uwe

That’s a great idea 👍…4 hour drive, though.

Thank you very much for all the work! So I have a blade from an excellent blacksmith or one that commemorates him. Nobody will be able to tell exactly from the photo. In any case, a lucky find! PS: I'm writing in German, Google can probably translate.

Kein Problem, Alexander! As mentioned in my first post, "Inoue Shinkai" Here is some info about him: SHINKAI (真改), Enpō (延宝, 1673-1681), Settsu – “Izumi no Kami Kunisada” (和泉守国貞), “Inoue Izumi no Kami Kunisada” (井上和泉守国貞), “Inoue Shinkai” (井上真改). Inoue Shinkai, his civilian name was Inoue Hachirōbei (井上八郎兵衛), was born in the seventh year of Kan´ei (寛永, 1630) the second son of the 1st generation, i.e. of Oya-Kunisada. He succeeded first as 2nd generation Kunisada and, from Keian onwards (慶安, 1648-1652), made daisaku works for his father. In the first year of Jōō (承応, 1652) he received the honorary title Izumi no Kami and around Manji four (万治, 1661) he was granted permission from the Imperial court to engrave a 16-petal chrysanthemum onto his tangs. Until the fourth year of Kanbun (寛文, 1664) he executed the pistil of the chrysanthemum hatched crosswise. From Kanbun five (1665) onwards he interpreted this area as a circle with a thick dot in its centre but towards the end of Kanbun eleven (1671) returned to the initial form. After the death of his father in Keian five (1652), his salary of 150 koku from the Itō family was transferred to Shinkai. His flamboyant style earned him the nickname Ōsaka-Masamune (小坂正宗) and, besides Sukehiro (助広), he is regarded as the most representative of all Ōsaka-shintō smiths. The name change to Shinkai took place in the eighth month of Kanbun twelve (1672) and it is said that he received his pseudonym from the Neo-Confucian Kumazawa Banzan (熊沢蕃山, 1619-1691). From the eighth month of Kanbun seven (1667) he executed the mei of the ura side of the tang in grass script. Shinkai died unexpectedly on the ninth day of the eleventh month of Tenna two (天和, 1682), at the age of 53. There are various theories and transmissions about his death. Most sources say he died of food poisoning, another says he fell completely drunken into a well. His grave is at Ōsaka´s Jūgan-ji (重願寺) Inoue Shinkai made mostly katana and wakizashi in shinogi zukuri, tantō are rare and date mostly from his early artistic period when he still signed Kunisada. His katana and wakizashi have a shallow sori and a rather wide mihaba. The jihada is a dense and beautifully forged ko-itame with ji-nie all over the blade. Some works also show chikei. The hamon is mostly based on suguha and shows a compact nioiguchi or is a suguha mixed with chōji or a suguha mixed with shallow notare. But he also applied a gunome-midare, ō-midare or ō-notare in thick nioi deki in combination with an Ōsaka-yakidashi. The hamon becomes continually wider in its course from the base to the top. Shinkai was a master of nie and one of the best shintō smiths focussing on a nie-based deki. The bōshi shows mostly a ko maru-kaeri. The tang has a ha-agari-kurijiri or an iriyamagata-jiri, and the yasurime are sujikai or sujikai with keshō. saijō-saku ◎

Alexander, signatures on kogatana are often “honorable mentions”. That said, means the blade was not necessarily made by this smith. In your case a renowned craftsman was “immortalized”…

Hmm, it might mean “井上眞改” (Inoue Shinkai)…the last kanji looks rather “光”, though. Michael is right, it’s upside down!

Not much to doubt about the “set”. Authentic, yes! Composite, most likely! Condition, nothing that can’t be fixed, but might be considered in financial terms (kote needs most work, I guess)…

Mei seems to be “忠吉” (Tadayoshi)…

Over time, this ring lost its purpose and later on you can find smaller agemaki attached to it every now and then. So nowadays actually a “agemaki no kan”, Piers

Or “kasa jirushi no kan” Sometimes they popping up at Yahoo, so shouldn’t be a problem to complete! The second one is a mystery…

Good kabuto, nice maedate! One of the two holes at the back is quite strange, though…

We had this a while back Robert but surprisingly couldn’t find a match. The same now…. There is, however, a similar one where the character 大 is differently written and associated to “大能” (Ōnou family).

What about 披 for the first, Steve?

I can trace the mon (隅切り角檜扇), at least a very similar one, back to “山口” (Yamaguchi), “望月” (Mochidzuki, several readings), “栗脇” (Kuriwaki, reading unclear) and “小花和” (Obanakawa, reading unclear)… Won’t help much, I afraid!

Ahh, that makes more sense

A very nice hoshi-kabuto, obviously of high quality The shikoro was probably replaced at some point, but goes well with the hachi. Wonder about the “Mino-signature”…do you have a picture?

Guess in this case it reads “Minamoto Yoshichika no saku”…hope I’m not too nitpicking

Seems to be signed by “直道” + kao (Naomichi).

Well done, Steve I sought for alternatives as well, but my source didn’t spit out anything…

攵was clear but I also thought it must be 阝on the left….

To answer your question, Lex. Yahoo has its pitfalls to avoid, like other online auctions as well. But from time to time (if you are lucky ) good items popping up. Best you only jump in with some experience in the background, though… Anyway, there are some trustworthy dealers regularly selling on this platform (Yahoo/Jauce). “Bellbottom” for example! You can also use a proxy, like Kelly. He has a list of recommended dealers! On a side note: I stumbled over a very rare armor on Yahoo some years ago and, with a little luck, was eventually able to add it to the collection

I echo Piers! Even within your budget you can get decent armor, but let me add some hints: Pay attention to the condition! Is the set displayable as is (i.e., can it be assembled like it is)? Especially a look at the lacing, the fabric and the cords is useful. Missing or scratched lacquer is not a problem (only optical), but the remaining areas of the coating should be stable. As a rule of thumb, if the armor “talks to you” it’s the right one…

Yes, it is a “commemorative date”, as mentioned above by Mark, Steve and Michael! To make it a bit complicated. The leather is called shōhei-gawa (a type of e-gawa, i.e. printed leather). Often used as chikara-gawa on haidate, framed by fusegumi, in order to reinforce the fabric part…. The date printed on it is allegedly the date it was first introduced in the 14th century…

It’s like with the forest and the trees….if you stare too long at something 🤓

Guess we getting closer…me and my eyes are tired. Next try tomorrow…🥱

Yes, well spotted -Otagi gun- 👍 About the craftsman, I’ve played with “保慶” (Yasuyoshi) with little conviction, though… BTW, the character above 住 might be 束…?