klee

Hi Kirill The sword and seller is in Japan. Unfortunately I cant quite find a good image of the boshi. There are images that i think shows mokume. And I agree the sugata is strange. It reminds me of kongo hyoe blade and a bit of naminohira. Looking forward to seeing it in hand

Good Evening Recently purchased a very cheap blade and was wondering if some of the forum members would take a guess what it may be. The pictures are from the seller and not super detailed. Mumei: 71 cm . Mokume ? Again, a very cheap blade with no papers so I have zero expectations. Just curiosity.

Unrelated question but are these horizontal micro scratches from handling/cleaning or just part of the polish. They are not visible unless direct light hits it a certain way. Was curious since it seems like absolutely everything and anything will scratch tamahagane lol

I was actually looking for Tegai/ Ko Mihara but ended up settling on this blade which is NBTHK attributed to Ko Kongo Hyoe

Kirill, this one is still with the dealer in Japan and waiting shipment. Would you like to take a guess

Great guess with late muromachi ! It s a Sue Bizen Kiyomitsu . From another angle

Good evening Had my recently aquired blade out and wanted to post a few pics and see what others see in the blade as far as hamon activity and hada. Seller deacription only says Ko Itame but all I see is mokume. I ve always had a difficult time picking out the 2 when not side by side. Apologies if the pic is less than ideal

Good Evening Happened to stumble on this while browsing and wanted to see if these kind of things ever pan out / worthwhile https://nihontou.jp/.../katana/1306/00.html cheap, Signed, sugata looks old, out of polish but looks like it could be really good once polished. Would be about 700,000 yen ish total with polish and shinsa submission. Im sure the dealer would have done these things themselves if they thought it was worth it but I was curious if these ever pan out or are they avoid at all cost type of things. Thanks in advance -Kevin. L

Welp registration opened today at 10am and Tsukada San tried to register at 1030 and the shinsa was already full . So there wont be shinsa after all and we agreed to put the registration money towards a light polish/cleaning by the togishi before shipping. Honestly kinda feels better in a way knowing I wont have to anguish for months waiting for results.

it s a very strange term indeed lol

Good Afternoon Adam Yes Tsukada San from Touken Komachi was very kind to offer the service and the cost would be very cheap and most of it would be refunded if it didnt not pass TH. It is unfortunate being in the US and not being able to see the blade in hand but she does seem fairly optimistic. The shinsa is in September and according to Tsukada San it will take 3 months for the results and to ship. It would be great to have TH for the blade since the mei and nengo can be attributed to a specific smith but then again it really wouldnt confirm anything more than what the Hozon did

Good Evening I wanted to ask your thoughts and opinions on submitting for NBTHK shinsa through the dealer. The NBTHK Hozon certificate is rather old from 1992 and I wasnt sure if it would be worth the time and cost to try for Tokubetsu Hozon. If the blade is worthy, I find it hard to believe that no one has tried to submit it since. Are these types of submissions done regularly with success ? I am in the process of purchasing the sword from Touken Komachi. As I am a fan of finding decent Sue Bizen blades, this one was very unique to me. Here is the link to the sword https://eirakudo.shop/018294 ( please note the sword is being purchased at Touken Komachi but I found the same sword at Eirakudo which has much better images ) What I found interesting is that it s a Kiyomitsu that is dated Eisho which I have personally never seen before ( vast majority being from Tenbun/Eiroku ) Based on the the meikan and Markus Sesko's list as well as all other sources , only one Kiyomitsu ( Nomura Gorozaemon ) was active in Eisho unlike the mid/end of 1500. Would it be worth trying for TH while its in Japan or just ship it as it is ? Thank you in advance for your thoughts and opinions Kind Regards -Kevin

This was as far as I could get lol

Thank you so much Thomas ! Much appreciated

Good afternoon has anyone experienced purchasing nihonto from Eirakudo ? just found them today and they had several pieces I might be very interested in. Thank you in advance and kind regards -Kevin Lee

Thank you so much for finding this ! Never thought id come across the same sword on a different site !

This will be my last reply as I refuse to go down the Kazuuchi conversation. The Bishu / Bizen distinction is warped and overblown by western dealers and enthusiasts alike looking for simple answers. So much so that we are quick to dissmiss blades with a quick glance at a low resolution pic

Also I see that we are quickly going off topic as is the norm here lol The original question was not whether this blade had a nengo or not but rather if anyone was able to make out any characters that was removed

Here s a few off the top of my head. Sue Bizen nagamei+nengo is the norm not a set in stone rule.

Thank you Brian ! Good to know

Hi Jean ! That would perfect but I have no idea how to go about accessing it 😅. I do love everything about the blade so the missing ura mei doesnt bother me or anything. Just wish I knew what was there lol

My initial thought (also agreed by other enthusiasts ) was that it was a dated Eisho/Daiei or Tensho but was removed at some point to pass for a work of a more favorable smith i.e Gorozaemon ( Tenbun ) or Magoemon ( Eiroku ) I have seen nagamei Kiyomitsu/Sukesada without nengo as well so it may have been something entirely different. I guess we ll never know

Good evening I was wondering if anyone would be able to identify any characters on the ura side of a nihonto I have. Signed: "Bizen Koku Ju Osafune Kiyomitsu Saku" The ura mei looks like it has been removed carefully a long time ago but I was hoping someone could identify any characters. I know it s a long shot but I figured id ask. Thank you in advance -Kevin

I know this is an old thread but I came across it looking into sue bizen mei. Here is a sword I own: Tokoubetsu Hozon Signed: "Bizen Koku Ju osafune Kiyomitsu Saku" and does not have a date