DTM72

Please let me know what I did wrong...this is all part of my learning.

Unless you buy one used, they have a 6 month to almost 1 year wait after ordering. He may get lucky and find a dealer on eBay that actually has some Hanwei in stock, and just take what they have. Barnejp, we all appreciate your interest in Nihonto. To be completely honest, you can't even find a WWII machine made NCO sword for $500 any more. (with aluminum tsuka and plain steel blade with no hamon) At that price point, you can get decent quality replicas, but those are replicas. Wishing you the best.

Makes perfect sense. You can see the straight yasurimei in the oshigata too. Much Appreciated Moriyama san!

Sugu is what is throwing me off. The hamon is almost to the shinogi line, at the yokote (Approx 3/8" or 9.5mm). Once it goes past the yokote line into the kissaki, the hamon dips down to run parallel to the ha about 1/4" or 6.3mm wide. To me, the kaeri is more O Maru or possibly Jizo with hakikake mixed in. Sorry for the poor picture...pics of the boshi are always the hardest to take!

石堂輝秀作 = Teruhide Saku http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/teruhide.htm

Greatly appreciated Piers! So Kiri = Nakago cut square. GUNOME-MIDARE - 互の目乱れ - irregularly undulating hamon Only thing I understand from column 5 is Omote = signature side, ura = side towards body, and komaru kaeri = small turnback in boshi. No idea what the other words translate to.

Should be arriving Monday. I'll give a full report on it then.

I'm having trouble with a couple of the translations on NTHK papers. The red writing is my digital writing for what I believe the paper translates to. I need some help with the bottom of column 3, and all of column 5. Thanks to all in advance!

Ah yes...good times. Can't show toons like that any more...someone might, I say someone might just git offended.

Wider...I edited my statement above after reading this.

Nice photo, coming from a phone!

Well, I'm a chicken hawk and you're a chicken. yep, I'm old too.

This is the best representation, so far, of the size comparison of different types of yari. I really don't want to call the one I am getting an Omi Yari, since that seems to imply that it is very long. The one I am buying is resembles the thick one in the center of the picture, but in my opinion, may be a little thicker than the one shown.

Gakusee, I will get photos posted as soon as I get it in my dirty little hands. I appreciate your information!

Adam, I am FAR from an expert on this, but here's my .02 cents...the sugata suggests Mino from the Muromachi era. The nakago is MACHI-OKURI - 区送り. The bohi also suggests Muromachi period. In my opinion, if the blade has no faults, 2.5k is not a bad deal. The tsuba, tsuka and the handachi fittings make a nice looking package. Consider the papers an information item, not a certification item. I think you have the NMB's certification that the blade is Nihonto and NOT a Chinese replica. Best of luck to you.

I had the item in hand this past weekend in Orlando, at the show. I kept thinking about it and decided, after the fact, that I wanted to purchase it. I want it for the fact that it is so different, and it appears to be well constructed with itame hada and notare hamon, in decent polish. And the fact that I'm supporting my two favorite sword dealers, Mark Jones and Grey Doffin! This will make the 6th item I have bought from them this year. lol I will post pics as soon as I have it in hand. I would love to hear opinions on possible mountings for it. It already has a saya, just need to figure out a suitable pole, etc. for it. Give me some ideas!

The bottom of your picture group basically means "Certification". I do not recognize the issuing group.

I recently saw an extremely large hira sankaku type yari that was approximately 2" wide (2.54cm) across the flat side, with a nagasa of about 10" (25.4cm). It had visible hada and hamon, just like a normal yari, just much bigger. I estimate it weighed about 5 pounds (2.27 kg) My question is this...With it being so large and heavy, would it have been mounted on a pole and wielded by an absolute giant? Or maybe it was thrown down like a spear from high upon a castle, using the high kinetic energy to penetrate heavy armor, kabuto, or makeshift shielding. Please help me figure this one out! My brain won't leave this one alone...maybe it was as simple as a temple offering. BTW, the one I saw was mumei, with one mekugi ana. There was a saya, as if it was mounted into something...just not sure what it was mounted to. Thanks everyone!

I'll try to take some good photos over the next few days of my, new to me, katana. Thanks again Mark Jones for the continued great deals! May need some help with thoughts on the NTHK papers.

Wife and daughters put up with my slow pace all day so biggest thanks to them. Sold a katana, bought a katana. Looked at some beautiful pieces and had many great conversations. Many thanks to Mark Jones for all my previous purchases and today's purchase as well.

I'll keep an eye open for you. I'll be the ugly white guy with 3 beautiful Asian bodyguards...(wife and 2 teenage daughters). They will probably be carrying a couple of my Nihonto. The daughters feel tougher than they already are when they are holding them. lol

Beautiful.

I'll be driving down from Charleston on Thursday night. I have to take the wife and kids to Epcot all day Friday, so I'll be attending the show on Saturday, and maybe sneaking back on Sunday to make purchases or trade.

I got to talking with a Constable (Retired Police Officer performing security) that was working at the local gun & knife show. He has a katana that came with a cloth surrender tag. Looking at the pictures he showed me, it appears to be an early shinto katana with a 2 hole suriage nakago with the original hole being 2.5 cm above the end of the nakago...was definitely a much longer sword. He would like to attempt to find the family of the person who surrendered the sword, and return to them, as a good will gesture. I agreed to help him, if possible. I made him aware that some families are very thankful and other families may reject the offer. He is prepared to accept the families wishes, if they can be found. Any help is greatly appreciated. Dan

I'll give that a shot Bruce.