Link

I'm glad you got back to my orig. question. I need to look up Nagayma Kokan (I'm assuming N.K. is a source of reference) the blade does have a bit of ayasugi but not near as pronounced as on the pic. you posted. I need to go back & study that hada some more. The more I learn the more I see. I do have one more sort of general question though I'm thinking that the coarse structures in the hada come from the quality of the smith not the quality of the steel he used to make the blade ? Thanks again

NBTHK papers. I'm pretty sure it's just Hozon

Thanks for kind words !

I wouldn't say "in the dark" you guys are so close given with what you were working with I'd say Dozen or for sure Jun Dozen. Well done ! Does waki-bizen mean the same as wakimono ? If so I think your right on from what I've read. The sword is signed by Hiroshige of Shitahara school not a great school or great smiths and the smiths there seemed to copy other smiths work so to get the smith & school correct from bad pics over the net would seem almost impossible. Thanks to every one for helping me learn some more.

71 cm length. 2 cm sori Pretending, not my style, I didn't know Kissaki from a Kawasaki 3 weeks ago I bought sword bought some books and here I am having some fun. I won't use "newbie" any more maybe Dumb-Ass will work for awhile it probably fits me better any way and there's no way you'll be able to strip of that rank !

The way I read the meaning of Kuni iri yoku was correct period and correct province so both Peter and yourself are correct in the period. I'm taking liberty with a language, tradition and sword smarts I know nothing about I hope I'm not offending any one. But the more I learn the better it gets. Thanks

John & Peter both are Kuni iri yoku except wrong province (best I can tell anyway) care to go again....or do you want to the goods !

Game over ! I tried posting Hi-rez pics to a hosting site but the site just kept down sizing the pics. So heres a few more probably wont do any good but I'd like to here any body's guess at this point, maybe some day I'll be able to make a stab (pun intended) at this game. Thanks for playing along.

Kinda what I thought, I will figure out how post a link to an image hosting site but since it's Feb. 14th I gotta get my ass out of this chair if I know whats good for me !! mean while It's any ones guess at this point, Thanks

A few more pics

Here we go, I know with the pics really suck taking good pics seem almost impossible and I didn't want to suck up a bandwidth but if there's questions about boshi or whatever I'll do my best to fill in what the pics don't show. I wasn't sure about including the nakago. Oh and I've been called much worse than a sly dog,,,,,Good Luck

OK a little Kantei for you guys, the sword has NBTHK papers and is signed by one of the ranked smiths in Jon Yumoto's book. I'll take some pics and see how ya do.

Not sure what would make polished down a lot as I have no back ground but the Nagasa is 71 cm, the thickness at the Machi is 7.5 mm at the Sori 6.5 mm and the Yokote it's 6 mm. heres a few more pics. I'm making an attempt to be able to tell a really good blade from an OK blade I know it will take a lot longer then I ever thought bit stuff that comes real easy is never much fun. It seems there are many traits that can be found in both I guess over all consistenacy in a blade is very good trait as long as it has the proper bells and whistles. Thanks for your help

Is my question to stupid to respond to ? Or is the question not clear ? Or are you guys forcing a newbi to do his own research !! Any way I have been comparing my sword to the Connoisseurs book of Japanese Swords, The Samurai Sword book by John Yumoto along with pics found on the web and I just can't figure out what those lines are they don't seem to be a flaw but Ji are is listed as coarse, these lines do not seem coarse from the hamon line to the shinogi but from the shinogi to the mune they appear more pronounced I'm thinking this could have something to do with the polish. The lines only appear in a few places and do not match up side to side. I have only seen 3 blades in person the 2 I own and one was a real treasure but to bad when I saw the treasure I had less of a clue than I do now. Anyway the blade studying I'm doing with the books is great and it seems that with the detail and the overwhelming names and descriptions given to the Jigane and hada of the blades there would be a term for the lines I'm seeing. If I'm being a complete idiot someone please tell me. Thanks

