Veli

When looking at the burr at the edges of the strokes, it seems clear that the Kanemoto mei is much older than the ownership inscription. BR, Veli

Hi Hachiman! Signed Kanemoto. There was a large number of Mino-den smiths by this name, some very good ones. Your blade looks koto (16th century or older) to my untrained eye. Definitely not a plaything, but one to restore! Fittings look battered but good, too. Unfortunately I write this in a hurry, so I leave the Ura-mei translation to more knowledgeable members. I am only a beginner, but I think we seldom see blades of this quality when people ask for NMB assistance. BTW, please sign your posts with your real name! BR, Veli

I actually tested machine sanding a blade... of a discarded Finnish puukko. I used a belt sander with a worn-down sanding belt. I tried to apply excessive pressure, but the temperature of the blade remained well below 100 deg C. The puukko blade had a cross-section area resembling that of a stout hira-zukuri wakizashi. Thus it seems that it takes excessive power, pressure and recklessness to increase the temperature above the safe limits for the hamon. Buffing with a stiff fabric work wheel rotating several krpm may be more dangerous in terms of temperature, however. As a conclusion, I'd estimate that the risk of damage deep in steel is not too large, provided that no color changes are visible. N.B. (for those who have not read the whole story): This test was performed on a worthless modern knife in order to assess the thermal damage inflicted on previously mistreated blades. I'd like to stress that all forms of buffing, amateur polishing, sanding, machining etc. applied on a nihonto are equal to destroying cultural heritage. BR, Veli

I'd think that if there's traces of heavy oxidation (= color change to brown/blue) due to buffing, the temperature has been high enough to affect the crystal structure, and the blade may be badly damaged. The guy who told me to hide kizu by welding was actually a teacher of metalworking in a local vocational school. I tried to explain about martensite and austenite, crystalline structure, hada, effect of thermal stress and gradient etc., but the guy just insisted that by selecting a correct filling alloy and by machining the welded surface it would be impossible to detect. I was so impressed by this person's resolution versus his expertise that I carefully padlocked my showcase and went to fetch some coffee... Hopefully this person never buys a real nihonto. BR, Veli

Hi Simon, The crystalline structure of carbon steel can be altered in very low temperatures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempering. This also leads to color change of the alloy due to oxidation. Machine sanding or buffing are capable of raising the local temperature above 250 C. The weirdest piece of advice I've ever got was that I should repair the hadaware on a nanbokucho tachi by TIG-welding... BR, Veli

Hi Tony, Please note that the nakago is in a very bad shape. Otherwise the blade looks OK. Shinto period mumei Seki blades are not among the most wanted ones among the collectors - though they are good, robust weapons. I bought a nice papered Echizen Seki katana from a very reliable dealer (Nihonto Antiques) for 3 kUSD - before the latest market crash. So I do not think the blade in question was exceptionally cheap - nor expensive. BR, Veli

The following are only my personal opinions, although they are in line with the previous replies . I collect Nihonto for three reasons: artistic value, historical value and the metallurgical and technological supremacy over other edged weapons of past centuries. Mass produced swords, or swords with flaws that seriously obscure the skill of the maker, like saiha (retemper) or tsukare (tiredness: loss of skin steel and shape deformation) only very seldom possess any artistic or aesthetic value, since the beauty of the hada, hamon and sugata are greatly diminished. Mass produces swords, as well as most gimei swords, cannot be traced back to individuals who made them or used them. Thus their historical value is small, a fact that is emphasized by their large numbers. Furthermore, mass produced swords, as well as tired swords, do not serve as examples of supreme skill, knowledge end craftsmanship. Battle-inflicted fatal flaw on a good sword is a more complicated thing. It does not really take away all the abovementioned motivations for collecting: I personally would prefer a sai-jo saku blade with a battle-inflicted hagire to a kazu-uchi mono blade with no (other) flaws, the price being the same. With a 3000-5000 USD budget, after months of careful study and comparison and with a little luck and help you may find a decent, signed, papered blade by a reasonably skilled smith. This is a far better option than to buy 5-7 pieces of mass-produced or flawed blades 400-800 USD each. Blades that are of low quality and out of polish should be completely avoided, since there is nothing to see, polishing cost would never be justified, and by polishing yourself you would zero the value and possibly ruin some decent blades. Finally, there is no absolute truth in these matters. Good luck in finding your own way into nihonto world! BR, Veli

