shan

Hi all, What can you tell me about this menuki? Poor construction ? average made? any feedback on school or period would be useful. thanks shan

Hi Mark A rose by any other name? Its the worst hamon i have seen.No activity and its so "flat" and "dead". I wish i could just show a novice (sorry)what a true hamon looked like,then there would be not market for the Fakers. Its a choice of "pussyfooting" or getting straight to the point. If it was sold as genuine then send it back. Out of curiosity what did you pay for it? I would be surprised if the Chinese went to the effort of forging and tempering,it takes too long ,is too labour intensive and is not ecconomically viable,there will always be a market for fake swords of poor quality. Not nice to hear but straight to the point as i expect you would prefer. regards shan

"Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."

"In my own hands I hold a bowl of tea; I see all of nature represented in its green color. Closing my eyes I find green fountains and pure water within my own heart. Silently sitting alone and drinking tea, I feel these become a part of me." Soshitsu Sen Grand Master XIV

Hi All,Thanks for the samples Ludolf, John & Curran,Well at least its not a deliberate attempt to copy in your Opionions,so thats posative. I think it needs to have more research and some indication of its period so that we can find out if it is by a student with the same name and when. Would you agree that it is the right school or is that debatable as well? What about its condition is "far from ideal" John? Is it its dirty look or its physical condition? I don`t tend to clean these as i may take away the Shakudo (i have done it before 10 years ago in ignorance, on a plain Shakudo Tsuba...sorry i stopped when i realised what i had done) If its the wear and tear............................ regards shan

HI all, thankyou for you views regards shan

Hi Paul, Firstly i am not attacking the NTHK or NBTHK but everytime i try to fathom what the shinsa points system relates to everyone seems to go on the defensive. I was advised to keep my original paperwork from shinsa because "its the only piece of paper you will have that has the points awarded and a 76 points kanteisho sword is better than a 70 point" Now what i am trying to ascertain (and believe me i am not in the slightest bit worried about whether an item has monetry value or not) is if this sword on ebay that the seller believes is worth £9000+ is in fact any better than i offered to shinsa. Well i have my answer as i have just been told it got 70 points(same as mine). So the question was is it intrinsically judged by the shinsa teaqm to be of equal value as both have been judges 70`s? If as you day they take into account rarety and workmanship and all of the other factors then are they saying that these are on balance of equal workmanship? thats all.I know mine is never going to be worth £9000 but i cannot see what makes his worth that either. Just trying to understand. shan

Thanks for the link and info everyone, Yes, that makes sense, but as the shinsa team never give any information on why exactly an item has been attributed to Den,It still leaves a lot of questions. :? This particular sword in question Got Kantaisho in London ,it was not offered anything better or asked to be sent to Japan for further research. I am fairly sure that Paul said nothing went over 75 points which is just out of a NBTHK HOZON.which comparably is around NTHK 76-77 points. Another possibly simpler question is this. Is His 70 point sword of the same monetary and collectable Value as my 70 point sword (more or less)?( i doubt it ) If the blade for sale on ebay was in New full polish and got Its 70 points and mine was 50% out of polish and had a carbon pocket but still got 70 Points, would that make my sword likely to get a better appraisal and score after its been polished? would my sword (or indeed any sword who got 71pt or above)then have more financial value? I wonder if Kanteisho ranking can elevate an ordinary Mumei wakizashi to such great Heights in monetary terms thats all. But mostly i am wondering at the sellers grasp on reality and where the insurance figure came from (his Head?) Regards shan

Hi John, To be honest i am not expert enough in this area to judge if my Kanji is 14 strokes or what. I am not even sure what i have (re my recent tsuba translation post). It looks nice but thats the sum of my knowledge. What do you think? does it look like any of the artists you know signed this way or is it gimei in your opinion? thanks shan

HI, I thought that the Prefix DEN meant that it was in the style of and possibly of the school but not the smith or period of the smith. I also wonder if the NTHK kanteisho could place such a massive value on an item. It has ware as stated. I have seen this seller list before for rediculous start prices and although probably a collector/dealer are totally unrealistic in there expectations and just a little subjective in their assumptions on attributions. shan

Hi all, What do you make of these claims about Kentaisho attribution to Den and this sword and this sellers claims in general? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WAKIZASHI-KATANA-TANTO-tsuba-fuchi-ashira_W0QQitemZ320320981916 £9000. But "This is because this work has been classed as historically very valuable and can even achieve Jo-Saku papers with ware" Your views please gentlemen. shan

Hi Curran, Well the level of craftsmanship and the degree of work involved showed a certain "pride" in the workmans attitude. Thats clearly a very nice Tsuba and quite rightly should have been offered to shinsa. If i had one with that level of detail i would have done the same.(shinsa that is) Did you ever find any variations that you thought may have been close but not close enough? Have you seen the one i offered up for "approval" on my other post? Is the level albeit lesser still of a good standard? regards shan

Hi Brian, I think its a "glory hit" but it may just be a knock of some sort. Not an opening though,of that i am sure. I am open to offers on it :D regards shan

