Jon

Hi Alexi, unfortunately they all lead to being out of stock..there are a number of websites around the world where you can no pre order a copy, but no specific date as yet…so I suspect it’s coming out again soon…there are a serious number of book sellers trying to gouge on this book..there are copies for sale for 800+ dollars…I will just have to wait for the reprint… iIts odd how it works with books like this, one person Tries their arm then everyone is sticking them on for silly money…

It’s actually a Wakizashi designed to make sushi..it has a small reservoir that holds wasabi so every time you cut a piece of sushi with your Wakishabi it deposits a small dose of Wasabi onto your bit of sushi…….( this fact may or may no have been made up).

Japan has profoundly strict laws around weapons..in regards to swords almost everything is illegal. Basically it’s illegal to own any sword other than a traditionally made Japanese’s sword..literally every other sword is illegal..500 year old European antique back sword illegal, Chinese copy of a Japanese sword illegal, hand forged European copy of a Japanese sword made using traditional methods illegal…Machine made or non traditional Japanese made gunto illegal….the only swords that can be legally owned and registered in Japan are traditionally made Nihonto, i.e. swords made in Japan from Tamahagane 玉鋼 (and Shinto swords that are inscribed "Motte Namban-Tesu 以南蠻鐵" ["made using steel from the southern barbarians"]). This means in effect that it has to be either an antique, or made by a contemporary, licensed smith. so a Torokusho does mean it’s been assessed as a Nihonto of some description….but you cannot use it to authenticate the signature, smith, school, age etc…

Hi jasper, unfortunately you cannot just learn to polish a Japanese Nihonto as a hobbyist, as noted above it takes a good decades apprenticeship…you have to have a profundity of knowledge about Nihonto to decide even how to Polish a Japanese sword…before your event start on the practical skills..don’t ever try to Polish a Nihonto as you will certainly destroy any value in the blade leading to an expensive re polish and may even destroy blade entirely taking it beyond repair As for buying Japanese swords as a beginner 1)..first step is to get a few books and read them, then haunt sites like this and look up the websites of the reputable Japanese sellers of swords..see what they have on offer..how much they cost..as they also have brilliant pictures so you can see what a nice sword looks like. 2) after you have spent say 6-12 months getting a basic knowledge ( just enough so you don’t get ripped off start looking for your first blade. 3) pick a school, period and or smith your want to collect first. 4) Then find your first blade, remembering: A) get an in Polish blade B) have NBTHK hozon papers. C) have a signature As a beginner don’t buy a signed sword without hozon paper…faking signatures on swords has been a Japanese pass time since they started making Nihonto… if it’s signed by a known smith and it does not have at a minimum hozon papers assume it’s got a fake signature….don’t buy out of Polish blades as it will cost you £700-£1000 pounds to get it polished if you are luckily enough to even find someone to Polish it, I know of only two polishers in the UK and their lists are now closed ( I waited 2 years to get my out of Polish koto blade polished). to study and learn about a sword it must be in Polish…collectors will not generally touch out of Polish blades unless they think they have spotted something really special…

Hi i believe the book Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector's Guide, is coming up for reprint ? Has anyone hear anything ( I want the book but don’t fancy spending £175-200 on a book that’s just about to be reprinted to be honest). cheers Jon

Always difficult as something is worth what someone will pay for it. So all I can say is would I pay £610 ( 700eu)..if it had a hozon paper then yes I would, without, probably not that much…but I tend to put quite a price on have a hozon papered blade as a minimum…as it’s a first blade you would properly end up studying and selling on so making sure you get your money back is important…iI would think if you got it for 575-600eu you would get your money back in a sale……but it’s aways iffy

Hi, this is probably the nicest Nihonto you have posted. Smith wise the Kanesada swordsmiths are well know with a lot of information. The Aizu Kanesada were a branch of the Kanesada smiths with 11 generations from from 1556 when the 4th generation Kanesada moved to Aizu, with the last 11th generation smith working into the 20c. The papers ( JASMK certification) are issued by a sword merchant in Japan, it’s not a bad indicator of what you are getting. It’s not Hozen papers so they don’t have a market value themselves and are not a gold standard..but give you the opinion of someone who does know Japanese swords and are a nice to have and as you know the school of smiths and the branch gives you some foundation for study. The blade seems to be in reasonable condition and Polish, there seems to be a mark on the kissaki, Price wise its what I have paid for equivalent condition Tantos with hozon papers, but I then had to pay 5% import charge..so slightly less than what I paired for an equivalent blade with papers ( but hozon papers do add value and make it easer to sell). it may be worth trying to ask for a closer picture of the mark in the kissaki and using the mark to seeing if you can get a bit of a price reduction..if you can get a reduction of 10-15% it’s probably a reasonable deal for a first Nihonto. All in all I’m not seeing any red flags…it’s a budget Nihonto in Polish that will make a reasonable first piece to study…so it’s all about the price and getting it as cheap as you can. But I’m only a couple of years into the hobby so get some wiser views than mine.

