Ikko Ikki

My bad y'all. I only searched "100,000,000" into the search bar and assumed that'd be enough. I'll search more carefully next time.

Thank you for sharing the video. Do you have any info on those odd shirasaya handles? They seemed thinner than normal and this is the first time I have seen them. They also don't cover the entirety of the nakago which I thought was weird. - Connor

I recently found out about this tachi that was sold at an absurd $100,000,000 USD. Can anyone tell me why it was appraised so high? Looking at the blade, it has a very deep tori-zori, one that I haven't seen on a tachi before. From what I know, tachi usually had koshi-zori. The blade is clearly not in the best shape. It has numerous nicks in the edge and is completely out of polish. It is also clearly starting to lightly rust. The koshirae is in amazing condition, and I wonder when it was made. It also seems to have a bit of history to it, supposedly used by Fukushima Masanori. I haven't seen any info of the name of the smith nor have I seen the tang. The most expensive nihonto I've seen up to this point was only a few million USD. What makes this one worth so much more? Immediately upon seeing this, I had a feeling the price is a product of art-world money laundering. Can any experienced people shed some light on this?

Is that golden inscription indicative of an impressive tameshigiri cut? I imagine that plays a big part in the price of that 3M Yen one. Also why does the polish on each of them look different? Does this happen at different stages in polishing, or will it look different depending on who it gets polished by? Also thank you all for the replies. They have been really insightful. From what I can tell, the smith/lineage that made the sword (or the one that it is attributed to) seems to have the most say in the price, but it also largely comes down to the seller. This may be a question for another thread, but I'll just ask here: what does the NBTHK even look for/how is the type of shina paper determined? I have a bit of homework to do on this "Honami" thing that keeps getting mentioned. Can anyone explain what that is? From what I can tell from the comments, it was an old type of grading system for nihonto, but that's about all I can gather so far. Is it related to the wazamono grading system? And the saku ranks refer to the swordsmith not the swords, right? Thank you, Connor

Hello NMB, One big question I had for the hobby pertains to the price of nihonto and what exactly constitutes their prices. How exactly are they determined? I know what something is worth is a subjective matter and for something to be sold, that subjective opinion has to be a shared one. But, for example, what are some things that seperates a $8,000 Tokubetsu hozon from a $28,000 Tokubetsu hozon? Because with such a price difference, they seem like they should be in their own category. Does the NBTHK/NTHK or other organizations determine the price and tell you after their judgement? Or does it always come from the seller? Is age not a very relevant aspect to nihonto? I know I shouldn't compare the two because they are very different, but here in the west, if a 700 year old sword is found, even if is in an unrecognizable condition, it is still a priceless find. Contrast this to a kamakura era sword I saw that was advertised for only $300. It had many areas of rust and damage, but it's still a ~700 year old sword that may have a whole history to it. Swords from whoever made it (it was mumei) and swords from the kamakura era will never be made again so shouldn't there be more appreciation for a sword that old? I know Japan preserved their old swords much better than Europe did and high supply = low price, but it is still a piece of history. One thing that does make sense is that longer blades seem to trend higher in price than shorter ones so typically, I'd see katana be more expensive than wakizashi, and wakizashi more expensive than tanto. I think that makes perfect sense since the longer the blade is, the harder it is to craft (I assume) and it uses up more tamahagane, which there is only a finite amount of. But gimei are also made of tamahagane. And while they are not the smith they say they are on the tang, it doesn't mean it is a poor quality blade or that it can't perform well in combat. So why is it significantly lower in price? It may still function just as well or close to a more renown sword, and is made from tamahagane. But because the signature is inauthentic, it is entire realms cheaper than an appraised sword? Another point on how function also doesn't seem to play a big part is the abundance of super short katana I've been seeing. So many Hozon and Tokubetsu Hozon katana have these very small 60cm blades. From what I know, that is about the minimum length to be considered a katana. I don't know of any schools that teach such short katana like those nor have I seen any kind of demonstrations or sparring with them. They usually are around ~70cm in blades length which from what I can tell was the legal limit for much of the Edo period and is why so many pre-Edo blades are now suriage/O-suriage. My point is, outside of a specific contexts like home defense in the tight corridors of a traditional Japanese house, how practical would those short blades be? Sure it may come from a distinguished swordsmith, but in a duel with an opponent who has a 80-90cm blade Ubu tachi with equal skill, the guy with the near-wakizashi-length blade will likely lose, so how much would that be worth really? Does it serve its purpose as a sword that well anymore after being nerfed that hard from shortening? Is it now just a highly refined piece of steel, far removed from its original purpose? I'd like to hear any and all advise, criticisms, or just any thought really on this subject. Please be patient with me since I am only starting to get serious about learning about nihonto. This long post started when I saw this 68cm blade Katana from the Kamakura era (~1317 they said) with no visible blemishes (to my inexperienced eye) and a Tokubetsu Hozon certificate and it was only about $6,500! From everything I've seen up to then, that sword sounded like a total steal, so I just started thinking and realized that my perception of what nihonto are worth is probably way off of from what most collectors/sellers is. So I'm just putting this out here so I can get a better understanding of why things are priced the way they are and what more experienced people look for that I may miss. Thanks for reading all of this, Connor

I love that channel. I just wish they posted more often. They have some very fine looking swords.

Hello NMB, One thing that I always hear from senior collectors is that I should first buy books before hastily buying some gimei without knowing any better. The question is what books should I buy? I saw some comments in other threads listing some books but many were entirely in Japanese. I'm on my way to learning it, but right now I only really know certain terms relating to nihonto and related Japanese history. Are there any books in English that are beginner friendly? What are the first "must have" books, and how expensive are they usually? Thank you, Connor

Hello Brian and Michael, Thank you for your replies. I should have clarified that I have many modern reproduction katana and lots of experience with cutting (I meant this will be my first tamahagane blade). I, like everyone, will have a rare off-day but generally I'm very good at tameshigiri. I will check out Giheiya and see what I can find in the wanted section. Thank you both, Connor

Hello NMB, I just made this account recently and am posting for the first time, but I have observed the forums from afar for some time. I already know preservation is the objective here so I am looking for a nihonto that is both young (preferably post-WWII) and doesn't have any artistic value (no NBTHK/NTHK papers) to do tameshigiri with. If I were to catastrophically mess up a cut, I don't want to ruin a historical/culturally important sword. This will also be my first one, so I think having a gendaito with no significant value can be a good way to experience handling and caring for a nihonto. I have already found a site called e-sword and another called samuraishokai, they both have swords that fit what I am looking for. Can anyone tell me about these sites? I saw in another thread that e-sword is a trusted seller. It would also be great if someone could point to other sites that sell gendaito like the ones I'm looking for, the more options the better. https://e-nihontou.c.../list?category_id=21 https://www.samuraishokai.jp/index.html Thank you, Connor