AlphaRaider

Hello all, So all though it is a bit sad to admit when I started my sword journey I was tricked into a buying a couple swords under the pretense that they were authentic Japanese swords. I take it as a bit of a learning experience in sorts but also I have been recently suggested by other vendors to file a police report and to take the gentleman to small claims court if I can get substantial evidence or information that it is indeed not authentic. This will also be presented to the show owners to remove the gentleman from attending their shows. The gentleman I bought my first two swords from is a vendor from California who attends Arizona gunshows and sells fake chinese made swords. Anything over $1,000 has a "registration card" with it to prove it was owned in Japan and exported legally. (not how it works as I'm sure you all know) The 1st sword purchesed was listed at $1,850 + tax. The one above it was on sale for $650 if you did cash. As well as a few others. The week after I bought mine he had an exact replacement. Sadly I don't think he knew I was a vendor and would see him mutiple times a year. He's actually right accross the way from our booth this weekend. I believe it's a mono steel 1095 with a bad hormono engraving, stamped tang. "Made in osaka" This is also supposed to be a miura made blade. The Fittings are obviously Chinese and low grade. He said the blade was made by miura in Osaka, Japan. The information stamped into the sword tang does not match the registration card either. I guess the point of this post is to get some imput to the authenticity or rather lack of, of the first sword. Any points on what's incorrect would be helpful from anyone who would comment Pictures are below. Posting shortly... If this kind of post is not allowed I understand, just looking to get advice and information from others to present. J. Hoff

Thanks for the link, however after looking at the post makes me think diffrently. I don't believe mine is anything like thouse. The dogs on them are vastly diffrent. Not even remotely close to what is on mine imo. I'm new so I don't know, but to me they are vastly diffrent.

Thanks Brian, When you oil this type of blade do you only do the polished surface? You do not clean the side with file marks correct? Thanks, J. Hoff

Here are a few additional pictures including the other side of the blade. J. Hoff

Hello Everyone, I recently received a really neat Kozuka with a Kogatana blade that is signed. I just finished taking some pictures and thought I'd share them with you all. This is a little Information from the seller I received: ( if anyone cares to contribute anything please feel welcome) Kozuka jidai (era) : late-Edo period circa 1850's School : Kinko Material : Copper with gold inlay's/overlay's Sizes Kozuka : 97.6 mm L x 14.3 mm W Total length including the signed-Kozuka blade 22.3 cm J. Hoff

Neat piece, if it speaks to you grab it if you like it and the price is fair.

This was purchesed online for a fair price. I'm sure the seller had a good idea what it was in all honesty. I would have paid more for it. I'm quite happy I even added a nice Kozuka and kogotana.

Pointed to this topic, I may have one of the best close up images of this stamp. If no one has seen my post here is an image to inspect. My sword is one of the possible candidates for one of these factories perhaps? Now I'm not sure if this is upside down or not, ( this is the left side of the blade tang ) (sharp edge facing left at top) however I've noticed mine has a bit of a light strike on the top right I believe it lines up with the top like a 7 shape in a sense, or if flipped over a L shape. J. Hoff

I'm positive, I currently own this sword. Perhaps he sold it to some one else before I bought it? The gentleman I bought it from at the show said he was selling it for a "friend" if I remember correctly. He stated his buddy bought it from an estate sale in the mid 70's and has kept it since. He said he couldn't make it to the show so he took three swords for his "friend" to sell.

@Yoshimichi I had reached out to Yoshimichi, but he said he was never at the place I bought the sword from while at a show in Arizona. He said he did not sell this sword sword to me. However I currently own this exact sword this post concerns. I asked some additional questions, sadly he hasn't written back since. perhaps when he logs back on in the future. The hunt still continues I guess

Here are a few more including the tang.

