Mark

the papers don't give any indication that i see........... So if they say Kanenori with those kanji then i think the Kanenori from Mino Seki circa 1504, he is in Fujishiro and most of the minor ones aren't, i would think if they meant one of the Echizen, etchu or Shinto they would have said. My understanding is if they say a smith without additional info they mean the "main" or major guy......

#1 looks Shinshinto someone working in Bizen Den so Korekazu circa 1860 #2 Looks Shinto maybe Yamato school. Kiju circa 1700-1720 #3 Appears Koto maybe late 1400's hamon is difficult to pick up, Shimada

ha-ha Grey beat me too it. not sure about the Saku.. Guess that makes sense but the Kuni looks a bit different. Could it be No Shu Seki Kanesumi? maybe i am way out in left field

i think No Shu

yes, looks like copper with shakudo foil. There is some school of thought that a shakudo habaki is a bad sign

Paul can you give us a reference (book and page) where we could find the oshigata you need? I went to the JSS/US index (that Grey Doffin produced) and it only lists the Old Tomonari and a gendai smith using different kanji. Grey used all the common books we use in his index and as there is no listing for the Settsu Tomonari it seems he did not make it into any of the books he indexed. So other than searching obscure books looking for an oshigata (that would take hours or days of work) we would need some type of lead on where you expect to find it. Let us know where to look and i am sure someone will post it but it is not fair to expect us to conjure it up or spend hours searching

it is signed tachi-mei. based on that and the quality of the inscription i would guess it is a shinshinto blade with Ko-Bizen name inscribed

sukesada....... Bizen Ju nin Sukesada saku

I will be there in my usual spot, look forward to seeing everyone

Den Mihara, Tenbun, the rest (other than length) is standard see http://www.jssus.org/nkp/tosogu_kanteisho.html

Mike you are welcome. I appreciate your manners and glad i could work it out for you, good guys don't always finish last. Hope you enjoy it mark

i seem to remember a very good sword that had a hagire, it was "cut out" (there was a deep cut made into the blade) the blade then passed Juyo, i guess the big cut was considered a chip. I am sure others remember this and will correct me if i remember incorrectly. My thought at the time was that the blade looked ugly after the cut and i thought it looked better before (the hagire was not as noticeable as the cut), but the sword's value was much higher as before it was unpapered and had a hagire but after it was Juyo, so i guess it made sense financially

if numbers match maybe $600 if not 350-400 in Michigan or even net on ebay. the paint is worn otherwise looks ok

thanks! they seems rare, think i have had maybe 3 in 20 years. problem is they fake them now so i think people get worried, sort of hurts the market

no points mentioned so did NOT pass, Did not fail. So makes sense as they are not familiar with these.

https://markussesko.com/2013/04/03/info-index-of-Japanese-swordsmiths/

at a quick glance it looks fine to me. i am not into gendai but have seen a few by this maker (2 generations i think)

Amahide from Mino Province. there is info in books and probably on line about him

i saw at least one other marked Horyu, i thought it had passed till i looked for the points, there were NO points noted so that helped me understand that it had not failed, but also not passed, they needed more research. As for time spent, i think some swords did not need much time (clearly bad etc), but a few they put aside and went back to. A friend of mine submitted one and had to wait a long time, he said at the end of the session they went back and spent 30 minutes discussing it before they came to a conclusion. The owner of the sword i mention is a member here, maybe if he sees this he will comment

i think i see 79 an assembly number meant to keep all the parts for a sword together when assembled in a factory

the 2 small kanji (Naga____) are written upside down, i have always seen the kanji written to be read with the tip pointed up

John, Steve, Ray and all Thanks for the insights, i have a better idea now and can do some research. I will watch for that Masa kanji again, don't think i have run across it before

This one is a bit of a challenge for me. The top part is hard, the lower part I can make out ChoShu Ju Ni ????? Kiyo Zai Mei any suggestion appreciated thanks mark

James I would have taken it back to the shinsa and pointed it out, they would have corrected it. I am sure they will catch it when the produce the paper but just to be sure contact Chris and let him know. You can email him at swords@ejapaneseswords.com they get a bit busy and probably just a simple mistake mark

Robert a quick count on my fingers from just thinking of the table layout i can immediately think of 38 tables that the vendors have a website, some of the guys with websites have multiple tables so as a percentage of vendors maybe not 40% but as a percentage of tables in the room yes i think 40% is about right