hillman

Brian, good catch on the filed-off seki stamp. I'm starting to see Aoi Art sell more showa-to, so maybe the Japanese authorities are not as strict as before on these non-traditionally made swords.

https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-gunto-noshu-seki-ju-kojima-kanemichi/ I just saw this listing on Aoi Art for a Kanemichi gunto. It looks like an oil-tempered blade, and I'm surprised that it received Hozon certification. Has anyone else seen gunto like this receive NTHK or NBTHK certification? Not sure if NBTHK standards are lowered now?

The eBay bid's currently up to $3,650...I guess there really is one born every minute... Joe

It's quite sad that Mike at Komonjo has been selling some questionable items of late, what with his loads of bare shinsakuto blades. He used to have some decent swords from Japanese dealers, but maybe his supply has become somewhat limited over the years. On the other hand, showa22 on eBay seems to have an endless stash of gunto from big named smiths each week. Maybe he has a time machine that allows him to go back to WW2 for his stock. Joe

Wow, forgers are now considering even Koa Isshin Mantetsu blades worthy of gimei: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HA712-Japanese-Samurai-Sword-Koa-Isshin-Mantetsu-Blade-in-Kyu-Gunto-Kaigunto-/161809595569?hash=item25ac9a7cb1 Seems like this was done on a Shinto blade? Joe

I appreciate everyone's feedback, and the general consensus does seem to be that the ji is stained. Gerald

I had guessed it might have been cleaned with acetone by a previous owner, since I've only used uchiko, but the patchiness seems to be on the crystalline level in the steel. I've included two more close-up shots of the ji (my camera's macro function is awful BTW), hoping to depict this.

Ken, this blade is by a gendai smith working in the Bizen tradition, but I'm not familiar with similar hataraki in Bizen work. Gerald

My apologies...thanks for the reminder to sign my posts. Some of this hataraki does extend above the shinogi, getting close to the mune, but its too faint to photograph because of the burnishing there. Gerald

Yes, I've cleaned the blade of any residual oil or dirt. This is a gendaito, so it's not that dirty to start with.

Hi everyone, I just received a new purchase, and have noticed some type of hataraki on the shinogi that I am unfamiliar with. So, I thought I'd see if the experience on this forum will be able to assist me. The hataraki appears to me to be a very faint hitatsura, or a very bold utsuri, and is found on both the omote and ura, throughout the length of the blade. It's also not apparent unless viewed at the right angle under proper lighting. It's also not the hada, which can be seen underneath this. Here are some pictures to illustrate what I'm describing. Any feedback would be helpful!

I guess different collectors of nihonto might have different motivations for acquiring them. From the fellow collectors I've met, many fall into these 3 general categories of collection: 1. Historical interest - How Nihonto played a part in Japanese history. Many in this category like fully mounted swords. 2. Metallurgical interest - How swordmaking craftsmanship has developed for Nihonto. Collectors here mostly like blades in shirosaya. 3. Practical interest - The functionality of Nihonto. These collectors like beefy, long blades. Just my 2 cents... Gerald

I came across this shobu zukuri sword blade recently, and upon reading the mei, found out that it was a stainless steel blade like you would find in many kai guntos. What's more surprising, this blade was made in Showa 4th Year(1929), and had some horimono on it too. Here are a few pics. Enjoy. Joe Hillman

If you're in Tokyo, you'll always want to stop by the NBTHK mussum near Shinjuku station. Aoi Art is right by the museum too, so that's a plus. ALso, if you have time for general Japanese artifacts, then you can also stop by the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum in Ueno. I saw a Sanjo Munechika, and a real Masamune, among other big names, in their armory department. Have lots of fun with looking at some high end swords. Cade

I too don't think it's an acid etched Chinese piece of work, and it looks a genuine Nihonto to me. But it sure isn't a big name smith that forged it. The nakago seemed to have been quite unprofessionally redone to hide the prior mei. But with the nice hamon, it might be a reasonable buy for the blade itself?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-O-Na ... 4a9c2327a9 This looks like a pretty nice shinsakuto blade with a pretty soshu-style hamon, but the yasurimei looks really suspicous. Any thoughts? Hillman

Yes, I agree that Mike Y. is a very trusted seller, and I've bought a few swords from him in the past few years. Hey, looking at this new listing, he's got a pretty good sense of humor also when describing this "all star" sword!. http://cgi.ebay.com/935-Japanese-Samura ... 240%3A1318

Here's a sword supposedly by Miyairi Akihira for sale on eBay by Mike. Y. http://cgi.ebay.com/885-Japanese-Samura ... dZViewItem According to the mei, it's dated 1978, but Miyairi Akihira passed away in 1977. Did he make blades from beyond the grave? Pretty nice blade though.... Kade

Hi Bojan, It was a nice surprise to find out that you now have this sword. I was the original owner of this sword until a few years ago, when I sold it to a gentleman in Germany. I had gotten it directly from the vet, and it had a leather covering on the scabbard. However, I could tell that there were handachi fittings underneath the leather, because the end was torn, but I didn't want to peel the leather off to expose this. It is a really nice heavy blade with the balance toward the kissaki, per shinshinto typical design. I also liked the large nie particle on the hamon. I never noticed this "long ware" though, but maybe it was because I never looked at it in this level of detail. The one thing I did like was the large mokko tsuba. Great to hear that you're considering restoring it, and I wish you many years of enjoyment with this sword. Kade

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Japanese-wa ... 240%3A1308 Hmmm, the link above shows a sword that makes me think that the fakes on eBay are getting better. The off-center mekugi-ana and weird mei indicates a fake for me, not to mention the odd tsukamaki, but any other opinions out there? Kade

The hamon looks like an oil-quenched one to me, and there's no discernable hada to see. You can usually identify oil-quenching because it gives the sharp peaks in the mahom with mostly nioi, and not much other hataraki like nie, kinsuji, utsuri, etc.

Ooops...just realized that the "new collection group" actually means Shinsengumi...

Actually, even though I don't see any reason kanji should be engraved into this blade, the engraving was actually pretty well done and neatly cut. It bascially says this sword is for "the new collection group", has probably the owner's name engraved, and for some weird reason, has the character for "to drink" engraved also. Maybe the previous owner liked a little brewsky while admiring his swords? Y. Chen

Ken, Well, I haven't used any nihonto for tameshigiri as yet, but the balance characterstics of a real nihonto compared to a Hanwei or showato is pretty obvious, so I'm curious to see how one would cut. Of course, I'm concerned about the ability of the tsuka and blade withstanding the force of a cut, but I'm guessing tatami would be do-able, no bamboo. Yes, I've seen the nice hand forged shinkens at swordstore.com and the likes, and I won't be surprised if they passed off as true nihonto. Even the Chinese-made ones at Buzendo look pretty good, but for that price, I thought I could get a low end, properly mounted nihonto in the ~$3K range. Matthew, Thanks for the recommendation for Sakuraya. I'll definitely check it out whe I'm in Tokyo in September. Kade

Hi Brian, Sorry about the signing thing, I'm new here, and didn't know what the "check" meant... Yes, I do know about Aoi-Art, and I didn't realize that they were so close to the NBTHK museum when I visited 3 months ago. I'm kicking myself for not going a few "chomes" over to see their swords. Actually, I'm quite interested in getting some lower grade nihonto for Iai also, and I've seen these go for around $2K to $3K in Japan, whereas a relatively long (~29" to 30") nihonto for Iai in the US usually seems to go for much more. Would you know of any stores in and around Tokyo selling non-shinken Iai-tos? Thanks. Kade