Here are a few blade pictures:

Hey everyone, Below is a new Tanto I received this past week. I hope you all enjoy the pictures, I will update this thread with Tang pictures shortly. After I found a Bizen sword a few months ago at a show in Colorado Springs I've been searching for something to complement it. I came across this neat Tanto recently and its beautiful Saya with blue sea shells immediately caught my attention. Combine that with a Bizen province sword smith and a good looking blade and I figured it would be a solid deal and its easy to travel with -Hira Zukuri Tanto -Tang Mei: Bizen Koku Ju Letsugu -Muromachi Period. ca 1500's era made blade -Old Polish -Temper Line Wavy Chusuguba w/ konie active with deep temper at point -Forging Grain: Tight item-hada -Scabbard is blue sea shell inlay urushi lacquered wood -Shakudo Fuchi/Kashira -Tsuba: Marugata w/ gold inlay iron -Cutting edge 11 + 15/16" -Width: 1 + 1/16" -Thickness: 4.5mm at the notch -Length in mountings: 19 + 1/2" -Province: Bizen - digging up more info... J. Hoff

Will do, I'm extremly happy with it, the people I've shown it to so far have really enjoyed it. I don't have any plans to sell this sword in the future, I'd just like to take care of it and display it to people at work and at trade shows. If you find anything additional else please let me know, I'd like to be able to present as much information as possible and make a printout for people to read. I just received a really neat tanto this evening too. I'll work on posting that tomorrow, figured I'd get some more tracking done on this first.

Yes the sword in the pictures above are the sword in reference to the "green" paperwork image I submitted. Are green papers in general considered bad all across the board. Would getting new papers raise the potential value? Or Solidify the maker 100%? to my understand to achieve that I would need a new polish or at least touch up, shirs-saya, and then transport and verify. One member stated this could be done for roughly $700 for the papering portion in Japan. I'm aware what a full polish would cost, are touch ups to reach a final state worthwhile or cost effective?

would this be the correct smith? https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/KUN898. and why there are different Mei? The signature of the one from samurai shop is a good match to my tang, yet you mentioned they are not the same people. The links I'm finding from the name you gave shows a different Mei so far, Did he sign differently at different points in his life by chance?

-SteveM The post from the samurai shop correct? That is not correct Information maker wise? So this smith along with possibly at lease one other signed swords in a similar fashion? Do you have any knowledge or links as to a place I can learn about this specific smith?

I thought I had read someplace he was a sword smith of Aizu. Not Aizu being his name? Some of this stuff is a wee bit confusing. I do appreciate the help everyone is offering.

Ian B3HR2UH To my understanding its not Izumi no kami Kunisada who was the smith, that would not be in that era I believe. However Im pretty new at this stuff, is there a way to look at back issues from them? I've found a few other posts and sites selling swords from him and the signature matches. so far mines been the cleanest signature I've seen.

Thanks, For these pictures I used a Nikon Z7 full frame mirrorless camera body with a Nikon MC 50mm F2.8 Macro Lens. I shot them free hand using Promaster TTL UNPLUGGED strobe lights, each one is 400 watt light w/ model lamp. I took these pictures inside a 3-foot wide soft box I often use for larger items. Since the sword was in a soft box I just had the strobes basically at 1 foot from the edges of the box and aimed at the center to create a fill/bounce light. I shot everything at f11 so I wouldn't lose depth to quickly. The strobes are wirelessly controlled, I set the stobes to fire at 1/200th a sec at 1/64th power. The final pictures were color corrected in Lightroom. I used a 3x3 foot milk white tile for this set. The galaxy white adds sparkles. The black galaxy tile is great too, its one of my favorites. side note---This also shows up on here:

Macro images of the Kanji. -J. Hoff

Below are a few more pictures of the mentioned sword. As I'm sure anyone who's tried to take pictures of a sword will know its fairly changing. Hopefully these pictures tell a little more about the blade. I color corrected these to 55k to match my strobes, the others before were a bit warm toned at like 64k. J. Hoff

- I received this Wakizashi yesterday, I'm very excited to own this piece of history and wanted to take a moment to share it with everyone. I will do my best to update this post with some better blade profile and tang pictures. Hope you all enjoy, and thanks for viewing. Signed: Kunisada Blade style: Shinogi Zukuri Polish: Old full Polish Temper Line: Gunome - Midare temper w/ a deep temper at point. Cutting edge: 20 + 11/16" Width: 1 + 1/4" Thickness: 6mm at notch Length in mountings: 30" Edo Period: Ca. 1660 era made blade. Tsuba: Marugara shape iron sukashi. Fuchi / Kashira: Bird with bamboo motif w/ gold overlay. Saya: wooden w/ lacquered finish. NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho paper submitted on 7th July 1968 - J. Hoff

Just received the sword a bit ago. Im beyond impressed with it. Pretty excited.