moriarty

Greetings Charles, As a fellow martial artist, my sole recommendation is that you don't consider making an expensive purchase due to pressure, even for tameshigiri, most live blades outside of Japan will render a similar performance. As for blade geometry, not much deviates from common sense, thicker blades can make cutting straw easier, but will enfeeble your batto/notto. Blades with bo-hi produce tachi-kaze (blade wind) with most correct cutting motions, those without it often produce a lesser sound and have different balancing. Some degree of curvature is helpful towards notto, but excessive examples take nuanced handling. I wish you continuous luck in your efforts, and don't be afraid to ask questions, we get bored without them!

A few Caribbean religions to my knowledge

Greetings Curtis, 吉光- Yoshimitsu 昭和十八年十二月日- December of 1945 (1943 as corrected by Moriyama below) From what I remember, stamped numbers in the nakago signal special orders from an arsenal, but I could be wrong Cheers.

Greetings Steven, 謹作 高山刀- Honorably made Takayama Sword 刀匠 服部正廣- Swordsmith Masahiro Hattori 研師 馬渕金美- Polisher Mabushi Kaneyoshi(?) Can't really see the polisher's name very well, hope this helps.

I've seen one before, if that's worth something

Hope you get some stubborn bidders! Best of luck

Greetings Enrique, This is a modern Chinese blade, the signature reads: 洪升作- Made by Hong Sheng This is his company website: https://www.facebook...sheng.hong.Dremsword

Talk about a flash deal! Congratulations Matthew

Greetings Laurent, Closest mei I found for comparison. A few more close-up pictures of the blade under good lighting would help with identification. (Hamon, bohi, etc.) https://www.e-sword....1110_1102syousai.htm

Gorgeous blade Good luck on the sale

There's a few reasons a smith would fake a signature, to sell an inferior blade, gain renown as a supposed student or follow the orders of a patron who wanted a famous name in his sword. A few continue to be done by underhanded sellers or owners trying to make a quick buck

Agree with Ray above. Crude is quite the understatement for those kanji strokes..

Greetings Steve, Such a great summary on Musashi's influential life and literary body of work, it's difficult to ascertain how much of his influence can go past us westerners (and perhaps most Japanese) in both martial arts and artistic inspirations. As with anything, I recommend taking most sources about Musashi; including his own works, with a great amount of suspicion. There are very few facts scholars can agree with regarding him, his triumph over the Yoshioka was particularly embellished by later scribes. Good luck in your training, be it the Niten-ryūha or the Niten-do of the federation

Greetings Kevin, As stated above by John, it's a pretty strange design in the leather cover and the attached tassel at the bottom of it, for better or worse, haven't seen something similar anywhere else. If possible, try taking at least one close-up picture of the attached tassel to try and assess the quality.

It was a nice run gents, but I didn't expect it going for a final 6.5k bid, that's one happy seller

Greetings Steve, I believe the value of this sword comes from the quality of the smith itself, the rarity of his works and as denoted by Stephen, the fact it was forged in close connection to Toyama Mitsuru, the famed ”Shadow Emperor” of the Shōwa period and head of the Black Dragon Society

Seems there is no fixed date for this one..

Greetings Dee, I believe it's fine to buy such product knowing the pros and cons that come with it. A gimei is not always the mark of a decisively inferior blade and many can stand in their own right, it all goes back to a personal sense of taste and legitimacy

Perhaps the closest you could be with the array of cults Mitsuru managed, quite the interesting piece, I wonder who was the original owner

Hope this helps

Greetings Stephen, I believe the translation for the grass-script should be: 笠間一貫斎繁継作- Made by Kasama Ikkansai Shigetsugu 於頭山満翁邸内- At the residence of Toyama Mitsuo/Mitsuru? 昭和十乙年乙乙月日- Showa 10th year, 2nd month, 2nd day

Here's the correct angle for future endeavors. And I agree with Uwe, last kanji appears like 光 to me, kogatana attributions are messy..

I agree with David Seems like someone ran a bit of sandpaper over the length of the blade, although it doesn't seem too major

Seems like a mix-match of various pieces, some relatively newer..

Greetings Claus It's hard not to hear Zapp Brannigan while reading your posts Lovely wakizashi you posted, the hamon is quite enchanting.