vfl

@Jussi Ekholm Thank you very much for listing the kongobyoe references. I can certainly some similarities.. I bet mine had the iriyama-gata before they cut it down. The itame-hada also seems pretty consistent between mine and most of the examples. And I see what you mean about the signatures.. I am also curious about why the mei portion on the one I purchased seems to be on a raised area where the shinogi isn't as pronounced.. More questions than answers, as always. Thanks again!

Jon, when I ordered from AoiArt previously, the shipping was included in the auction price. I purchased this one for 350k yen. Last time I ordered one, it took just under a month from when I paid to when they were able to get it shipped. They were very pleasant to deal with and I definitely recommend them.

Appreciate all of the feedback! Sorry been on travel.. Yeah, apologies if the original post came off as me just second guessing AoiArt's info. I was just trying to dig into who the smith was and wasn't finding any information that matched up with what they'd listed. Makes sense now that yall have provided some more references and much appreciated knowledge. I have ordered from AoiArt previously, and had nothing but good experiences. And thank you @SteveM for your mention of Marcus Sesko; I just ordered one of his books after digging into that reference. Still blown away by those of you who can extract a likely time period/region/school just from the attributes of the blade. Thank you all very much for weighing in! Unrelated to the previous content.. but I asked AoiArt if they could facilitate some koshirae being created for the blade, and they did have someone there in Japan that was willing. I'm not sure where having new koshirae made for a koto blade falls on the scale of 'proper to do'.. but I want the opportunity to hold it as it would have been when it was 'in use'. Coming from a more western/hema background, I'm just curious how nihonto feel in the hand and move in comparison. To be clear I will not be doing any cutting/drilling/manic waving around of any nihonto, just figured it deserved a fresh outfit Anyway, hope everyone had a great holiday and thanks again for the info/feedback!

Bit of an impulse buy in my hunt for a budget koto katana. Very much an amateur in the nihonto world, but it has been super interesting to try and learn. I have been trying to pin down this smith, era, school, etc, but just seem to end up with more questions than answers. Any thoughts or opinions would be very welcome. The sword itself is still in the process of getting shipped, so sorry in advance if you need more pictures as I will be unable to provide them for a while yet.. luckily AoiArt does a very nice job with theirs. Purchased from AoiArt: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/19465/as23252-刀-盛綱鑑定小札付き/ Digging into the smith a bit online, this is all I was able to come up with: https://nihontoclub....a=All&school_nid=All but none of those smiths match the time frame AoiArt is mentioning. I have been reading through my only nihonto reference (The Connoisseur's book of Japanese Swords) and enjoying the 'research' aspect, even if it isn't getting me anywhere with this katana. Learning the terminology and history has been a blast. But there has been no mention of this smith that I have found, and I am still puzzling through how to derive an era via the shape of the blade. The farthest I've gotten so far is that it has a katana mei so it should be Muromachi or later.. and that obviously it was shortened. Was it common to shorten a katana like this if it was originally made as a katana? I've only read reference to the shortening of earlier tachi in this manner. For the paperwork, was this a previous system of appraisal? I didn't really put much weight on the value the paperwork imparted, since I am only loosely familiar with the NBHTK system.. mostly just saw that as a neat addition to what I hope is a koto blade. Anyway, will take anyone's input gladly on the smith, age, paperwork, etc.. thanks and happy holidays!

Sold

Price drop: $800 shipped CONUS

Reducing price to $1200

Some info on the smith: KANENOBU (兼延), Meiō (明応, 1492-1501), Owari – “Kanenobu” (兼延), son of Muroya-Seki Kaneari (兼在), he worked first in Oyama (小山) in Mino province and moved later to Shiga (志賀) which was located in the YamadaShōnai (山田庄内) area of Owari, this local context is the origin of the school’s name Shiga-Seki (志賀関), during the Meiō era, he also worked in the castle town of Sasaki (佐々木) in Ōmi province, that means it is assumed that he moved to Owari province via a stopover in Ōmi, unfortunately there are no date signatures extant, only the Tenbon Mei Zukushi (天文銘尽) shows a katana that is dated Bunmei 14 (文明, 1482), and the Kōsei Kotō Meikan (校正古刀銘鑑) shows one from the third year of Meiō (1494), there exists the theory that there were actually three generations Kanenobu who were active over Eishō (永正, 1504-1521) to the Tenbun era (天文, 1532-1555), but from the point of view of workmanship and meiburi it is possible that there was just one Kanenobu who enjoyed a long life, old sources date the Shiga-Seki line back to the Nanbokuchō era but this is a misinterpretation which bases on a confusion with the Nanbokuchō smith Naoe-Shizu Kanenobu (直江志津兼延), the katana and wakizashi of the Shiga-Seki line have a wide mihaba and a somewhat elongated kissaki but we also know more slender, shorter and elegant blades, tantō are rather small dimensioned and have mostly uchizori, the jigane is a somewhat blackish itame that is mixed with masame and also shirake can appear, the hamon is a gunome in nie-deki mixed with togari-gunome and sunagashi, some works show also an ōgunome-midare that tends to hitatsura and we also know chū-suguha and suguha with koshiba, some blades have a subdued nioiguchi and fine nie, the tip of the tang is a ha-agari kurijiri, the yasurime are on katana and wakizashi either gyaku-takanoha or ō-sujikai, in rare cases also katte-sagari are seen, on tantō the yasurime are higaki, the signature is always a niji-mei, ōwazamono, jō-saku

