akednb

Dear Yurieさん、thank you for your hard work. I would like to participate.

Hira-zukuri refers to the shape or form of the blade...the niku continue to mune without shinogi. Sunnobi refer to length that is over 1 shaku (a bit over 30 cm) so sunnobi tanto refer to the a tanto which is a bit over tanto "textbook length" or over 1 shaku. It is actually wakizashi lenght but the shape of the blade still looks more like tanto than waki. So the terms just refer to different thing, one is form one is length another is the shape ...so you can have a blade that is 31 cm no shinogi with a bit of sori it is both hirazukuri and sunnobi tanto...like this Monoyoshi. https://www.touken-w...ugawake-meito/54990/

Just discussed this with someone yesterday lol. The paper could not guarantee the similar quality. My personal experience, there were 2 tachi from the exact same smith at tokubetsu-jyuyo...but they are priced more than triple difference. IMHO the cheaper one also in great quality and deserved toku-jyu designation. Seeing them in hand I kindda understand why. All factors like work quality, deki, style, health, length, nagago, condition, mei, denrai, popularity and completeness are factors we include for "quality" as a whole...and yea one of the toku-ho blade you see might have be a toku-jyu candidate...who knows?

Hey Jussi, Barry. Thank you for the welcome. Oh well, it's almost been 2 years and I still have not fully understand my only sword...I still have a long way to go! Oh well I don't expect to learn in 5 years what these master craftsmen took decades to master anyway lol.

Hello everyone! My name is Ake, a new member from Thailand. I have been interested in the Japanese blades for about 4 years now. I am lucky to be living in Japan for the last 4 years or so...but this is still a very hard subject and I do hope to learn more. My interest mainly on Yamashiro and Bizen especially the weirdly curved ones with small kisaki . Cheers, Ake

Dear Yurieさん I am a new member here, but I would like to participate if possible. In case the number of participants is your main concern, I may able to provide some support, I would like to message you about it then.