Thats all right,much copied artist i guess, nice to know anyway many thanks Shan

Hi all, Does anyone have anything by Uchikoshi Hirotoshi that has an example of mei and work styles? I can find nothing in my books or an the internet but you may well have a book that has an example. Many thanks Shan

Hi, But i thought the sword was polished on the whole flat of the Jihada not just the Hamon as you would an normal Knife. Or are you saying that they may have "wetstoned"the blades hamon only? This would make the hamon dissapear very fast i would guess and does not seem a practical solution. However i am not a togoshi so i am not sure. regards shan

Thankyou for you opinions. I have requested the return of the Kanetsune Tanto and copied a few of your replies to confirm my initial opinion,the "seller and collector"has stated that he did not think he had done anything to the nakago and could i send images to prove that it is indeed damaged!!! This just gets better and better....... I have said thats pointless as i am sending it back.But i wonder where this is going...... A slightly worried.... regards shan

I also see them for there beauty as i think almost all collectors do. I am merely pointing out the shocking treatment this blade recieved a few weeks ago. Its about originality to a degree with me and i like my blades to be either original or historically altered with compassion. Grinded to fit a Tsuka is beyond my understanding. The problem is that i do like it and regardless of its damages i am trying to think of a way to keep it (as once i have something in my possesion ,i find it hard to return it) Problem is its going to cost me a mounted Kantesune (Gimei) But Echizen Seki school 1880 Tanto in full polish. Ah decisions decisions......... i Need to think about it. regards shan

loiner1965........."thats just barbaric....gutted for you shan" Me too,But more so for the blade.... Whats worse is, it was out of polish, but appears flawless and has a nice Choji-Midare hamon. It had some potential once. If anyone has a similar Tanto Blade,I am now in the market for one for a Koshirae i have. This one will have to be returned.........unless anyone knows how to save it. regards shan

Not intending to name or shame ......but a story of Horror... sheer Terror with anguish and pain and a degree of ignorance :? that offers a big word caution nonetheless . I have been trying to help out another Collector in advising of what i thought was Genuine and Fake items of Nihonto prior to purchase by him.(ok, better than No advice at all, but only just) I recently got sent some images by this said Very Nice old Gentleman showing his tanto that he was trying to Re-mount. It already had mounts but for some reason he didn`t like them and wanted a change.I traded the Tsuka from him. I heard he had found another tsuka that he thought would fit and he was very happy with the new tsuka, but the Nakago was a little too thick to fit into the Tsuka so it needed modifications. He has since decided that he would like to change the Tanto and always one for something new said i would do a trade for whatever he wanted of mine.This turned out to be my Polished Kanetsune Tanto that he liked. I sent him my polished Kanetsune Blade in its "mounts" along with a nice Black Tanto Saya with mother of pearl inlay. And he was sending me the tanto he had that was whole but it needed a polish and i was thinking of it for another Koshirae i have that it would fit better than the Kanetsune Blade would. This is what turned up........ I also liked the Vice marks on the blade,a particularily nice touch that.... If anyone ever asks you what the point is, in this forum , feel free to send them to this post. And if you see this post....... I beg you,please don`t do that again.>Alter the wood not the metal. Regards

Hi Mark, I fear the hype surrounding this sword will likely push its value to beyond what i would consider a reasonable amount for an essentially Unsaleable blade. For every $1000 i pay for it, it would depreciate by $950 Per $1000 within 30 seconds of me winning it. I like it a little (prefer mounted blades,even poorly) and have placed a small sum on it, but i will draw the line at that sum because of the Hagire and the overpolishing.I feel that someone else will take this home regards Shan

Hello, Can anyone translate this mei and possibly confirm from known examples? many thanks Shan

Hi,Bear in mind that there appears to be no timescale shown on the "before" and "after" images,so the "before" could be in 1989 or even "before" 1989 for all we know.(or perhaps i missed something) But i do agree that unless all attributes of the blade are obscured, i see no reason to polish. I doubt the samurai polished them all the time or otherwise they would not last very long at all. A 700 year old sword approx 1mm thick? now that would be a very flexible sword indeed. regards shan

and well oiled, The ancient Japanese have been using choji oil. (This is made of 99% mineral oil and only 1% of clove oil for fragrance)Or you may find you potentially nice sword a heap of surface rust. regards shan

Hi, I have also read somewhere that a sharp knock or hit on the Mune can cause hagire in a blade that was otherwise flawless. I have no idea of verifying this, but it seems quite probable to me because of the characteristics of tempered edges. I still don`t see how, in times of peace, this is still condidered so bad though,especially if it is not really noticable. I understand the need for perfection, but i would be very surprised if anything out there was absolutly perfect.We all have to compromise to a certain degree (well i do at my level of collecting anyway) as long as it were not a "hidden surprize" and the price was based on all the flaws,it would not worry me unduly. Anyone with unsalable items that have Hagire or other fatal flaws can contact me with a sensible price and i may well buy it if i like it. Regards Shan