reinhard

Do not forget: It's the polishing technique that makes utsuri visible, or not. For a long time people believed, utsuri was an old, lost quality, forgotten during Edo-times. They were proven wrong by increased polishing techniques. What makes the difference now: Kind and quality of the utsuri! reinhard

There was a time, not so long ago, when many collectors and dealers switched from washi to micro-fibre tissues for sword care. The disadvantage was: This kind of synthetic tissue picks up loose particles of rust from the tang and rubs them over the blade, producing ugly scratches. just an idea reinhard

The estimated price is way too high. Reminds me of past days in the 80ties and 90ties, but this golden age for dealers is over. Shinto-To should have its mei at least partially. O-suriage is a no-go. reinhard

Keep on dreaming on the tip of the iceberg. reinhard

This conversation is drifting into the arena of the absurd. In order to verify a fake google/gmail-acount I should "google" it? Are you serious? reinhard

"Crap material"? You better start on field one. Obviously you haven't understood basics. reinhard

A gmail account doesn't proove anything. reinhard

Mustafa wrote: "This idea is copyrighted worldwide and others can not patent the ideas here." Well, Mustafa, I don't intend to steal your ideas. I think nobody does. What you don't understand is: Producing replicas on the basis of new technologies is of no interest here. Your rude and highly aggressive attitude has a suicidal touch, as far as this board is concerned. Reminds me of a character kicked of this board not so long ago. But maybe that is what you want. Anyway, I am a chess-player and it seems you don't understand basics. reinhard

Thing is: We can tell, what the real hamon is. To me it looks cosmetically added in the monouchi-area. a) is correct when the heated blade is plunged into water horizontally; the proper way. It is a dfferent thing when the partially heated blade is plunged into water vertically with the tip downwards. b) is definitely correct, but again: We haven't seen the real hamon yet, just vague pixels. reinhard

Ray Singer wrote: "Lewis, my impression is that the corrosion is more recent. The pitted and pockmarked appearance of the nakago has, to my eyes, more of the look of something where the age was chemically accelerated. It does not look like a naturally aged koto nakago." Exactly what I thought when seeing the pics of the nakago. reinhard

There is something wrong with the sori (curvature) of the blade. The monouchi-area seems to bow down. This indicates a retempering of the upper part of the blade. Close expertise (in hand) could solve this question. reinhard

Who cares? I don't. reinhard

Playing the "sexist card" is about what I expected. Just don't bother us with childish and silly emojis any more. reinhard

Gimei is gimei and that's that. "nihonto-museum" is no valuable reference at all. And yes: Guido is a real character, always was. Sadly enough he is not able to participate anymore. As for you , "Dee", I have my doubts who you really are. Playing the "Lady-bonus" here for somebody else ? reinhard

Comparing paintings with blades 1:1 doesn't make much sense, but so-called "AI" is stupid and will do whatever you ask, unless you ask for sensitive and censored information. Nevertheless the question (prompt) marks an in important point: Good Nihon-To is more than a tool. It is the ultimate approach to combine functionality with beauty. reinhard

The thread starts with the following statement: "I did not realize saiha (retempered) blades could paper (unless very famous smith or significant blade)..." The examples of Toshiros and Shintogos proudly presented afterwards fall in the category of "famous smith or significant blade". For the average collector of Nihon-To the device must be still: Saiha is a no go. Collectors of sharp militaria tools can ignore this advice, of course. reinhard

Quoting from the site mentioned above: "Uchida sensei then requested to test the blade with a telephone book of 1 sun 5 bu thick. Artillery captain Omura performed the test with excellent results." Seriously? reinhard

For consideration: True Horimono are made by removing steel. In this particular case the characters were just hammered in and the surface polished afterwards to remove the raised edges. You can see this on blades given to shrines and temples, but this is most probably not the case here. BTW: All mei on nakago, with the exception of Hankei's, are made by just hammering them in. Not removing steel, but pressing it aside. This is an important criterion when examining a mei. reinhard

"I'd truly like to see one of your swords jacques - they must be amazing! What do you collect personally?" ("Deanna") "...put up a good blade of your own" ("Rivkin") You are confusing Insta with NMB. reinhard

You're not in a position to give orders, Rivkin. reinhard

There are a lot of silly, redundant questions and questions about horrible blades posted for discussion here on this forum every day. Jacques has been here to answer them in his unique and not very sociable style for a long time now. You can ignore him, if you want to, but his theoretical knowledge is worth listening to. I wish he could find a less confrontational language in his posts, but then, he is who he is. Better listen to an angry, honest voice than to the ignorants and the crooks everywhere. reinhard

I hope you recover soon, but how's the dog? reinhard

For consideration: The blade is signed on the sashi-omote/haki-ura, meaning: as a katana. There were a few exceptions to this rule before late Nanboku-Cho period, but this "Yasu(?)mitsu" probably doesn't belong to them. All in all, the horrible quality of the fittings and the obscure quality and polish of the blade leave me with the conclusion: The whole package is probably not of Japanese origin. Chinese maybe. reinhard

The reason why I would like to see the nakago is: The "naginata-naoshi sugata" was pretty popular during Shin-Shin-To times. Katana and wakizashi were made to look like a shortened naginata. The Yamaura-school in Shinano, f.e., had weakness for this particular sugata. reinhard

Owning a true Hisakuni-blade is among the most desireable ideas in the world of Nihon-To. Without seeing the blade in hand it is very difficult to estimate its qualities and minor defects. There is a big flaw though easily to see and, fair enough, declared by Aoi-art: The massive chip in the cutting edge. Can you live with that flaw? It will not go away as time passes by and you will never be able to overlook it. This is what makes the blade quite cheap compared to flawless Hisakuni-work. reinhard