Type (Tachi, Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto, Naginata, Other) : Wakizashi Ubu, Suriage or O-Suriage : Ubu Mei : (Mumei, Signature) : Mumei, attributed to Shigaseki Kanenobu Papered or not and by whom? : NBHTK Hozon Token Era/Age : Muromachi Shirasaya, Koshirae or Bare Blade? : with Shirasaya Nagasa/Blade Length : 16.75in Sori : See images, can measure if needed Hamon Type : See images Jihada : See images Other Hataraki Visible : See images Flaws : See images Sword Location : Northern Virginia, USA Will ship to : CONUS Payment Methods Accepted : Paypal F/F preferred, please ask if that doesn't work prior Price and Currency : $1400 shipped CONUS Other Info and Full Description : Purchased from a forum member over on SBG forum, polish is decent and lots of character Thanks for looking! w/r Ben

Appreciate the feedback! And I'm very glad this found a good home Also I will say the same of Northwind: excellent communication, prompt with payment and info. Would sell to again for sure!

SOLD

Price drop to $3800. Thanks!

Bump

Price drop to $4000

Price drop to $4200, thanks

Bumpity; still available. Late 1300's blade with Edo Koshirae

It certainly made it simple.. WEW I saw an admin post and thought I'd screwed it up lol

Type (Tachi, Katana, Wakizashi, Tanto, Naginata, Other) : Katana Ubu, Suriage or O-Suriage : O-Suriage Mei : (Mumei, Signature) : Mumei Papered or not and by whom? : NBTHK Hozon Token Era/Age : Nambokucho Shirasaya, Koshirae or Bare Blade? : All 3 Nagasa/Blade Length : 65.5cm or 25.78inches Sori : 1.8cm or 0.70inches Hamon Type : Mainly Suguha with lots of Koashi. Boshi turns back round and becomes Yakizume. The tip turns back sharply. Jihada : Please see AoiArt listing Other Hataraki Visible : Same Flaws : None Sword Location : Virginia, USA Will ship to : CONUS Payment Methods Accepted : Paypal F/F, Zelle Price and Currency : $4500USD Other Info and Full Description : Purchased as a Christmas gift to myself straight from AoiArt late last year. Other projects popped up in the meantime, so selling this piece. Please see the AoiArt listing for the details; includes all items listed in their listing. I will also include one of their cleaning kits. Link to AoiArt listing: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/14660/as22394-刀：無銘法華　（肥後風拵え）保存刀剣/ All I've done is wiped it down with singer machine oil and stored it in my climate controlled safe. I know I have a low post count (just dipping my toe into the nihonto stuff), but if you're a SBG forum member I am 'VFL' over there and have made many sales and purchases with good feedback. Item also listed over there. Any questions or if you want additional pictures, just ask Thanks for looking, Ben

I ordered some sewing machine oil. Thanks for the rudder steers!

Thank you for all the replies. Sounds like I need to study a good bit before I attempt any kind of fix/repair. Does anyone have a good recommendation for oils to clean/preserve these? I typically use Breakfree CLP on my European swords. Is it ok to use this in this application?

Greetings! I am coming over from the SBG forums having purchased my first Japanese piece. I am very surprised at how old these blades can be, and at how well they have survived. To find something equivalently preserved on the hema/european side is almost unheard of. I hope to expand my collection beyond this initial piece, but so far this first one has proved to be very impressive! Any insight into it's history would be greatly appreciated I did have one additional question: The tsuba is very loose. The hole that the blade passes through is significantly larger than the tang itself. Is this something that you should attempt to repair/fix with an older weapon like this? Or is it best to leave it alone and preserve it's condition link to Aoi appraisal: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/4879/as21001-脇差無銘-末三原/ Thanks!, w/r Ben

New to the board (first post), but I purchased this item over on SBG and EK/Vondude had it shipped out ASAP and it was very well packaged. Would definitely buy from him again.