I was thinking around the subject of papers, specifying the most recognised papers and how much value they add to a blade…now we all know a Hozon blade will not be as valuable as a TOKUBETSU HOZON, but what I’m thinking is if you had the same blade at the hozon level, one with papers one without what would be the market difference..or basically how much more would you pay for a specific blade if it had papers that matched its quality vs a clone of that specific blade that did not have papers so: 1) two blades exactly the same in every respect ( clones) one with Hozen papers one without…how much more (as a percentage) would you pay for the one with hozon papers. Or as an example if you payed £2000 for a blade with hozen papes how much would you pay for the same blade without papers. 2) same question with Tokubetsu Hozon 3)same question with juyo token 4) same question with Tokubetsu Juyo token 5) same question with SHINTEISHO papers 6) same question with KANTEISHO papers 7) same question with YUSHUTO papers Finally are there any papers that you would think don’t add any value, clearly this is all a bit personal opinion, but that’s part of the fun.

This is an example of a cheap quite good looking blade: https://tokyosword.m...ira-edo-period-mumei

Hi jo restoration of a Nihonto is a very specialist thing, that needs a profundity of knowledge. Basically if a Nihonto is not in Polish it’s not really in a collectible condition ( you cannot see the activity in the steel so cannot study or identify the blade if it’s out of Polish). Polishing costs a lot, if you can find a polisher ( most have waiting lists of 2 years), it’s also going to cost around £400 to get it polished…then you have the issue that the saya will be full of rust and dirt so you need a new shirasaya after it’s polished. You’re basically in for a £700-£800 to restore a blade. Your problem is it’s only viable if you have a blade worth the effort…no point restoring trash as you will be throwing money away…if the blade costs you £500 then your spending £700-£800 that’s £1300 on a blade that could be really not that valuable and for £1300 you can get a lovely papered blade in Polish that is worth the money…. if you just want to keep it..I would suggest you follow the advice for European blades…you don’t ever Polish historic European blades you stabilise and maintain ( Japanese Nihonto should be in perfect polish, it’s a profoundly different paradigm)..if your treating it like a European blade…give it a bath in machine oil ( for a couple of days) keeping the oil off the tang ( never touch the tang of a Japanese sword)..then gently with a lint free cotton cloth give it a good wipe….then simple keep it oiled..as you will turn the rust to back stable rust… Don’t try and Polish it yourself as if it just happened to be a hidden gem you would damage it. But honestly looking at that blade I would not touch it.

Now I have the image of that scene in the film trading places…where they scream “buying” in orange juice trading pit…love that film.

That’s just a bit gross..I now have an image of Lady Gaga in her meat dress running through the jungle hunted by wolves.

Hi Jo, generally the advice is if a smith is famous or high rated and you find a blade with their signature and it does not come with papers from either the NBTHK ( modern papers are needed as older papers are considered suspect, so Hozen, Tokubetsu Hozen and above) or NTHK papers..a good rule of thumb unless your an expert is to consider it a fake ( Gimei) anything with a signature especially a high rated smith that does not come with papers is odds on a gimei (fake). Faking Mei ( signatures) on Nihonto seems to have been a hobby since they started forging and signing Nihonto as such there are a huge number of gimei and it takes a very expert eye or a panel of experts with the sword in hand to decide ( and sometime even then they cannot decide or get it wrong). The process of deciding included both looking at how the signature is struck against the character of the blade and if it matches the smiths works. So basically consider any signed blade without papers as a faked signature ( Gimei) Its also worth noting that the NBTHK will not provide papers for a Gimei blade and the only way to get it papered is to have the fake signature removed.

The kissaki looks like it’s been created with a belt sander ? No evidence of a Boshi that I can see. The Nakago looks really crude as well.

Just something I was looking at, that seems a real bargain for a Tokubetsu hozon, and as a first Nihonto an interesting study and something that could stand up in a collection for a while. https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-sagami-kami-fujiwara-hiroshigenbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token/?_sfm_paper=特別保存刀剣&_sfm_price=100000+300000 It will cost about 1500euros…seems a lovely looking blade for the price. They sometimes give a bit of a discount and free shipping if you ask. others may have a view.

