mdiddy

Yeah, I can think of about 1000 reasons why. Here's another one I dug up. Similar, but a little different flavor, yet with another crude nakago.

Don't feel bad for me Dave, I paid a lot less than what I sold them for. Cha-ching. But that does give me some extra insight in knowing what they are truly worth. Not really what I collect per se, but if one is sourcing late war variants, ya kinda gotta embrace the misfortune?

@Cricyvican To add to Ray's data, Seki is a city in Gifu

That's correct, mostly likely a Seki-made showato. If you share pictures of the blade then happy to confirm.

Looks like 渡辺吉武: Watanabe Yoshitake, a Seki tosho

That's only if you pay with a card. If you pay cash you get a 3.5% discount. Pro-Tip: if you bid directly w/ RIA and pay cash you only have to pay a 17.5%-18.5% premium. @Bruce Pennington Another Pro-Tip: take the time to visit RIA in person when they have a lot of swords, they are one of the best museums. Exhibits are hands on and they are constantly rotating the items. Lots of opportunity for actual hands-on inspection!

@Bridges I have had several of these and they have always had a low quality, crude blade in them (see attached photos). I think the chances of scoring an old nihonto in this kind of koshirae is extraordinarily low. I think it's more accurate to call the tsuba and saya 'crudely mass-produced' instead of 'civil'. @Bridges I don't like to comment on other peoples deals, but I would recommend being wary of some of the valuation advice you may be getting here. Feel free to reach out directly with questions, happy to help.

I will be there also and plan to bring some rare military mounted swords, premium nihontos, junk wakizashis, and a dry sense of humor. 10% discount if you mention the NMB. Please stop by and say hi!

I found another one from my archive. A gimei Yasutsugu with horimono. The sword was once owned by Dr. Compton and he gave it to his secretary as a gift.

Just a head's up - that habaki belongs to a different sword

Here is another one I dug up. A katana by Gassan Sadakazu in kyu gunto mounts with sankozuka-ken on one side (as well as bo-hi, goma-bashi + bo-hi on the other side, etc).

Here is a tanto I had for awhile by Kasama Shigetsugu with a nice Fudo Myo-O

I recall seeing that Mitsuoki at a well-known Liverpool dealer's house once upon a time. One of the best gendaito I have ever held.

Yes, it is the mei. The nengo (right column) and the mei (left column) are on the same side of the nakago. On the other side is a lengthy inscription. I will share it in the near future, maybe a separate thread.

Here is one I found, more or less completely intact. Also, mine features a copper habaki with a matching mon that was similarly gilded.

The sword looks like a Muromachi-period Sue-Bizen katana to my eye. It has the length and shape similar to swords from that time, specifically katate-uchi for one-handed use. I have had nijimei Sukesada and Kiyomitsu with similar shape, length, workmanship, and nakago style. It is an old sword worth studying and learning more about. Some really good advice has been given on how to care and property maintain the sword.

Looks like ___ ju Hattori Masahiro to my eye. The first kanji is hard to make out. Nice rayskin saya!

Looks like to my eye

I think there is merit that some of the extra paint jobs were done by the Japanese during wartime. The Type 95 you cite makes a compelling case. The trick, or complication, will be to define what rules separate the post-war Western treatment (aka Bubba job) from the war-era Japanese treatment. I would recommend not limiting your analysis to red urushi either. There are many other colors to consider - e.g. black painted Type 95's, bronzed Type 95's, etc. I've handled very many with different paint schemes. One of them was a Shodai Hisamichi katana in Type 98 mounts w/ family mon. The blade had been dipped in red paint(?) and was coated at the kissaki and monouchi, mimicking usage. Pretty sure that was not war-era Japanese treatment, even if it had a healthy dose of red. Here's another I handled earlier this year. The orange was actually pretty well done. Bubba job?

I agree, same here. The condition just doesn't want to yield many additional clues. I can't see much more from these, but do see the dark outline of the hamon in places. Here is one of the previous pictures showing the nioi guchi.

A few close-up pictures of the middle of the blade both sides, try to bring out the nioi guchi and hamon if possible (not ever an easy task). If it's mostly showcasing top-notch grinder workmanship, don't spend too much time on photos. There is no guarantee that we will be able to tell you more than we already have. But, happy to try. At first-glance, I would not recommend pursuing a restoration. Even if it's a gendaito with nice workmanship, economically it's not worth restoring. That said, if you paid estate sale / yard sale prices, you still scored a great deal regardless of the condition. Kudos!

Kudos to a fantastic gendaito, don't see that kind of sugata everyday. Very nice...and rare.

RIA is a gun auction. Of their upcoming premier sale, which are their largest and most prestigious sales in the year, 14 out of 2085 lots are Japanese swords, < 1%. Sometimes their sales will have more than that, but sometimes they have less. When you consider the prices their guns command and the volume of guns they sell, Japanese swords are a rounding error to them at best. That said, RIA has superior customer service in the auction industry. They go out of their way to source photos for what their clientele need - at least that has always been my experience. Put yourself in their shoes - the moment they release a catalog, they are inundated with requests for add'l photos. Do they de-prioritize lowly gunto collectors spending much less than their top gun buyers? That has never seemed so to me. I have always received the photos requested, exactly as I requested them, and before the auction starts - even when I request them 2-3 days before hand. Of all the seller bashing that goes on, RIA really does not deserve it. Try asking them for the photos you need and be kind. They will take care of you.

@SethThe sword is legit. The mounts are Type 98 shin gunto, matching parts. The blade shows a well-tended nakago (tang) with correct yasurime (filemarks) and placement of the mekugi-ana (peg hole). I recommend comparing the nakago on your sword to that of the other in question, and you'll see the other sword shows a very crudely shaped nakago with mekugi-ana placement that is off. I would not be so hasty to write the blade off as lower-end workmanship. The nakago of the blade shows a patina similar to that seen on gendaito, and if you look closely you can see a nioi guchi in parts of the blade that does not feature the tell-tale 'lightbulbs' associated with lower quality oil-quenching. It's a pity the blade is not signed, but I would recommend a more accurate description would be lower-end condition rather than lower-end workmanship, at least until we are able to see more.

From what we can see of the blade, the type of hamon does look similar to the sanbon-sugi of Kanemoto school, so possibly the blade dates to the 1500's. We would need to see more of the blade to confirm, such as the entire length, curvature, boshi (hamon in the tip), etc. The koshirae is newer, maybe late Edo. The tsukamaki wrap looks even newer, maybe re-wrapped at some point. Hope that helps.