chi fan wong

in looking at the 4th image down the bohi is just touching the koshinogi. this should cause some concern regarding the state of the boshi. as alex stated, pictures of the boshi is needed indeed.

second one is toranba. 濤亂刃。 濤 is also notare. 亂刃（乱れ刃）is also midareba.

many thanks mark! but i would up using bart's suggestion with the led lights and its working well so far.

in general, east asian cultures often dont operate with strict written rules. the unsaid rules, however, takes on a lot of weight and is mostly what guides the day to day. this is especially prominent in Japan. but i think the most optimal rule of thumb to operate under is respect. respect the culture, respect the objects, respect the knowledge, respect your home, yourself, your guests, etc.. this will lead to different results with different individuals but in the end, they may guide you to your optimal set up with what you have.

thank you jack and piers. so it seems like this guy was not from any school in particular and was self taught?

thanks for the info guys. dale, i didnt even notice that corrosion pit. yeah it does look. localized and not part of the general rusting. ilil have to shine a light there and look more carefully. the kao on my tsuba is also quite unclear. would anyone know what school he belongs to? on this website : https://tosogu-antiques.com/horses/ it has one with similar mei and kao and dates it to 1800-1850 but no other information regarding it. again, thanks for your help.

i know nothing about tsuba or tosogu in general. got this naomichi as part of a wak. anything worth noting about this maker? thanks for any information.

this reminds me of a wonderful movie, when the last sword is drawn, when the main character, played by kiichi nakai, a country samurai and a teacher, tells his fellows to stay alive and to not stop swinging the sword in order to keep the enemy away. he simply wanted everyone to stay alive.

looking at the ko-shinogi location and shape, along with the shape and depth of the futasuji-hi, it seems the blade may have been a bit over polished.

to add a bit more confusion to all this discussion about length, in the old days before the meiji attempt to standardize measurements, one shaku in kyoto was not the same as one shaku in edo. this difference even persists today in the dimensions and proportions of the tatami mats produced in the different regions. it seems then a more nuanced approach to these "rules" about measurements (and perhaps other aspects of Japanese culture as well) instead of a more empirical approach, may lead to better understanding of each other.

maybe the use of kanji can help again. sun=寸=inch nobi=延=extend so sunnobi simply means extended by 1 "inch", which is not the current english measurement system. its old Japanese which is a bit longer than the english inch.

maybe the use of kanji in this case may help clarify the nomenclature used for tanto? tan=短=short to=刀=blade 刀 can be called to or katana and it simply refers to the blade. so 短刀 or tanto simply means a short sword. wakizashi is a whole other ball of wax....

that habaki and the location of the shinogi now points to earlier chinese fakes.

it almost looks as if the nakago was much more rusted with raised clumps of rust but was filed off and repatinated. the file marks seem a bit irregular and not typical of the known types of yasurime? stephen's example has a clear takanoha common on mino den swords. the quick strokes of the mei does seem ww2 era unlike the more deliberate ones in stephen's example. perhaps some pictures of the blade would help?

many thanks. i have been looking for good lighting and the led strips are just not good enough and has too many dots of light which gets distracting. this looks like will work great.