I've been trying to figure out what I'm seeing on this blade (I'm new at this game so flame away I can take it) I'm seeing Itame & Mokume in the Hada but there are these lines that are wider and more visible the what I'm calling the Itame Mokume grain. is this the Hataraki ? If it is does it have a name such as Midare Utsuri or Yubashiri ? If these pics. are to small I can enlarge them a bit. Thanks

I just bought my 1st "good" sword Hozon papers ect. in almost new polish it's really nice ! anyway I was told by someone not to use the powder even though he gave me a kit with the powder in it. He also gave me a micro fiber cloth and siad thats all he'll ever use on a sword in good polish so I am taking his advice. However I have an old blade early edo that was mis handled over the years and is in old polish prob. done about 50 to 70 years ago and there was some minor blackish stains on the blade so I tried the powder on them and ended up mixing a little of the oil and powder and rubbed out all the stains and with a little work I can now see some boshi in the kissaki and the hada is showing up way better. I think the powder really helped that older polish.

That pretty much explains it, thanks

Thanks Martin

I've been searching for a sword & have a question about the info. or description given in NTHK papers (I'm new at this) I've seen more than a few swords for sale that have the NTHK or NBTHK and then a written description from the seller that says "appears to be" or "I think this or that" or something along those lines. these are all signed swords I'm talking about province,town & smith So what could be left to question ? I would think the NTHK would verify all that stuff ? From what I've seen it appears that there there are rankings Toko, NPO, Kanteisho and more common Hozon-Token and a Hawley rank which dosn't seem related to the NTHK cert. So I guess a sword can be cert, but not have a ranking? I know that a some of the smiths would sign with someone eleses name for various reasons but I would think that if such things were in question the NTHK cert would include anything that may be in question on the sword. I know that in a room full of experts you may end up with more than one description of what a sword really is. So I've been assuming that if a sword had the papers and rankings there wasn't much left to for conjecture. So if you can clue me in that would be great . Thanks

Yes I googled Fujita and it is a very common name. However My Father started a Hunting Club I think in or around Atsugi He said it was called the Japanese hunting club. The Officer and my Dad were close friends some how my Dad got guns back into the hands of the Japanese so they could hunt. My Dad also was given a shot-gun that his Japanese friends had engraved with flowers and his name so I'm thinking it may be possible that some one will remember my Father or passed on a story of why " I gave your sword to a US Army Officer" Anyway there is a data base of Japanese Army officers names I can search and I have a box with pictures of my Dad with his Japanese friends and some letters in Japanese and english from that time in his life. So I don't think it's impossible although very difficult and unlikely I could do it. But my real question is for you is Do you think trying to return the sword would insult any one ? There are some other markings on the mount on the surface that touches or sits against the brass tsuba I will post some pics and again ask for help. Thanks again L.Minghi

Thank-you. May I ask your opinion about trying to return the sword to the family ?

Wow, I hadn't thought there might be a possibility of different translations. Thanks for your help if it seems no one is really sure on this one.

Heres the pic. Thanks

Sorry no image attached. I will figure it out and post back with image

I'm trying to figure out what this mark say's It's from a WW2 mount that was done on a signed blade from the Muromachi period. The sword was given to my Father in 1948 by a Japanese Army officer. I've been told from another forum member who knows his stuff (I don't) He translated the tang sig. for me but was having trouble with the mount mark and the mark is a probably the Family name of the officer who gave the sword to my Father. My Father tried very hard not to take the sword but the officer insisted and made it very clear that if the sword wasn't taken that it would be a great insult to the Officer so my Dad took it and told me this sword should have stayed in that Japanese family. So my first thought was to find out the family name and return the sword, but was advised by the guy who read the tang sig. that it might be very insulting to return the sword. But one thought I had was that maybe the Japanese Officer had no heir to sword at the time and at that time in his life thought my Dad worthy of such a gift (or the guy had a much better sword to pass on who knows) and possibly later in his life regretted not keeping the sword to pass on. So I wanted to at least get the mark translated and then go from there. I will not make a hasty decision on trying to return the sword but the more info. I gather the better the decision will be. Thanks in advance for any help or advice. /Users/larryminghi/Desktop/IMG_0280.JPG