Hi Daryl, Please remember that there has been more than 100 listed smiths who signed "Kuniyoshi". If you take a close look on the diagonal stroke in the "Kuni" kanji on the Juyo Bunkazai tanto you referred to, and compare it to the ebay blade's signature, you find a significant difference. There are no national treasures on Ebay. BR, Veli

Gentlemen, I guess it can be either way, though usually shirasaya and tsuka do tend to tighten during the cold and dry season. Wood is an anisotropic material: If fresh-cut wood is dried to near zero percent moisture, it shrinks 0.1-0.3% lengthwise, 3-6% radially and 6-12% tangentially. Thus, depending on the construction and grain direction, different (geometrical) forms of shrinkage can take place. BR, Veli

Hi! The amount of water absorbed by wood depends on the RH (Relative Humidity) of air. RH can be lowered either by removing water from air (by salt crystals etc), or simply by increasing the temperature. The temperature under your bed is probably lower than elsewhere in your apartment (unless you have floor heating), and thus the RH is higher in there. Try to move the sword to a warmer location (remember that warm air rises upwards). If you have 75% RH at 23 deg C , and you lower the temperature to 20 deg C, the RH rises to 90%, which means big problems (mold etc). Small temperature change makes a big difference! Remember that if you use moisture absorbers, they need to be regenerated regularly! To those who wish to dive deeper into secrets of moisture calculations: http://www.vaisala.com/humiditycalculator.html BR, Veli

Ah, what a great source of information this forum is! Thank You so much once again, Moriyama san! I assume this tanto has enormous historical and collecting value, being the only known piece of its kind... In any case, this lady swordsmith excercised her profession openly and also earned respect for her skill. This fact gives me personally a new insight into the history of the Japanese society. By the way, we have at least two lady members: Anne Brewer from Texas and Paola from Italy BR, Veli

Hi All! Does anyone have any further information about this swordsmith who worked in Bitchu, Shinano and Chikuzen in late 18th century? What do you think; what makes her such a very special swordsmith, at least according to Hawley... BR, Veli

Morita san, thank you so much for your clear, informative, rapid and educating answer! Best regards, Veli

Hi all! Reading the kanji/hiragana inscription on this kogatana is beoynd my capabilities. I would be very thankful if someone could rewrite the characters in printed kanji/hiragana. The kozuka/kogatana is from a mediocre tanto koshirae. One shishi dog is missing... BR, Veli

I see now the wisdom in many of the gift sword blades being of low to medium quality... BR, Veli

Here's some information provided by Clive Sinclaire: http://www.to-ken.com/articles/giftspresentations.htm "...presented to the British Prince of Wales during a visit to Hiroshima in 1922.The sword was sold in a London auction room in June 1997 for a reasonably modest price and is now believed to be in Scandinavia." I wonder if this was the sword mentioned by professor Ramstedt; Would the prince have carried it with him from Hiroshima to the imperial palace??? BR, Veli

Here’s a description of the incident that took place in the imperial palace in Tokyo, during the visit of the Prince of Wales in Japan (in 1922), as recorded by the first envoy of Finland in Japan, professor Ramstedt, in his memoirs: (My apologies for the quality of the translation) "The festival hall was being filled by the diplomatic corps as well as by the formally dressed audience entering via another door. Everyone was seated in a semicircle of chairs, until there was not a single seat vacant. In front of the audience there was the stage, where, unlike on western stages, improvisation replaced the scenes. The play was a typical Noh-play, a conversational piece written in historical, traditional Japanese way, providing very little entertainment for those not fluent in Japanese language. The Prince of Wales, seated in the first row, soon grew tired watching the play, and started to inspect the ornaments of the gorgeous and rare Japanese sword that he had been presented. Again and again he partially unsheathed the sword and repeatedly knocked the floor with it." BR, Veli

