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Hi, Scott! I do not have my oshigata books with me, but this combination of kanji is not typical for the shodai. Also the mon engraving is missing. It must not be fake though because as you probably know the 9th generation signed that way: 奥州仙臺住若林住國包作 Oshu Sendai Ju Wakabayashi Ju Kunikane Saku Obviously the blade has seen some rust at a time which was removed. Is there any activity to be seen? Regards, Martin

Dear Brandon, I cannot see from your picture if the daito has an ubu nakago or if it maybe was shortened and originally had been a Katana by official terms. Even if your blade is ubu, generally the following scenario might not have been uncommon: The daito receives a deep nick in the ha near the hamachi, maybe during combat, which cannot be removed by a new polish! Now the wearer is not able to order a new blade neither is his employer. Also the damaged blade is held in high esteem by its owner, maybe is an ancestral sword. The new length is much too long to make it a wakizashi, but only 1/2 inch shorter than a Katana. So the cheapest and most practical way is to shorten the blade lowering the hamachi until the nick has disappeared. So he was able to keep on wearing and using his daisho as it was required from a man of samurai rank. I love to see things from a more practical view!! Regards, Martin

Elliot, here is an earlier thread discussing and showing a sayagaki by Suiken: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7995&p=65307&hilit=suiken+fukunaga#p65307 Regards, Martin

Off course you are right, Eric. The diagonal line is missing. I meant the starting point of the re-temper line in safe distance from the nakago! Regards, Martin

Thank you all for the interesting contributions, particularly for the Usagiya article on flaws. Alan, I think I have discovered the mizukage, if it is not my imagination. It is difficult to see on a photo, because it is short and the hamon is narrow. I include 2 pictures. The darker portion shoud be the masking of the yakiba dropdown. Regards, Martin

Hi, all! For anyone who likes to see an unusual tanto for sale here is a link to a JSA sale of a signed ubu RAI KUNIMUNE (son of Rai Kunitoshi) Tanto for small money: http://www.l-wise.co.jp/super-jsa/aucti ... ode=detail The bad news is in the Hozon paper(in brackets behind the mei) But interesting anyway because you do not see this attribution in a NBTHK paper too often! Regards, Martin

Hi, Curran! There are always some nice books on Yahoo Japan. The problem is that you would need somebody in Japan who bids for you, pays for the book, collects it, packs it and sends it to your place. This transaction will probably cost you depending on the total value, between 20 and 30% of the hammer price plus shipping! So 66.6% is not cheap enough! Besides some sellers recently ask prices for books at Yahoo that even exceed bookstore prices in the U.S or Europe! But sometimes a private seller sells really cheap. I have seen price differences of 300% for the same book lately! greetings Martin

Nobody will seriously state that a mumei blade is inferior to a signed blade, as far as quality is concerned. Different if "inferior" means lower price on the collectors market. Here the scarcity defines the value and signed and ubu blades, especially the Koto blades seem to be a hundred times rarer. How though would a conservative collector who resents anything less than mint or at least "usable" blade, value a chokuto(condion: scrap! value: national treasure!)? A name is not everything, still there are a lot of "Big Name Junkies" who will always prefer the poorest of blades with a paper to a perfect mumei blade from the same era and school! So lets not forget: After all we are only human! Regards, Martin

Handling a disassembled blade with a cloth is formally and technically absolutely ok. But if you talk about handling swords, they might be mounted! I somebody comes to my table, regardless wether in Japan or elsewhere and touches a new shirasaya with sayagaki, a koshirae with high gloss roiro saya or a new white silk bound tsuka with his bare greasy fingers, I`d cut them off! Martin

Dear Razith(?) Is this your name? The nagasa is not measured from the guard but from the angular portion where the habaki rests on the blade. From there you draw a straight line to the tip. I assume that the actual nagasa is then appr. 39" which equals appr. 99cm. There are plenty of odachi of this size which where made for combat and they must not necessarily weigh much. I own a beautiful ubu 93cm Shinto odachi by Genichi Kanemoto. The blade weighs appr. 1300 grams and can be drawn without problems. I guess there are combat blades which were made to resemble the long Koto tachi and presentation odachi which could indeed reach monstous size and weight. Regards, Martin

It has a remote resemblance to "Sandai" Sadamune 三代 貞宗 The writing looks strange, maybe its the white substance which hides the chisel strokes? The nakago, which seems to be machi okuri, looks shinshinto to me. What makes you think the blade is pre-1800? Can you send pictures of blade and koshirae?

