MessengerofDarkness

I will say that while the saya may look good in photos it had been split entirely in two lengthwise at one point in time, and somebody glued it back together. There are still noticeable gaps in several locations, and the koiguchi is also split open along the ha. Ironically enough it still holds the blade decently, though I can't say for certain if keeping it in the saya would cause any damage to the blade in the longterm.

Thanks; for the time being at least I'll probably be looking into seeing if I can find a good US based craftsman to make a simple shirasaya for the blade. Not sure if a repolish would be financially worth it or not (assuming that's what the date/attribution likely would be), though I'd at least like to make sure the blade is well preserved moving forward, so a shirasaya at least would be worth it for me.

Managed to get the tsuka off and get some pictures of the nakago. The rust is extremely dark and has some pitting, though unfortunatly no signature mei (some gunk from the tsuka is still stuck to the nakago, my apologies). The nakago tip seems to be either kurijiri or haagiri in shape. File marks also appear to be uniformly kiri shaped. In person the boshi is extremely flamboyant and even wider than I first thought it was, with the hamon reminding me a little of rolling clouds. Some variant of choji? Very strong sori, just shy of 1.25 inches. The shinogi-ji is also extremely crisp and well defined. Saya is pretty beat, but the koiguchji definitely was buffalo horn. Kurigata is long gone, and it seems like there was never a kojiri. Tsuba is also unsigned, and the copper habaki has a faint brassy hue to it. Might have once been plated? I will try and take some better photographs soon, but right now I am just home from work and don't have things set up well. https://imgur.com/a/ktsbFjF

Just got the blade in. No hagire or fatal flaws as far as I can see, the yokote has some faint signs that it was once very crisp, the boshi is wide even with the broken kissaki, and after just starting to remove the leather wrap on the tsuka it seems to be a full wrap of same with an emperor node. No kashira though. I'll take some pictures shortly. Along the mune of the kissaki there's also a faint highlight that shows it was once burnished, though I'm not sure what you call that. I know that some modern Hanwei blades have that though. Can't seem to find a mekugi pin though.

Thank you for the suggestions, I will take care to try my best to follow these or any recommended guidelines once I get the sword. Currently it is still in transit, so I am only able to post the few photographs that the seller was able to take themselves, hence why they are not up to my own standards either. I do own several katana already, so I ought to be able to take some better images to share myself.

If it helps, this is about the shape/size of the boshi, from everything I have seen of the sword in other photos.

I will certainly be taking photos of the nakago once the sword is in-hand, and once I am back home I can try and outline what the boshi shape is in a drawing program.

Here are a few extra photos the seller sent:

The deep sori was what caught my eye at first, as the seller told me it was a WWII vet bringback. Most gunto blades that I've seen aren't nearly as curved as this, so I bought it on a hunch that it might be an old tachi that had been shortened. The tsuka wrap looked like someone DIY'd it themselves after the ito wrap came undone, and the seller wasn't able to take the tsuka off to get me a photo of the nakago. So it was a bit of a roll of the dice overall, but once I get it in-hand I'm hoping that it doesn't turn out to be a complete dud. Like I mentioned I did get it for cheap though, so it was a gamble I felt comfortable taking. There's also a decent chip where the kissaki tip broke off, though from what I've been able to tell the boshi is still fairly wide, so I think it could be reshaped. Any thoughts on what else I should do once it arrives? I'd definitely like to get some impressions by people that know more then I do. Thanks in advance.

For anyone knowledgeable about some of the differences in styles between various eras, I was wondering if anybody might be helpful in giving me some kind of advice or input about when this unsigned blade of mine might be from. I've had this bade blade on my shelf for a number of years now, and would just like to potentially learn a bit more about its possible origins from people that are more knowledgeable than myself. The edge has many small nicks and the hamon is particularly hard to photograph due to the blade being out of polish (it is easier to see in person), but the hamon is quite active in some ways and seems somewhat mimi gata in style. The nakago follows the sori of the blade enough that I suspect suriage, as the nagasa is only 25 & 1/4 inches with the nakago 7 inches. The mune is in a standard iori style. Inquiries of the same blade on the SBG forum resulted in some mixed opinions, with users suggesting a Soshu construction dating to the Koto era, although I would never mind further input from people that simply know far more about Nihonto than I likely ever will. I also apologize for my poor photography, as I'm not a great cameraman. Any knowledge or advice would be appreciated, thank you.