FZ1

Ah! That makes sense, being as the worst of it is around the mekugi ana; presumably that's where the water ingress was worst. Thanks very much Ray. Jon

Thanks Ed - original post edited! Jon

What a superb gift - you must have bought a LOT of books Bruce! Jon

Still learning & still asking! Any thoughts as to how/why the nakago of this early Koto blade was damaged/modified like this? Thanks. Jon

Welcome Todd. Yes, the terminology is a bit heavy-going for us new-starters! It gets easier as you get more familiar, but I've got a couple of "Glossary" pages as shortcuts in my browser that I still have to use on a regular basis. Jon

No worries Mark, "my "lazy" reference was intended as a light-hearted "self-deprecating" comment, not an accusation! I've attached an image of the whole paper so that you can have a look at it (its for a tanto in a UK-based auction). Cheers, Jon EDIT: Length of blade is 27.6cm and I got as far as "Nagasa 9 Sun ? ? Length" (should be 1 bu?)

Thanks very much for your help gents, it's very much appreciated. Jon

Thanks Mark. I do use a couple of guides on how to interpret the various papers, and use them frequently. I have sussed-out most of the useful bits of the certificate already (length, date, etc), hence not wanting to waste people's time by asking for more translation than I need, i.e. just posting the inscription column from the paper that I can't suss-out. I don't do too badly when the writing is clear (like the one you put up in your post), but I struggle with reading the characters when they are blurred (like the image provided in my post). I just can't match them with a reference list of printed characters. I also use the "Translating Mei" links that Brian put on the right-hand side of the home-page, but sometimes I just can't match these-up either. I always sucked at languages at and I'm awful at reading people's handwriting in any language, hence having to do the Kanji laboriously by matching one character at a time, be it from a nakago, hand-written or printed source. I don't post here unless I'm stuck, so the foregoing lines are to attempt to reassure you that I'm not just lazy (well, not at this anyway - my Mrs might disagree with a more generalised application of the term to me! ) However, you have saved me from some embarrassment because in reviewing my post, I posted the wrong images - the correct ones (the "inscription" and "judgements" column of the paper) are now edited into my original post. However, the "inscription" column matches exactly the characters from the inscription column of the one that you posted (ubu, mumei), so thanks for that! So it's just the "judgement" I'm stuck on now - I've got as far as "Den" for the first character and I think it might be "Takada" for the last two? I have no idea what the second character is though. Thanks,

Could anyone possibly do-the-honours on these from an NHTK paper please? Many thanks in anticipation. Jon EDITED: I put the wrong images up

I enquired in July and they said they only sell within Japan. Jon

Did it increase or decrease the sori, Jeremy? (After overthinking this for a while, I've managed to provide myself with a good argument for either/both!) Jon

@Bruce Pennington, I think the local variation now reads: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares; and if any of those swords are nihonto, there will be a wailing and a gnashing of teeth on the NMB. And there shall be a plague of sad-emoji responses and down-voting of the beaters of swords"

Thanks for all your thoughts thus far gents; most enlightening

Not buying, just learning! This sword seems to have completely different hada on each side. Is this just the photo lighting or a feature of the sword itself? If its the latter, why are the two sides so different? https://www.aoijapan.com/katanamumei-naoe-shizu/ Any info appreciated. Thanks.

I'm guessing that the katana is being worn straight-up so it doesn't impede handling the rifle? (I was going to say "for doing arms drill", but these chaps don't look like the sort that have done much arms drill!) Jon

Joking aside, the skull part doesn't look like a very high quality piece of work, so I wonder how many people will be tempted at JPY 400,000?

It looks like something the kids would bring home after art class

I sold my collection of RFC and early RAF medals because (a bit like Jean with his nihonto collection) I'd achieved what I set-out to do when I started collecting (with the exception of a VC group which was out of my league by a factor of about 10-times the cost of my next most expensive group!). Most of the groups went to like-minded collectors who shared my interest and would appreciate them, as well as appreciating the man and the story behind each group. I used a forum (like this) to sell them, but sold some to new collectors who showed a real interest, to give them a chance to own some nice groups and build-on the research, as I had built on that of the previous keepers. I absolutely agree with the logic of knowing that potential buyers will appreciate and care for your treasures, but as a new-to-nihonto collector, I have to wonder when I will be considered worthy? Judging by the longevity of some of the collectors on the board, I've probably got another 30-40 years apprenticeship to serve! Having said that, I'm no spring-chicken myself, so perhaps I too should be thinking of "disposing", not buying? Cheers, Jon

I've not heard that one before!

One on the mune of a Ko-Uda katana. Jon

Welcome Tim - This is a great place to learn Jon

Hi Tony, I've no experience of buying from those auction sites, but echo what John says. However, I'm new to all this, but I have bought from a couple of the nihonto dealers in Japan, listed in the links section that John pointed out. The export/import process was fairly straightforward; just make sure your seller clearly marks the item as an Antique Japanese Art Sword, puts the approximate date of production on the form and uses the correct international "harmonisation" code (so you only pay the 5% VAT rate). There are a couple of helpful threads about importing elsewhere on the site which can be found with the search function. Cheers, Jon

Thanks for the update Steve. There's no sayagaki for this sword and no other documentation shown in the advert, so I assume the shinsa panel decided on Senjuin going by what they saw in the blade itself.

Thanks Kirill & Jussi. The only Yoshimasas of that era that I could find are Awataguchi, but the large number of "single example" senjuin smiths would explain the lack of info. Even thought the school lasted so long, the number of "single example" smiths you've found is strange. I'm showing my inexperience/ignorance here, but are the attributes of the Senjuin school broad enough to be an "easy option" to attribute works to when the NBTHK panel are unsure? Fascinating stuff!

For the purpose of measuring sori, it is from the munemachi to the tip of the kissaki.