AlphaRaider

Understood, I just want to try to help anyone new like I was ( and still am ) when I made this purchase. I walked around for months with this sword at trade shows, events, showing all sorts of people my new Japanese Sword because I was very proud to have finally got one. Not a single person knew it was fake and if they did they sure didn't share It with me. If I didn't decide to take it further and buy books, join FB groups or reach out to try to make sword buddies and such I would have never known probably. I don't have any clubs in Colorado to my knowledge, books are hard to find and most are rather expensive. But to new people the information on the internet is mostly free J. Hoff

- This isn't a dig at anyone on this site so take the words "you" with a grain of salt Edit: I won't be removing my pictures unless directed by the proper staff, sadly there isn't much information about fake swords and its possibly one of the reasons I was tricked in the first place and probably countless others. You don't have to point out what's wrong, as long as people know this is wrong and can use this to compare it to other swords than its helpful IMO. Sad truth is most people on nihonto groups aren't very nice in my experience nor do they care to offer any help to new people in the realm ( this site has been the only nice one ) and because they paid a lot of money to learn they don't help anyone else because they haven't put their time in so to speak. They won't allow images on non real nihonto so that people can see what's bad and avoid what they have seen. Type how to spot a fake Japanese sword in on google and you'll get countless sites that display horrible quality pictures and give the user little to no real information. I own a Daytona Rolex watch, if it wasn't for counterfeit watches and the hundreds of videos on how to spot them I wouldn't have been able to get one on the second hand market that was real. So while some people may see it as bad I and thousand of others most likely find it extremely helpful. Some of you most likely don't because you're past the beginner phase and this seems like nonsense to you. I liken fake swords to fake rolex. you can get a $150 that looks great across the table at a bar and everyone will think is real until its inspected in person, that's swords like this. From a distance it seems fine get closer and things start getting fishy. Spend $750 and you get a watch people can hold and inspect and its likely no one would ever know the difference, until a collector, watchmaker, or sells person gets it in their hands and opens the back up. On the other hand you spend $1,300 on a super rep and not even a average watchmaker will be able to tell unless they have a heavy magnified loop and have spent years servicing them. It will fool even the best of collectors. I guarantee those swords are out there too. My photos are not going to give bad people who make fake swords the answers on how to fix them and make them correct, that's complete nonsense. They don't care they just want un informed buyer to purchase them. Like the fake Rolex watches makers im sure fake sword makers have access to the internet, they have tons of money and can buy the real deal ( way more then me, you, and probably everyone you know combined) , they can send students to learn how its made and to polish, they have have the ability to purchases machines and can mimic even the most difficult part with ease these days after paying trained people to run them for them. It comes down to time spent assembling, the quality of the machining and how much they can get a person for etc. just my 2cents. J. Hoff

-J. Hoff

J. Hoff

J. Hoff

Now that I'm back in Colorado I decided to get some really nice pictures of a this fake sword, ha. Please remember this is not glorifying this blade, this is hopefully letting some new sword buyers to know what to look out for. Obviously I bought this before I knew but I wish I did. The kydex holster did not come with this sword, that is mine. J. Hoff ps. Molly ( the Cat ) disapproves of doo doo swords and knocked it off the table moments after the picture...

What type of camera are you using? Is it a phone or a digital camera? You may want to try manual focusing if its a dslr type, auto focus sometimes has a hard time catching details on shiny surfaces. You may also be too close to properly focus on your subject. Normally you want a taco lens for anything close up like your showing. Two of the images you took were actually pretty clear in a few spots. Shooting straight on will get you the best plane of field in relation to keeping an image in focus. Some of the pictures you took look like a pretty high angle so only a small portion will be in focus. If you decide to play with the right light I'd try from the side of the blade and I would put a white or semi translucent paper over it to defuse the light and get rid of the led strips. Christmas gift paper or even a pillow case cut in half should work in a pinch. to get parts of the blade black you can use a flag or something black to limit light to that portion. I'd post a few additional images when you get a chance and let us know what kind of setup you are using. J. Hoff