To be honest, it very much depends what are looking for…a cheap Nihonto as a wall hanger to say you have one or the foundations of a collection that supports the development of your knowledge. Budget comes into it, but if your starting out do you want to blow a fortune I would say no. If you’re starting out or a couple of years in with limited knowledge papers take on a lot of meaning: 1) it guarantees your investment to a degree 2) its easy to sell on later 3) the papers provide you with a solid foundation of understanding what the blade “is” to support your studies, papers will give you a school etc this will mean your not studying the blade in a complete vacuum of knowledge ( for those who have vast knowledge papers are less important..for us mortals they are actually really quite useful). It’s easier to learn with an example in front of you instead of in a complete vacuum. Next looking at cost..in the European market there is a lot of not so great blades with not so great fittings, without papers going for quite a lot of money…you can spend £800- £1200 for a blade like that…if you have a good look around the Japanese sellers/exporters you can find some pretty reasonable unsigned Tanto or wakisashi with “Hozen” papers…in Shirasaya for that money. From the point of view of owning the blade, it’s better that it comes with a decent shirasaya than poorly fitting poor koshirae, that you will be paying for but don’t want. I have taken the advice from the more experienced collectors and have stuck with papered blades. For now I’m focusing on the blades and not the fittings..so everything I’m getting is In Shirasaya as it’s the blades I want to study not the fittings just yet. As a new collector myself I would say..get something papered, get something with a signature that has been attributed to a smith/generation ( Jo-Saku rated smith if you can) get it in good Polish and ensure it’s in a Shirasaya..so you lovely blade is protected. When you get that home it’s will be something that can form the core of your new collection. I’m betting if you really look around you will find a blade like that for not much more than you would pay for this blade.

Does anyone have any good links to online references for linage of sword smith schools as well as key characteristics of the schools ?

Cheers Alex, I also got an extra 20,000 yen off the price as well as free postage..so very happy all in all, a bargain if you can call any Nihonto that. With it being papered Tokubetsu Hozon I have high expectations…I also really liked the Hamon.

I’ve just purchased a new Nihonto for my collection. Wakizashi, Mei is: Shinano Daijo Fujiwara Tadakuni (2nd generation) NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers. Blade length:45.6 cm Sori:1.1 cm Width at the hamachi:3.2 cm Width at the Kissaki: 2.35 cm o Kasane: 0.75cm looking forward to getting it in hand.

Black rust forms can form under red and yellow rust..but it takes different length of times to develop…it takes a while for a thick layer of Fe3O4 (ferrous ferric oxide, magnetite) black rust to form under red rust or convert from brown rust …but can you tell the difference between 200 years of fe304 formation or 400 years…not really…as a rule of thumb..it’s likely a nakago will be clean on a blade that’s less than 50-70 years old..unless it’s been badly stored in a high humidity wet environment..at which Point you would see a lot of red rust ( this is bad and would need the nakago to be oiled to remove oxygen and water to convert the red rust to black rust) on a well stored blade after 50 to 100 years you will see brown rust formation begin (Brown Rust. Oxide Fe2O3) which forms in a low moisture environment ( the sort of environment your tang should be living in)…this will slowly convert to Fe3O4 ( black rust needs low moisture low oxygen)…from around 100 years onwards..this magnetite layer can and will get thicker over time…so very old blades 500 years will have a thicker and blacker looking magnetite than a 100 year old blade….but differentiating between a late koto and Shinto on magnetite thickness and character alone…I would say any expert that says they can is probably fooling themselves a bit and they are actually using profound knowledge of everything in front of them..not just the magnetite layer…it’s called intuition from profound knowledge…the person will be triggered by so much knowledge and experience they will not alway really know the full dept of what triggered that view…it’s why we have formal processes of assessment..in complex fields of study and assessment to try and rationalise what is hugely complex knowledge and why a person makes a judgement …( it’s like when I see a person and I twig they are going to die on me…I will probably say it was a specific observation that triggered me… resp rate or colour of skin etc… but infact all evidence would suggest I was using intuition based on profound knowledge of the whole person and what presents when a person is going to drop dead developed over 25 years of study and experience). so black rust is one part of the puzzle but is affected by the environment and time…so not a definitive thing…

I did smack a hole in my kitchen ceiling with my Bokken…my wife was really not happy with me….lucky I don’t wave my Nihonto around in the same way…..

It does depend what you pay in the beginning…if you pay low prices for an in Polish study and move on piece it should not be a problem….modest priced Nihonto seem to be snapped up in auctions….

I’ve not had the miss fortune to see an acid Polish before, is there any other stand out thing about an acid polish other than the over to top hada ?

Florid John, but very helpful, cheers

I’m thinking of trying to pick up this blade as it has an interesting hada..I’m not thinking of going beyond the $500 mark total ( postage and import taxes). Any thoughts or advice on the blade ?