KungFooey

Gentlemen, Despite the much appreciated support I have received, both in private communications and on the last page of this thread, I am now heartily sick of what has become some kind of bizarre witch hunt (or 'warlock hunt' for those of you who like to claim I'm a man). As Hokke @Hokke so succinctly puts it, I have neither attempted to make any profit from this forum nor ever suggested I have superior knowledge which I do not possess. Yes, I've gotten angry occasionally but I have otherwise tried to be an active contributor and helped with observations or suggestions wherever I could. When I first joined here it was a real pleasure to interact with everyone but now I sign on always expecting to be denigrated or baited - so it's high time to call it quits. Lastly Stephen @Stephen, you only got really spiteful and nasty towards me after I asked you to stop sending me PMs - apparently "hell hath no fury like an old man scorned". Your incessant messages were starting to freak me out. (And, before you start spluttering 'it was all part of a cunning ruse to uncover your hidden identity' I took screenshots of all your PMs.) Goodbye to the many nice folks here and good riddance to all the rest. Adios, Dee

Thank you.

Oh, I see! So that's what you do to get a blade papered? Wow - sounds expensive.

Thanks Alex, I'll go and research Uda now.👍

I think maybe you're mixing up the NTHK with the NBTHK. The latter hardly tell you anything, even when a blade passes. The former gives notes on the pink fail slip about why it's failed and what they think it is.

Maybe who actually made it and when? I don't know that.

I was looking at a Japanese site which talks about a genuine Kinju tanto. After AI translating this part, describing why the style of dagger changed from the previous period, I'm pretty glad that my mine is a fake. 身幅広く、重ね薄く、浅く反る大振り※は南北朝時代に流行した。これはそれまでの短刀が刺すことを主要用途としていたことに対し、首級や耳、鼻などを撮き切る合風始が発生したことによる

Who'd a thought it? Mary Poppins - a ninja. Explains a lot.

If the mounts are original, then it's a nice piece for a militaria collector. Dee

I always haunt Yahoo, Curran - and, if I see something unusual, I'll post it here. I was actually looking into a gunto dealer@Stephen asked about when I came across this. Dee

Despite being sold in Japan, this is obviously an oil tempered, wartime blade with unremoved Seki stamp. What makes it intriguing is that it appears to have a very old registration card (torokusho) and is sporting some pretty fancy handachi mounts. Translating the seller's description, they claim that these were made for a high ranking naval officer. Personally, I think it's a post war refit - although all the mounts do seem to match. Opinions? https://page.auction...tion?aID=o1174368795

I searched but this sword is not for sale on Yahoo, Jauce or Mercari. Looks like the seller is only interested in the foreign marketplace.

Yahoo!オークション - 珍品希少 自在/絡繰金具の象...

Hi John! This tanto seems to have generated far more interest and dialogue than I ever imagined. Indeed, the comments have been almost universally highly informative, very encouraging and generally complimentary and/or witty. There was one exception of course but I'm starting to get the impression (from a very kind and supportive PM I received) that this person, as a 'high-roller' in the hobby, may feel aggrieved that such an ignorant plebe as myself is even daring to discuss a blade purporting to be by such a historically important smith as Kinju. But disregarding them, I'm learning (and then researching) a lot about both the Soshu and Mino schools thanks to the other contributors. The whole 'Go-Den' history is very complicated for me but, with their help and advice, I'm slowly moving up from 'complete plebe' to 'motivated novice'. As to your question about a '1% itch', of course it's there! The general consensus here seems to be that the blade is obviously not by Kinju but was produced by a reasonably able smith, whether Shin Shinto or earlier. Therefore, I might ask my brother to hold onto it while I decide what to do. (I had a FaceTime with him today and it was a real comedy of errors with him trying to photograph the tanto and me shouting instructions. Below are the very fuzzy results.🙄) The NTHK may well be the way forward - thank you for the suggestion! Dee