Schneeds

Aoi currently has this Hasebe wakizashi on consignment which aroused my curiosity: https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashimumei-attributed-to-hasebe-kunishigenbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token-consignment-sale/ A quality Hasebe is a long term goal of mine, so whenever up pops up I like to study it. This one was especially interesting as Kunishige himself was listed in the attribution. One of the things I like to do when looking into a blade is check @Jussi Ekholm's wonderful database to get an of how many others with same attribution and similarities are out there. In the case of Kunishige, I knew there were far more tanto and wakizashi than tachi/katana out there, but was curious how many would be attributed to him. Interestingly enough, there are no mumei wakizashi's in the database attributed directly to Kunishige, which would make this one fairly rare. My curiosity lead me to translate the attribution myself, however, and I'm pretty sure it's actually Hasebe Kuninobu. Still a great attribution, but less so. Also kind of inexcusable for Aoi unless they're interchangeable for purposes of attribution? (I believe that's the son of the first gen Kunishige). Anyway, for those of you well versed in Hasebe works, how do you think it compares or holds up?

That last composite image in the middle stack of the AOI Masamune photographs is very well done; I wish they had done that for the full blade and not just the kissaki and nakago, it probably would help sell the blade. Or maybe it wouldn't...

Well stated, Hoshi. That reminds me of a good friend of mine who was a long time avid hunter. He told me once there came a time when he put down the rifle in favor of a camera, and enjoys it even more.

This collector guide, written by member Rivkin, may be of help to you. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/files/file/125-nihonto-collecting-guide/

There are several considerations with respect to the lens: focal length, minimum focus distance, and optical quality. Ideally you want a fixed focal length lens (prime lenses will always have greater image quality than a zoom at comparable focal length), be in the ~100mm range or greater, and have a small minimum focus distance (just a few inches). The minimum focus distance will vary across the focal ranges on lenses so you have to pay attention to that as well. DXOmark and Lenstip are good resources for image quality comparisons.

Eric came here asking for thoughts on this sword. A number of experienced members chimed in with opinions and observations. And while some were delicately stated, and some not, I found myself learning from the things I had missed and overlooked none the less. Eric asked for thoughts, and to his credit, welcomed all of them. This is the way.

Thank you! Props to Hoshi and Michael!

Z-sey comes awfully close. Experienced people here can tell the difference, but new people? Their smiths are clearly skilled and talented. https://www.swordjp.com/product/tamahagane-katana-blade

Advice on the internet is free; you can take it or leave it. Personally, I like reading the variety of view points expressed here on the forum and I think it's almost always well intentioned. The advice given here is largely the same and in line with the advice I've read here over and over again, so I don't understand the controversy. On the other hand, baiting and mocking people for sharing their experience and views is counter productive and preventative of those people (especially new) coming here to learn and get into the hobby.

Is this actually the case nowadays though? How do Japanese clients from other parts of the country know what you have to offer if you don't list it online?

I would curious to hear the opinions of some of our US dealers with the current situation. I assume they procure swords from Japan from time from to time, and now we're looking at a 15% cost increase there for no reason. Putting aside the fact that tariffing antique goods is unequivocally outside the scope and authority of the President, there's zero chance I'm importing something in the next three years. I'll be damned if I'm going to throw away thousands and deal with this uncertain new process. If it's still like that in five years... I don't know. The more focused my collection goals and the higher they get, the more patient I'd need to be at home, and maybe never find what I want.

For me, the journey started rather typical (for this day and age). I started out just reading and browsing the forum for a long time, trying to learn as much as I could. Then I came to the realization there's really no way to skip the book learning. So I bought Connoisseurs and read that several times. Next I picked up Markus' Japanese Sword Smith Index. I spent a lot of time looking at dealer offerings online and cross checking it with Connoisseurs and the Index. From the onset I had the Nanboku-cho period in mind because I love the sugata, and that particular and relatively short moment in history. I began looking at and reaeaching the top Soshu masters basically because of the reputation of being the pinnacle. I liked Kaneuji and Norishige the most, however getting close to the master's work at my set price range was not gojng to be very realistic. Kaneuji's history was particularly investing to me, so I started looking into Naoe Shizu as a sort of way to get Nanboku-cho Soshu at Mino prices. (Rember I'm a newbie). I liked the examples of Naoe Shizu I could find, and what really sold it was my picking up the Soshu Den Masterpieces book. The description there of Naoe Shizu being a quality blade that was sought after by actual warriors really did speak to me. Ive been through some s**t in my 15 years in law enforcement, and when I look at that work, it feels deadly but beautiful. I don't know if that's a good reason or not

Papered TH Naoe Shizu. Condition is overall good. Decent polish. It will never be Juyo, but I still might explore a fresh polish and sayagaki someday.

A modest Naoe Shizu. It has a formidable sugata, is healthy, and quite hefty despite its futasuji-hi though. I ended up stretching my intial budget to get what I believed was a quality level I would be happy with the foreseeable future, while still stopping well short of what I think I will spend someday.