YOSE

Ura side: might it be 義岡 or 義国? It seems that there are two kanji, though it might just be my novice eyes.

In one of his YouTube videos, he mentioned that he would not accept to manufacture any blade that could not be sold above a certain price point as making a custom order is costly. If memory serves, it was around 1.5 to 2.0 million yen.

Could be Kawai (河井), born January 1920. Manufacturing date seems to not be written.

Very sad to learn that. Exemptions would be reasonable though. In Switzerland, many items are regulated by law, fortunately katana are not, whether sharp or not. Strangely, screw drivers and bicycle chains are (in specific cass)...

It probab ly depends on the iai style. There are dozens of them (hundreds?), some use a wakizashi (kodachi). What OceanoNox wrote does certainly make sense.

Congratulations on your new to you wakizashi! Is it me or something is/was written on the mei, on the left side of 'Yoshikane'?

Would it be possible that by"gold wire" m, they meant 'kinsuji'?

Hi, In the mean time, I purchased a couple of nihontō from Japan (Japanese dealers). It seems that some do definitely not want to ship abroad, and some are used to do it. Depending on the dealer and his/her experience, she may offer to ship via surface mail. It takes 2-3 months to arrive though, at least for Switzerland. One of my acquisition just arrived in Switzerland. It got stuck a full week at customs (waiting for confirmation of item value), but the customs agent informed me today that it received customs clearance and should be on its way to its destination. Can't wait to hold it in my hand and study it! Good luck. Yours sincerely,

You might indeed be right, and I well too skeptical. Thank you for sharing your expert opinion. Greatly appreciated.

NOTE: I have also attempted to compare the mei with what is available on the internet, but could not determine if resemblance is close enough. As it is a collaboration masterpiece, it confuses me even more. Thank you.

I have been lurking in this forum for some time, but rarely post anything. I apologize for that. Please also move this thread to the appropriate sub-forum, should it not be. I have been trying to "authentify" a gendaitō/shinsakutō that is supposed to be made by the honorable swordsmith Sō Tsutomu (宗勉), who unfortunately passed away in 2015. It seems that he specialized in replicating Kiyomaro clan's style, but this blade does not seem to match this description. It appears to be rather a wise and disciplined suguha and a rather short blade length, among others. I had the unfounded impression that NMB is rather old blade-orientated (?), therefore hesitated to ask here. The sword is no longer in Japan and is not in my possession. It is not for commercial gain nor for item sales as it already has been sold. I am rather new to nihontō and still need guidance from experienced people. May I ask the collective wisdom here for some expertise on that particular blade? Sincere thanks in advance. Yoshi

Well noted. Thank you.

So, asking to ship with FedEx should in principle solve the problem? That is good news. Thank you.

Greetings from Switzerland. I am very new to this forum, which I find wonderful. Loads of priceless knowledge, expertise and experts. MY QUESTION I have attempted to purchase nihontō from Japan lately, but every dealer I interacted with declined shipping to Switzerland as they 'cannot ship to Switzerland' for some reason. This is curious to me as katana (whether a mozōtō or a live blade) is not considered a regulated weapon according to Swiss laws, thus should not cause any problem at the customs. Some of the dealers mentioned something related to EMS, which I did not grasp. May I ask the collective wisdom here for some guidance as to how to import a nihontō to Switzerland ? Sincere thanks in advance.

I use Zotero, but mainly on my PC. The mobile versions are still unknown to me. https://www.zotero.org/support/mobile