JeanEB

Robert I'm kind of curious where you can find well made, old (kamakura/nanbo) for a few hundred bucks! I'd be honest, for that price, with a decent polish, that's unbeatable value even if only to be a study piece!

Hi Kirill, thanks for the explanation. How do you tell the blade are saiha on these pictures? is it from the large sori?

I've been trying to find koto tachis to buy through yahoo JP for a little while, especially pre-Nambokucho. I noticed that some sellers seem to repeatedly sell early-mid kamakura blades, with a beautiful sugata, ko-kissaki and a believable nakago, even though usually those are unpapered... Here are some examples by two different sellers https://www.jauce.com/auction/v1179858688 https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1179590637 https://www.jauce.com/auction/x1176902530 now I imagine those are part of the "too good to be true" auctions, where if you end up paying <1M yen, you get what you pay for. However, but I just don't see where the catch is, beyond unauthentified mei (which are probably gimei). Are those sellers reputed to sell altered blades? fake aged nakagos or welded on nakagos? I would imagine any near-ubu mumei blade from that period would sell for much more due to age alone Appreciate any insight

Hi everybody, For those of you who have previously bought blades from Japan using a proxy, I am wondering what service you used and what your experience has been. I believe I have seen mentions on this forum of Kelly Schmidt and Paul Kremers, who both have been posting here, plus Jauce of course. If anyone has recommendations, I would be very thankful.

Hey John, I had to ask as while my index of suspicion was high, I wasn't certain enough to fully dismiss these alternative smiths right away. And regarding the "nagamitsu", no amount of wishful thinking could convince me to bid on it so no, just like for this one, I didn't bid anything

I have a hard time imagining it being Awataguchi for the reasons already mentioned, although I believe Markus Sesko mentions that there were other quality swords with this mei from smiths of different affiliations (Bizen, Yamato, Iga). I wonder if this could be a potential source of this blade https://markussesko.com/2015/10/06/kantei-4-yamashiro-9-awataguchi-粟田口-school-4/

Saw this auction come up on yahoo Japan, which gained quite a bit of steam in the last 24 hours. Supposedly it's an Awataguchi Kunitsuna tachi from the 1250s, the last years of his life. At least that's what the Hon'ami and Fukunaga paperwork (if authentic) say. https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1175718202 I found interesting that for an ubu tachi, the sugata is notably more tori zori than Kunitsuna's other body of work. As a whole, it looks more mid-late Kamakura than his other tachis. It is also interesting that the hada is not nashiji-hada like typically you could expect out of an Awataguchi piece, but a mix of masame-hada and Itame-hada. I wonder if anyone here has seen any of Kunitsuna's other blades, signature or not, with these characteristics, or if it's more likely that the blade is from somebody else with that name, but not the 6th Awataguchi brother. Thanks all in advance

Hi Thomas, thank you for taking the time to respond. I guess my suspicion was due to the fact that both those papers were associated with a presumed tachi from Awataguchi Kunitsuna, although unpapered by the NBTHK. https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1175718202 I am always concerned when a presumed sword from a great master is unpapered in Japan, especially when the Sugata doesn't scream Kamakura. Of course, it could be from another of the Kunitsunas that aren't Awataguchi around that period...

Hi to everyone in this community, I encountered recently a tachi on yahoo Japan with these accompanying papers. Now while while all affirmations from this site have to be taken with a grain of salt, I'd never seen the names Honami Tadanobu and Fukunaga Suiken on origami before. Could somebody with more experience help me translate those and help with getting a rough idea of their authenticity? I am unsure which generation Honami Tadanobu is. Thanks in advance

def could be, I tried to play with the contrast to make it clearer in this one

Hi everyone, I've come across a listing for an unpapered tachi from a consignment sale (yes, I know that's just asking for trouble). The pictures on the listing aren't that clear, nor is the contrast obvious, but I'm trying to figure out what this signature could be. I can make out the 光 but not the kanji just superior to it. I would appreciate any help, thanks in advance!

John, thank you for the reply and I do understand your warning. The listing I was looking at was curious in that there was no NBTHK papers, but rather a presumed Honami Kojo appraisal and a Kanzan Sagayaki. While superficial and early, my understanding of the reliability of appraisal papers was rather limited to ho/tokuho and knowing that the older paper (white/blue/green) were definitely not reliable. Where I found it difficult was on whether or not I could rely on the presumed appraisals of renowned individuals outside of the major organizations in settings where I can't confidently say that the sword's architecture is obviously a certain smith's or a school's. John J, here is the listing link (I understand all about the reservations we should have when buying from Ebay, however with their buyer protection program, it's probably one of the easiest sources to get a reimbursement from if the sword is inaccurately advertised). https://www.ebay.com...f:g:RYQAAOSwhNJnWRKV

as John mentions, the seller has a few other blades available, a few of them papered by NBTHK, would that mean that these papers are likely fake too?

I would argue that the choji hamon is more exclusively associated with his father, as Nagamitsu has a significant amount of gunome and even some suguha in the later years (or in the 2nd generation if you subscribe to that theory), which is why I was giving the hamon the benefit of the doubt. example of suguha blade from him https://www.christie...m/en/lot/lot-4990391

Thank you for the response Kirill, I agree with the caution you are suggesting. Evaluating the sword aside from the paperwork, most of the blade characteristics could pass for a nagamitsu, my main worry is that I have a hard time telling if the kissaki is sansaku-boshi or not. I'm also concerned that the kissaki should be shorter for a kamakura blade