Dear Franco, I somehow got an impression that you might know of an interesting, real life example how a sword with seemingly reliable (recent?) papers has turned out to be a really bad disappointment. If so, could you please share the story with us? Nothing beats practical examples when we want to learn something... However, in order not to increase the workload of our excellent moderators, let us be limited to disappointments due to incomplete or wrong information in the papers, or quality grossly inconsistent with the requirements of the papers, and furthermore, let us leave the sellers unnamed. BR, Veli

Thank You for the excellent comments! Although we should concentrate on the blade and not the papers, we should also keep in mind the beginners (to which group I still count myself) who buy blades on-line; reliable papers (including Fujishiro) usually prevent them burning their fingers too painfully. BR, Veli

I actually meant to say 99.99% reliable but rounded the figure to 100% for convenience as well as in order to avoid being disrespectful Let us put the question in another way: Has anybody ever encountered a sword papered by Fujishiro that, due to quality or flaw issues, probably would not receive NBTHK Hozon-token if submitted? BR, Veli

Could somebody shed some light on the quality requirements of Fujishiro papers; I understand they are highly esteemed, and 100% reliable in terms of signature authentication. But how do they compare with NBTHK and NTHK papers in terms of quality and healthiness requirements: are they more or less strict than e.g. NBTHK Hozon papers? BR, Veli

Hi! In my (not the same generation) Kanefusa tanto there are also differently preserved yasurime; worn but clear higaki on the ura, very faint sujikai (probably originally also higaki?) on the omote; it also seems that higaki starts to resemble sujikai when subjected to wear. The smith has maybe unintentionally used different force when filing in different directions? This is probably a question how the last faint remnants of yasurime are visible... There probably need to be only the slightest difference of wear between ura and omote to display this phenomenon. Sorry for the use of bandwidth, need to upload hi-res pics to show the details... BR, Veli

Mr. Sinclaire's book is a pleasure to read, it contains interesting historical facts, as well as excellent advice on handling and appreciation of swords... I purchased two of them (to have one that I can give away), since they are many times worth the incredibly low price. However, other beginners using the kanji appendix might find the following information helpful: 金=KIN (O9) 菊=KIKU(O10) 喜=KI (O11) 行=YUKI (O12) 幸=YUKI (O13) 雪=YUKI (O14) 光=MITSU(P1) 滿=MITSU (P2) 三=MITSU(P3) BR, Veli

Hello Reinhard! Actually I did understand your post correctly, but failed to communicate that I did. I just wanted to make a more general statement of my personal view. I do not object to people who want to have faults "improved", if the existence of the fault is always communicated to the next owner of the blade. Personally, a hidden fault would bother me more than one that I can plainly see. Sometimes, in the web, you see an oshigata where this kind of a small nioi-giri seems to be indicated, and the swords in question may still have papers. So I think the conclusion that this kind of nioi-giri is a fault but not a fatal fault seems a good one. BR, Veli

I do not think hiding flaws is a good policy. I would always know it is there... I think this is a nioigiri, but the question is, is it fatal? With hagiri or nioigiri where hamon runs off the edge the situation is clear: it is like being dead or pregnant - either yes or no. This kind of nioigiri is for me more difficult to classify, because it is not a complete void in the nioiguchi; there is a dim line of nioi instead of bright coarse nie. This is a very tough case to photograph: I can take a picture that makes you say: "definitely no nioigiri", as easily as one that makes you state "fatal". After listening to your valuable opinions , I think I submit this to the UK shinsa; let the expert team decide how fatal this fault is. My world does not collapse if the blade will be pinked... It is a nice blade in many aspects, and seen very little polishing. BR, Veli