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It seems to be Kaneyoshi saku. 兼義作 As it looks like a Mino Seki style blade, the first 2 Kanji may be Kawai 河合 , but picture is not good enough to tell. Showa stamp is easy to find, small, almost square stamp towards the base of the tang. Best, Martin

They do not mention any papers going with the lots. Did I miss something? Best, Martin

Hallo, Jean, There had been a request for help on this sword before at Nihonto Club: http://nihontoclub.com/discussions/2014 ... Unknow-Mei The mei looks incomplete and no good anyway. Salut, Martin

The e-sword site is trustworthy, as similar sites like aoi-art or sanmei, who are all specialized in export. They all sell second-hand-shinsakuto of various qualities. The dealer applies for export license and from payment to arrival it takes usually 4 weeks. The pictures do not tell everything, so you better ask precise questions about condition like flaws, polish, sharpness etc. These questions will usually be answered honestly, but there always remains a risk if you buy something online without having seen it before or without an agent who has viewed it for you. Always remember that it is almost impossible to return a new sword to Japan. There are dealers and collectors in the US. I would check out this market first. There is no need to rush, there will always be lots of new swords on the market in Japan in case you do not find anything in the US. Best, Martin

Gwyn, for me it is pretty obvious, that the hamachi was moved down a little bit and subsequently the jiri was cut. It is shown by the discoloration, the position of the lower ana and the strange proportion of the nakago. The upper ana had been added later out of whatever reasons. The craftsman who did the shirasaya chose the right ana for the mekugi. The machi okuri is not extreme, maybe 10-15mm, still it is suriage. Best, Martin

2 reasons that I can think of: 1. The sum of the spare parts sold separately is often more expensive than the whole thing. 2. To have a gunto tsuka professionally restored and rewrapped is expensive. A professional military wrapping alone(and I do not mean the homemade stuff) will cost you at least 200 bucks excluding shipping etc. On top comes the restoration of the metal parts or the same This goes for tsuka in excellent condition only! Cheers, Martin

On the NTHK paper it says about the era: Tenbun goro (1532) Maybe somebody drew the conclusion then, it should be the nidai. But little is known about the Muramasa generations and less is confirmed. Best, Martin

A pouch clasp was probably the model for these casts. These clasps were punched as Brian said. in this case probably filled in the back to get a proper mould. The backside gives it away. Still I see no reason not to use them as menuki if the koshirae is not too expensive. Best, Martin

I see no conflict. Mito school and Sukemitsu have been discussed here before. Simply check the search mode. Cheers, Martin

Marc, this looks like a shinto blade, so no need for mass production. Seems to be of good quality. Regards, Martin

Oh, I did not see these large toran waves before. If these are genuine, it is probably a later blade, maybe Shinto or later. Attribution to a individual smith or even school imho is not possible. Anyway, with the big nick in the shadows and the fact that it is unsigned, blade restoration, which is very expensive, economically makes no sense. Regards, Martin

The blade looks pretty obscurred, so the age and school would be difficult to determine. The nakago looks o-suriage and reworked, so it could be anything from Koto to Shinshinto. Anyway it is an antique blade. My guess would be Koto. On the full picture it seems to have a bad chip in the Ha, so it might not be worthwhile to polish it. Still, if you get an old style black ishime laquer saya for it (in addition to the historic military sheath), you will have a good looking Uchigatana! Regards, Martin

If you simply google the era names, you will find it at Wikipedia. There it says Tenbun or Tenmon for 1532. Regards, Martin

There is pretty good information on this smith, like on the site Mark mentioned. Besides he is listed in most major books and taikans. I owned 2 papered katana by Mito Sukemitsu Regards, Martin

They really look a bit like cast and stained brass, maybe repatinated later. There is a way to find out if they are casts or not: The little badges with the mei were originally thin metal, soldered into the back of the menuki. So usually there is a gap visible underneath which is not easily accomplished in a cast. If the metal goes down to the bottom in one solid block, its probably cast. Martin

Judging from the style of dragon, the engraving of the ken was originally planned, but never executed. I am sure, this horimono(of poor quality) was added later, so there is no way to learn anything about the swordsmith. Apart from the polish, the blade looks good to me and seems to be old. There were smiths, who carved their own blades but these horimono were usually of good quality. Regards, Martin

Not a fatal flaw, as the nakago can be repaired, which is not possible with hagire on yakiba. The crack can be laser-welded, yasurime and patina can be repaired. Though the sword could be used again, this greatly reduces value. Buying such a blade really is simply a matter of personal taste. Another matter is bidding without having seen the final NTHK paper. If seller agrees on receiving funds after buyer has seen the paper and the price ist right, I do not see a problem. Best, Martin

Sorry, Peter did not see your post in time. NIHONTO KANTEI SHINSAKAI is a rather newer appraisal company. The paper is plain white and they are made in the style of a Hozon paper, but much better paper and photo quality. To be honest that´s all I know about them. If you are interested, I can photograph one. I see them as a premium quality torokusho, nothing more. As for value see my previous post. Regards, Martin

All the information given above, is correct. In addition to the light blue paper, they issue a light brown paper for better quality blades(like a TH paper). Recently they have also turned down a lot of blades which they thought to be gimei or low quality! I think JTK is trying to gain more respect for the reliability of their kantei papers. But: Regardless how valid the kantei may be, all documents except NBTHK- and NTHK-papers are meaningless for Japanese and most western collectors. Regards, Martin

For a war relic this bears a very good polish. Did it come in a shirasaya? Regards, Martin

Morita San already did it. See this post: http://nihontomessageboard.com/nmb/view ... 15&t=10963 Cheers, Martin

I did, Axel and someone sent me a few scanned typewriter pages. I did a .pdf file but as I did not make this index, I am not sure whether it is complete. Maybe it is of use to you and others. Cheers, Martin Shinshinto Taikan Index 6P.pdf

The nakago looks refinished, so how about this: A former owner was told that it was gimei, so he ordered the mei to be removed in order to receive a paper. Halfway through the process, he received the good news that it was shoshin!! Cheers, Martin

Some guys leave me speechless! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tokubetsu-Kicho ... 5407d6c7c0 Photo on the TK Paper does not even match. Martin

According to paper it is a wakizashi even if it used to be a Katana. The seller avoided to mention this. Price definitely too steep. Martin