Eddie

The hamon has been brought out using acid. It is quite clear from the unnatural colour of the hamon (dark grey/black ish). sorry but i disagree the rest of the blade shows no signs of being acid etched maybe a experienced polisher might chime in with their opinion Ed

Mate for your first nihonto its fine, we all started somewhere. my opinion is enjoy your purchase, study it in person, learn what you can and enjoy the journey, when your ready to move up or when you find your tastes change you can resell to buy something else. p.s the hamon does not look " chemical treatment" to me, it looks to be in old polish, good enough to study. regards Ed

hi Peter, A dense ko mokume hada also known as konuka hada is a common trait of shinto hizen swords, like yours. Umm if you have the connoisseurs book of Japanese swords, go to pages 246 to 248 and read hizen province, the tadayoshi school. i think you will find a description that matches your sword. lots of kantei points towards shinto, hizen province, tadayoshi school. That would be my pick, what do other members think???? Ed

my opinion shinto hizen province done in yamashiro tradition sorry does not look koto to me. regards Ed

Jason, google some auctions bidding services ( bid on Japan yahoo ), they charge a commission but you can buy what you like when it comes to tosogu. Swords, most wont handle some will. You have to use translating service to get an idea what the descriptions say, but as others have stated its hit and miss with the translating services. Beware that it is like ebay there are alot of fakes and good ones, that take a keen eye to spot. but the good stuff goes for high prices like ebay so there are no bargins to be found on there. ive personally bought lots from Japan yahoo but iam warning you be carefull, expect to pay top dollar for good quality items. Also because your using a bidding service its not like bidding on ebay, you have to place your bid and hope for the best, you cant place a bid at the last seconds to try and win an auction like on ebay, so if you find something you like work out how much you want to pay and then place your maximum bid and hope for the best. Also you will have to pay upfront first if you donot win the auction to can get a refund from your auction bidding service. Thats the only way we westerners can bid on there unless you know someone in Japan. My advise would be to try and buy good items from known dealers, yahoo and ebay is mostly full of junk that the good collectors donot want with the occasional good item thrown in. regards Ed

Thanks for posting this Ford its been very informative. here is a tsuba a just saw over on Japan yahoo.........its identical to the 3rd link you posted. Regards Edward

hi Guys just an update I found out that the theme is a Japanese good luck Or protection talisman ( Omamori ). Iam still working on what the kanji might say mean. Eddie

Thanks guys thats a great help. I did a quick google search for keshfuda, thanks Nobody i see the resemblance. I'll need to research it some more, thanks John will look further into nembutsu. George you mentioned the kanji saying tashin? what do you think guys what does it say? the fuchi kanji is different to the kashira, and is difficult to make out, iam not bad with mei but this is beyond me. regards Eddie

hi guys, Would anybody be able to help me ref to the meaning on the theme implied on this fuchi and kashira? thanks in advance Edward

thanks Ted Ed

HI guys, need some help to with this mei, i get kanesada saku am i correct? whats your opinion gimei?? i cant find a match for it. regards Edward

Yes, of course cheeky buggers Ed

Thanks Peter what I notice about the nagako is the first 4 mekugi Ana are the same, and the same amount of corrosion on all of them or am I looking to far into it. I don't know about the hamon I think it's just the hadori finish. Swords in Japan would they acid etch a homon over there? Edward

well i would say koto to early shinto??? thats my guess buts thats very broad, looking at the shape, nakago, hamon, dimensions, seems to fit into the koto period. as for the school i have no idea. If i was to make a wild guess i might say dotanuki? regards Edward

added some pictures had to reduce them for the upload. Edward