Hi, Patrick! I own a daisho by Yoshiyuki and asked myself the same question but could not find out whose student he had been. This is the only information I have so far: Yoshiyuki was born 1814 in the village of Shimoyamasa, in Izumo province. His father was Yamazaki Hei-uemon, but he was adopted later by Shimizu Enzo Masayoshi from Hakushu province. 1844 he was permitted to make swords in Hoki. He was a well known swordsmith in his time and his swords are considered valuable and are hard to come by today. He worked until the end of the samurai era and passed away 1886. Regards,

An interesting book in Japanese language on this topic is "Waga Kyodo To". It is dedicated to the work of country smiths(wakimono), who cannot easily be grouped within the gokaden traditions and covers most periods and provinces. The author is Kazuo Iida and it shows plenty of oshigata of lesser known smiths. I think it is out of print, but I am not sure. I have seen it offered for reasonable prices though.

Sorry, Mariusz, thanks Koichi-San, indeed misread the first era kanji. You are right, if its Kyo-wa, then its 7th gen. No reason to commit seppuku though, Mariusz, .

As it is suriage with just 1 kanji, it says: DEN(school) SHINANO DAIJO TADAKUNI. Important is column 8 which says Inaba Kuni(INABA Privince) and (?)Ten-Wa Goro, (I suppose) which would be 1681 when the 2nd generation Tadakuni worked.

As of Japanese police rules, swords without torokusho have to be immediately exported and are to be sold cheaply to interested collectors abroad!! No, seriously, this is s sad story and I hope it turns out well for them! All the Best, Martin

Dear All! There is no reason to panic if you check in advance with the seller of the sword and ask him whether he ships to your home country. This is important when dealing with ebay sellers or Japanese dealers and auction houses who are not specialised on export business. Exporters like Aoi, E-sword, JSA and others usually have no problems to ship katana abroad (mainly through EMS or Fedex) and if they cannot ship to a particular country they will state this in their shipping conditions. These companies will also include the export and shipping costs as a kind of rebate in the selling price if you care to ask. When shipping with EMS from Japan, a non-stop flight to the final destination harbour is required! Laws and regulations change all the time but there is usually a way to deal with them somehow! All the Best, Martin

Thank you for the lesson, guys! My mistake! Off course emperors did not pass away punctually on Dec. 31st!

One interesting question?: If Kunisada II started signing Inoue Shinkai around Kan-bun 12 (1672) and En-po starts 1673, where do we put Kan-bun 13?

Inoue Shinkai Kanbun 13th year, 8th Month, a day

Dear Bob, to be straightforward: not even a costly repair will save this blade. I can tell you this from experience after having many, many blades restored. If it is not a very important cultural property, get rid of it asap. If you feel a irrestible urge to repair something, buy a blade with smaller nicks! Regards, Martin

Dear Mizuta, why did you cut off the oshigata of the tang? This is an important part of the paper even if it is not signed like yours. If you look here http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/origami.htm , you will be able to translate most parts by yourself just by comparing plus you will learn something. The only part that might be difficult ist the engraving (column 6). I am sure somebody will help you there. please also sign your post, Regards, Martin

nicely put, Keith! For all long time collectors I can only say: what you get is what you see! I do not blame this seller, because he offers cheap items for a cheap price. If you want to play the lottery why do you complain afterwards that you did not win? Why don´t you just enjoy the flea market for what it is, scan the cheap prints for a genuine Picasso, but don´t whine because you did not find it! Regards, Martin

yep, right. Easy to recgnise by the shapeless nakago and the crude binding.

Hi, Dan, the signature is SUKEMUNE 助宗 The date is too difficult for me to read. There are are a lot of Sukemunes who signed that way. I would think it is a Muromachi blade, but not enough photo material to identify. Regards, Martin