2devnul

Hello, Thank you very much gentlemen for your comments. What you wrote makes perfect sense. I understand that market can vary and that are ups and downs if it comes to price. This IMO is a very nice deal for someone who is located in EU. There will be no customs involved. If you purchase from USA or Japan, then you always need to add customs costs to the overall price. Still available and pending someone who is looking for a 'Ninja' sword Cheers!

Hi, My feeling, looking at patina on Nakago, it is Shinto.

Sue Bizen Katateuchi? Nakago is Ubu so... Are you sure about Nagasa? Hamachi is gone ;( Suguha hamon?

Still available + quick question to anyone who is watching. I think this is sword is very nice, perfect condition and in decent Koshirae. IMHO it is worth 3k$ and price is fair. This is how much I paid, did I overpay? Is it still pending sale because lack of papers, to high price, or simply just waiting for someone to like it? Any offers BTW? How much are you willing to pay for this type of piece? Please be honest Thanks!

Hi, thanks for replies guys. As promised I will try to take some more detailed pictures when I have time for it. To be honest, mine looks like brass without patina, although it isn't polished but still much more shiny. Maybe it is Shakudo with high gold proportion (I wish!), or it can be any other type of alloy. I need to check what type of 'golden-alloy' was used. Maybe it is also some kind of plating, hard to say.

Yeah, reminds me Shinto Echizen Seki I own. They also come quiet often as Mumei AFAIK.

Hi and welcome to the NMB forum! +1 to unusual look of Kissaki. Not sure if it is due to pictures, but I can see Yokote on left (Omote) side, but not so clear on right (URA) side (more like NaginataNaoshi). Current polish/pictures aren't also helping in seeing Boshi. Nakago looks Ubu, with a lot of corrosion, but patina looks not that old (or chemically enhanced). Difficult to say from pictures. I can't see any Yasurime. Can you see/show Yakidashi? Shape of Nakago reminds me Mino school but that is just uneducated guess

Thank you all for your feedback, much appreciated. Now I'm really interested in getting to the bottom of it and finding what material it is. When I have time I will disassemble Tsuba from the sword and make some more/detailed pictures, including inner sides. Maybe that can help to pinpoint what it is.

Wouldn't it (Shakudo) be to soft for Tsuba? IMHO it is brass, but now I can't tell for sure ... This is the Shakudo I know (black rim of Tsuba):

@Brian It looks like brass to me. Isn't it to 'gold' for Shakudo? I have seen Shakudo (and own a Tsuba with Shakudo rant) in past and it was anthracite-black, not golden like this one. Wasn't I aware of this specific Shakudo-gold-type/version? Here are some pics of Tsuba, I can share some more pictures (remove it from sword) if needed. Thanks all for letting me know that patina is something desired. I never removed any patina from iron Tsuba, but though that brass is a different story.

Hi, Thanks for pointing me to right direction. In other words, remove dust, leave patina, got it!

Thanks for quick replies. So in other words, I have a stupid idea and should leave it as it is?

Hi everyone, I have this nice late Edo, Mokko Gata, brass Tsuba sitting on my Nihonto. I was thinking about restoring it so it can shine again. For now I was just rubbing it with clean cloth, which is already giving some results. However, I was thinking about using some chemicals on it, in order to speed the process. Is that a good idea? I know there are chemicals used in brass restoration, but I decided to ask Tsuba experts about the idea. I will appreciate any advices/comments. Thanks!

That cut on Nakago looks interesting. Like a cut through Tsuka all the way into Nakago. If there ware fingers/hand on the Tsuka then you can imagine what happened. Based on what I see (Kenjutsu techniques) and read/hear (historians) attacks on writs/hands/Tsuka was pretty common.

That makes sense, you are probably right about it. How can you tell? I understand that cool story behind damage is what everyone wants, but you will never know. It could have been damaged in XX century, by a new American 'sword owner' who was chopping wood See the patina difference? It looks like new Machi is way younger.