk them upstairs, fill out the paperwork, pay the fee and within an hour, I had the results. This was a rare occasion to have a shinsa team available at an event in the USA. It is much more common to have them in Japan, and fairly easy to get to if you are say...a dealer in Japan. For a fairly big name shinto smith to come from a Japanese dealer without recent paperwork, should indicate the blade may have not passed recent submission. Recent papers are alot of work for us in the USA to obtain. Either send the blade to Japan, pay shipping and fees to the handler, the shinsa team, the shipping back, etc. Or wait for the once every 5 years for a team to come to the USA. <-- both paths are tough, but not impossible for is in the states. For dealers in Japan, it is almost as easy as I had it at the Chicago show. Hope all my blabbering helps.

Here is a link to one of his active eBay book sales. https://www.ebay.com/itm/125998184399?hash=item1d5613b7cf:g:P9gAAOSwtDNf3OuE&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8IaP4EE3zvE7V3KeCrnUMJi0152%2FsKEPLgG817oyS4WUM2A45T5QZ3UiL7Ty2wmvnSKg1Ip31gZoI8lc0Nzebu83uRr3VQzT1ufiaGlm9HH4g4aGvtXCLpE79MaCb0wHeCOOXDtts0aU8r3Q9vO%2BgGET6NEJXMXYjJKVDEl0w%2BkQI0cikQdhOd%2BkDuyt4b2EAd779H9shXb%2F%2B1Eh216IrJYuWaLgP%2F%2F8%2FPv4jMrOYdJOiGcd5mgk0%2BLr8wiH1bsX9beGrxehDw3L3odO5hF5xUxOxgUIDOST7SnOAnlf5GxcGlGCbzojcXUMjsWvmSAUYw%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5yP7YioYg

Factory made Showa-to. Looks like the blade has been sandpapered, buffed, etc. The saya is missing the ishizuki (end piece drag) The tsuka ito is coming off and has now lost the menuki. The tsuba is missing as well as most of the seppa. (looks like 1 remains) If it were me, I would not give over $100 for it. That is a basket case.

Messaged you.

I don't have a gunto worthy of this gem. (also from Ontario Archaeology) It was already sold to @PNSSHOGUN Congrats to John on a beautiful piece!

I was able to get 2, in boxes.

Thanks to @Ontario_Archaeology for helping me find museum quailty pieces for my collection!

I would guess that the leather seppa once had a short strip on it with a snap that engaged the leather covering that was once on the saya. Over time, the strap broke away, leaving only the seppa part...which was put onto the incorrect side of the tsuba at some point.

Orlando show is coming later this week. Who is attending? What are you bringing to sell or trade? Is anyone looking for anything?

國 = Kuni 包 = Kane https://nihontoclub....a=All&school_nid=All

Found what looks to be the same sword from a post here back in 2013.

Jean, I am aware of all the terms, but was trying to keep it simple without causing confusion on the original posters' part.

I guess I'll go first. Hamon is the hardened edge that is the result of yaki-ire (water quenching) Sanmai is a construction technique than can create differing effects in the hada (grain pattern) and also the hamon, but is NOT the basis for hamon formation. please see the attached articles below for additional information. If you notice in the first article about hamon and jihada, blade construction is not mentioned...this is because it is not THE basis for hamon formation in and of itself. https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/shop/episode-7-hamon刃紋-＆-jihada地肌/ https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/laminate.htm

My humble submission