Yumso

Hi Patrice, welcome to the forum. Can you show us the tang too? If you remove the mekugi(the small stick plugged in the handle) you will be able to easily remove the tsuka. Many other experienced members here would be able to give you more detailed information.

□弘作 First character I'm not sure, maybe 乞 or 之? Though I don't think these two kanji were commonly used as name.

I think it's 大和守則永作 https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/NOR224 https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c1212387366

Rohan, Thanks for the knowledge. I have one more question: can nioiguchi also be restored by polishing? Or should the blade be reforged to make it?

Hello dear NMB members, Today I wanted to ask about what each hamon state tells about the blade's healthiness. Below are the 4 states of hamon that I've drew. From what I've read, it seems like #1 and #2's difference is only how the polisher polished the blade(something like "make-up" difference), so both are fine and in good condition. #3 and #4 are the ones that confuse me. For #3 I'm assuming the "erasing" occurs because micro scratches make the blade blurry, showing time has quite passed after polishing so it may be good time to get new polish for the blade. I assume that's not a critical flaw. Or maybe that's how blade's tiredness shows? For #4... where quite rough scratches(maybe because of cutting tests or amatur polishing attempts) seem to erase or disconnect hamon, I really have no clue about how I should evaluate the blade when I see them. Are these critical? Or would polishing fix them?

Here. I've once talked about this- to be short, 60cm ~ 60.5cm nagasa is somelike grayzone. Technically it would be wakizashi but what it was called and seen before is more important when it comes for labeling. Length classification that we use right now was artificially fixed in Edo period, so I think that's why those grayzones exist. Therefore I'd say that blade is a katana.

濃州住兼明作之 Noshu ju Kaneaki saku Kaneaki of Noshu made this.

They used it more like hitting rather than slashing or stabbing.

https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/25894/as24304-tanto-muramasanbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token/ The price is right now 8,500,000 yen ladies and gentlemen. But look at that mei, it's soooo well preserved...

Lewis, Great activity I see in that sword! Those pictures are so awesome... I'll try more. John, Oh, a fellow Shinto starter! The smith is quite known isn't he? I remember Nobuyoshi mei having kiku stamp on top of it, although I'm not sure what generation is. Sam, Those shows are something I always only dream of... since I can't go. Please show us some pictures of your blade after polishing is over, if you don't mind. I think we all will be thrilled to see it! Jarrow, I think swords in a good polish are the best ones to start- like yours! Good to hear you've bought this blade at the good deal.

Jean, Sorry for my bad English. English isn't my first language so I think that made this whole confusion. I meant Torokusho & Hozon origami both say this is katana, and thats why I also call it a katana. It seems like NBTHK records the length as "二尺弱(bit shorter than 2-shaku)" for this kind of occasions. But yes, it is short and it might be less desirable for some potential buyers who want to buy a good katana. That would also have been one of the reasons why the price was quite low when I bought it. So, resale would be hard, but ironically my country kinda bans individuals selling their swords(we have to find an agent for this)... guess this one here is stuck with me forever.

This is very embarrassing, but I think I'll need to confess something- that bad photos were the most recognizable ones of total 500 shots. Trust me, I've tried under many conditions. Turns out that I just really don't have photograph talent. Still, will try to get better photos! And for the polish... I'm just oiling and preserving the blade what it is like for now. Getting new polish is quite hard here, we also have somekind of Torokusho which makes really hard to send blades out to polish and bring them back in. Though I'm also curious how it will look like after polishing. About the length, you're right about it being technically a wakizashi. But it was marked as katana in Torokusho. I also couldn't understand about this first so I've researched a bit- seems like blades that are 60cm ~ 60.5cm could either be a wakizashi or a katana. If the blade was called and seen as a katana before registration that makes it recorded as a katana(like picture below!). If it was seen as wakizashi, then that makes it recorded as a wakizashi. So this one actually has an Hozon origami as a katana, but is technically wakizashi size, which is quite funny and awkward at the same time.

Awesome tanto there! Tanto with horimono is actually something that I secretly desire... It just looks so good!

Nothing special, I just wanted to show everyone what my first nihonto was and talk about how your first nihonto purchase was like. My first nihonto was this 60.4cm Shinto katana by Fujiwara Tsunayuki, made in Genroku period(1688 ~ 1704). Sori is only 0.9cm, so it's quite shallow. I've bought it at about 1300$ in Yahoo Auction. That time I was really happy to buy a katana thinking that this was a bargain, but now I think the price wasn't that cheap compared to the state of the blade. As you can see it is not in a good shape - old polish, can't see boshi, so many flaws at kissaki, quite weird length for a katana, rust here and there. I'm not really sure about the tiredness; the boshi problem always ticks in my mind when I see it. At least I'm sure I won't buy blades that are in worse shape than this later. Still, it's my first nihonto! I know it's not the best blade you can get- or to be honest, even a good one- but I still want to show and talk about it with everyone. I've started to make some hobbies from it. Soon as I've got my blade, I've been searching about the smith. Searching was quite fun- one of his work had a lotus leaf horimono that really caught my eyes. Cleaning and oiling blade once a month have been my new relaxing time too! So, I think this was what my "first experience" was like. How was yours, and what nihonto did you buy?