CSM101

I would recomment Darcy´s article ""Green papers = no papers" Uwe G.

Good morning, Chris When you take a look at image 1 left side you can see, that the hamon is darker than hada. But because of the heating it should be the other way around. You should see nie/nioi; martensite, a nioiguchi... whatever. But since I can´t see anything like that I can only repeat myself: no real nihonto. Uwe G.

Then please try to show it in a photo. At the moment (and this is my best-case-scenario) I think it is machinemade & oilquenched. Uwe G.

Are you sure that this is a real hamon? I cannot see any Nie. Uwe G.

Just another one. Uwe G.

Hello Jeremiah, for several weeks I couldn´t even hold a sword. But now I am back in business. In December I want to continue with "Kantei by photo". And this is one of the swords. Don´t worry, you will see the whole blade. Uwe G.

Just a teaser. Uwe G.

I had everything ready for this year: permission from my beloved wife, ticket booked in February and then this happened. But next year I`ll be there. Promised! Uwe G.

I´ll have to ask... Uwe G.

The tsuba belongs to a friend. But maybe he will sell it.... Uwe G.

A bargain: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Token-Bijutsu-in-englischer-Sprache-vollstandig-sehr-selten/272894802116?hash=item3f89cc38c4:g:pTgAAOSwZC1Z6cQv Uwe G.

Here is a 4. generation Tamba o Kami Yoshimichi right from the textbook. Sudareba, papers, etc. Compared to your sword I would say gimei. Uwe G.

You have a blade with a BIG name on it, It is polished and you have a description in Japanese. How high are the chances, that the blade were never showed to an expert, when you can make a real deal? So, with Occams razor: gimei. Uwe G.

Well, the signature reads "Minamoto Kiyomaro" 清麿展 Uwe G.

My mistake! In the upper left corner is a Rai Kunimitsu, not Rai Kunitoshi. Uwe G.

Just a few words from my side: Mostly you can see Armour. But you can find something for everyone who is interested in Samurai culture. Swords, mountings and kodogu. I just show you a few photos because you have to see it for yourself. Uwe G.

Just to show you, there is a silver tsuba in the left corner. Ko-Mino, 15. century. For a better description you can read Nr. 47 of the english Token Bijutsu. Or you take the DTI-catalogue 2016. Of course I have a closeup. But I have no permission to show it here. Uwe G.

I think Bishu Osafune Sukesada is the right answer. 備州長船祐定 Uwe G.

My tip: Taikei Naotane. Uwe G.

My guess would be around 1800. Uwe G.

Mizuta I would say No. And Uda is a good possibility. Uwe G.

250 collectors for Germany? That´s really optimistic. I think less than 150 is more accurate. Uwe G.

The photo. And the download: http://daten-transport.de/?id=JdKtSKaeCfrg Uwe G.

Gentlemen, Put down your pens, time is up and here is the correct answer. And the correct answer is: there is no correct answer! Before I come to that, I want to thank the owner of this sword for letting me take photos for over a week. :bowdown: And now let me explain. Nambokucho and Soshu is clear and most of you recognized it. And at this time we have Soshu Hiromitsu and Soshu Akihiro. They almost did the same and it is very hard to distinguish between them. I can´t remeber where I read or heard it but when you have a different boshi and hamon you can say it´s Soshu Akihiro. And so this is what it says with the kinzogan mei and the papers from the NTHK: Soshu Akihiro. But! And this is where the April Fools´ Day kicks in, the blade is also accompanied with papers from Fujishiro-san saying that this sword was made by Yamashiro Nobukuni. And who wants to stand up and argue against Fujishiro-san? Not me, that´s for sure. So, you have two opinions and now you can decide which one you prefer. In the end it is what Darcy always writes: as long as you don´t have a time machine you can never be sure for 100 percent. (I´d prefer The Time Tunnel. Worm Hole related and so it needs less energy.) And that´s why I picked this sword to make this point a little bit more understandable. For a better understanding of Nobukuni and the change from Yamashiro to Soshu I recommend two articles by Markus Sesko, who was very helpful (as always) in the beginning: https://markussesko.com/2016/05/30/kantei-4-yamashiro-26-nobukuni-%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BD-school-1/ and https://markussesko.com/2017/03/17/kantei-4-yamashiro-27-nobukuni-%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BD-school-2/ But now the results: Masahiro as a later generation Akihiro is very good. Late Nambokucho and Shizu is good, because time and tradition are correct. But Shizu is not that irregular. Senjuin. Well, I haven´t seen many and those I remember were suguha. There was for example a very beautiful tachi in the A.Z. Freeman collection. Uda Kunimune = I can still hear M. Hagenbusch: “When somethings looks like Soshu that isn´t Soshu it`s most likely Uda.” Means: Uda lacks in quality. And last but not least: “Made last week by a Chinese man from Suzhou”. That was very funny. Really. And at least you got the gender right. Thank you all for giving their statements. You know, you can only learn by making mistakes. Photo will come in the evening. Uwe G. To be continued….

Nambokucho is already a good call. And not rehardened. BTW. I think my camera would commit suicide if I wanted to make photos of china crap. Uwe G.