Ive done photography professionally since roughly 2008, not for sword photography but I do like taking pictures of them. I went to the Art Institute of Colorado for a BA in photography and specialized in shooting highly reflective items in a studio setting. My main business deals with portraiture and still life. For this kind of work ring lights are a no no, they will cast peaks on the swords due to the rows of led's. It will also depending on the size not cover enough area to properly illuminate the sword as you need angles. They work wonders for many things but not swords. I routinely use a 19 inch ring light from savage for photography of firearms and such but swords are a different beast. For smaller items I would highly recommend a light box. I prefer to use a 3x3 size as it fits most objects easily. It produces even light and reduces chances of reflecting on shiny surfaces. I use strobe lights and a mirrorless dlsr for studio work but if you have a light box you could get away with even Home Depot work lights on the outside. Please feel free to ask anything regarding pictures and I will help you as best as possible. Photography can be challenging without support, keep in mind I'm not a nihonto photographer by trade just someone who recently stated taking pictures of my own swords. ( some of them are down right amazing ) J. Hoff - the picture below is inside a 3x3 light box with two 400w strobe lights on the left and right, some times I use up to six lights. With a front cover on and only the lens poking through its quite easy to reduce reflections. This image I didn't have the front cover on so you see a bit of light hitting the blade on the top left. Looking at angles and blade position is your key. I haven't found a page showing good sword photography how to's yet sadly. Im sure the major guys have cool set ups but also are heavy relying on photoshop which my image has none.

Here is their information.

I will get the emails from the staff for you tonight. Their email is also on the show website. Cross Roads Of The West. Arizona show

So it seems there is nothing the show will do about this vendor. Which is rather disappointing because he clearly violates the rules for the show. No selling counterfeit items, reproductions with out identifying them as such, etc. I found a older gentleman today selling swords there that quite a few people knew. I spoke with him about the gentleman and he was well aware of him aswell. I got his card I'm sure someone from the forum knows him. But it seems like this has been an issue for quite some time. Looking more & more like little will be done about him on their end sadly. So hopefully this post will be a warning to new collectors on a guy to avoid.

Thank you, that is very helpful. ThaKS for your other post as well I apperichate the free wisdom.

If posting his name/ is not allowed please let me know. I'm not going to post his email. Don't wish to have people contacting him about this just yet. This was an email the vendor in question showing me a photo of who made the sword. Below is also a screen shot of one of the Google translations. Some times I get Miura and some times I get the minoru name. Its mixed.

It is not Harunaka Hoshino, I believe I have an email mail from him. He sent me an email once of the Smith that made the sword. I confronted him once before about it being fake and he gave me this long story and sent me a pic to "prove" it was real. I'll have to search for it. I will reach out to you this evening. We just left the show and are heading to dinner.

I actually have the sword with me so i will get measurements tomorrow to post. Off to bed shows at noon tomorrow. I told him I was bringing real swords with me tomorrow to display on my table and he laughed at me and waved me off... I purchesed a $125 dollar table across from his booth just to show off some real swords hahaha

I have him on video saing they are real authentic handmade swords from Japan, the card was given to me as proof that it was once registered in Japan. His tags clearly say made in Japan. Ect. There is a lot. I have gathered pictures and video of him from the last 4 shows he attended. I have 2 swords from him, and I know about 3 other vendors that have bought swords from him and they are not real either. I've posted both swords on a few nihonto fb groups and had literally 70+ of the " nicest" people tell me it's fake s**t and that it's not real and I should be ashamed to own it ect. Some nihonto guys on line sure are not nice. But there are bad apple everywhere ha. The mei on the sword and the cert is diffrent. It's also an old registration number and would fit in that time frame I've been told. The stamps are partial and I was told that isn't something that happens often. I was also told that if it was properly exported I would recieve possibly a copy of the orgional not the actual cert itself because either would be held in country. If anyone on her could translate sizes etc. If possible that would be awesome. Any help is greatly welcomed. If i can get the sized i will measure it now that i know how to properly do that. I doubt it would match. Im pretty sure its a forged registration card. :/

I'm a arms and ammunition dealer. I Never travel anywhere with out a ccw and a sub gun in a fanny pack. Especially out of state. But I do understand what your saying. Sadly we live in a volatile world and people will take advantage of anyone they can. A few people have mention the seki city, osaka, Japan thing before as that not being correct. I didn't put the two together about the last samurai. That made me smile.

Hopefully no one knows him or has bought from him. He moves quite a few swords each show.

He has those boxes. It ended up being the second sword I bought. Says made in Osaka, Japan on it , this one I believe is from a diffrent brand. The other one clearly says kawashima on it. These ones come out of unmarked cardboard boxes. I've done some pretty extensive reading on kawashima and the scheme they had going on. They are out off business to my understanding. Thankfully I now have mutiple books and people to help and even a friend in colorado that has helped. He's on the forum and a stand up guy! But yes this was before I had any knowledge sadly. Just a burning hole in my pocket I guess.

Thanks, I will reach out to them this evening.

Additional images,

Some of the stuff he sales at his booth.

Additional pictures,

Addational pictures,

I will search them and reach out, thank you. That is just the kind of advice I was hoping for in solving this matter and keeping him from taking advantage of others. J. Hoff