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Hello: Ask and you shall receive - an unexpected additional nice job. Tokubetsu Kicho is nothing to sneeze at in my opinion in almost all cases. The piece is quite busy for Kanayama and that might reflect something late in their run. Arnold

Hello JohnTo: Thanks for your very interesting and well written text. I don't think I have seen that kind of careful deconstruction done here before, and I hope we will see others venture as you have done. I suppose the tsuba might be Kanayama, the thickness is there and were the pieces supposedly there once still in place, more robustness, a Kanayama characteristic, would be there, though it has more of a Kyo sukashi feeling to me. In any event, nice job! Arnold

Hello: Shibata was respected authority and dealer. The origami, dated 1977, needs no further confirmation if authenticity is the goal. Arnold F.

Hello: To be Christian there would have to be at least one Christian attribute. Whatever that is I don't think it would pass for the only attribute possible, ie, a cross. Arnold

Hello: Once again, thanks Peter for the interesting and valuable reference. Readers will also find it interesting to go to the other postings on the site and read "Secret techniques of ultimate researchers" which is good prep for the next sword show. Arnold

Hello: Thanks for the high quality and educational reference! Arnold

Hello: Chris Bowen will tell you when to show up with the blade, they usually are running slightly late, but be on time. The time from intake to you being able to come back and pick it up runs about an hour as the blade must be physically documented, seen by a judge, notes made, and if passed photographed. You will probably be asked to present it in a paper saya wrap, habaki not included, and by all means have no oil on the blade. Things usually go very smoothly. When you get your walk out worksheet copy it will have remarks in Japanese however the key info of smith, date, etc. will probably be noted in English or you can ask that it be indicated. Final payment if it passes in cash. Good luck. Arnold

Hello: It appears to be a late but nice example of Shippo, doubtless from a full koshirae of similar features. Arnold

Hello: Nothing less than outstanding and sincere congratulations to Paul! Arnold F.

Hello Richard: There is an outside chance that they represent two ema, those votive paintings of various sizes and depictions seen hanging outside of Shinto shrines. Arnold

Hi Bob: It is more than worth the trip, the show and all the various associated things that can be participated in if one wishes. All the dealers from central Japan and perhaps beyond, everything in polish, certified, and usually priced right up front. A welcome three day event for "gaijin" from all over and in increasing number seen in the years when I have been there, great displays -just terrific! I don't know about groups but an inquiry here would probably get information on a number of folk you know who you could meet up with. You can add a trip to the new Sword Museum, the National Museum at Ueno which always has fine stuff and a large bookstore, and if you wish the Yasukuni Jija near Tokyo Station. Arnold

Hi Bob: Well of course the table space at a typical US sword show would preclude some dealers from bringing their entire inventory, unlike at the Dai Token Ichi where the set up seems to feature many quite large chock full booths. I am not making a pitch for any particular dealer over here, but if you will check a couple of well known sites you will see, as you know, lots of quite stunning stuff. Some of it gets to the shows, not all can, but if you were to ask a dealer to bring such and such for a forthcoming show, like majic it would probably appear for careful hands on study. Arnold

Hi Bob: Your are right of course about the Aoi price differential, but I take that to be starting price and that can only go up, but as suggested above the US dealer price is at the top of a negative slope. Further the ability to judge in hand is worth a premium, if there is a premium, as you have no uncertainty about recourse as you would when buying from any auction if things go wrong. I am not knocking Aoi, or any dealer for that matter, just trying to point out the advantage, if for no other reason than comparison, of hands on examination at a show. Without mentioning names quality comparisons could also be made as I have seen blade quality and paper levels over here on offer that substantially exceed what Aoi tends to have on their site even at the highest level. Arnold

Hi: Thanks Geraint for the useful reference. When referring to Aoi descriptions and interpretations "temerity" is hardly a consideration as they are very error prone and will usually fail to correct pointed out mistakes. The piece is nice but the only thing that seemed to fit at all is the jar. Arnold

Hello: Aoi has posted a kogai today, AF 13730, and it is said to have a tea ceremony connection. The jar in the middle of the elements looks like a so called "official tea jar" for presentation or storage, but aside from that I am lost. Can anyone tie in the other objects to tea? Arnold

Hello: Reading through this post makes me marvel at how much certainty is attached to inferences from a small set of two dimensional images and how the words of the seller are woven into various imaginary selling scenarios, all launching from a starting price. I admit to having bought from Aoi and the experiences, good and bad, can be a story in themselves, however auctions at a distance with objects unseen are really not a substitute for hands on study. While I cannot speak of the situation other than in the US, here there is an opportunity to attend three or four excellent shows each year where you can consider a large number of blades, some brought by foremost and highly informed dealers. Their prices start with hope on their part, but the path to the final price can higgle its way to a mutually satisfactory equilibrium between buyer and seller. You don't have to worry about photographic tricks as stuff can be taken out into the daylight if you ask, and delivery has no delay. Consider Tampa in March, Chicago in April, Orlando in June, and San Francisco in August. Arnold

Hello: Probably a gift without expectation of use as it would be hard to imagine a sword wearing samurai to have it on a sword. It appears to be a downsized tosho. Arnold

Hello: Might be some version of the tsuta (ivy), but the design added to the cut down plate. Cf. Hawley's Mon book. Arnold

Hello: If you could rotate the images of the nakago so a trip to the chiropractor isn't needed I'd appreciate it. At first glance it looks promising and there is no such thing as the green paper virus, at least in the enthusiastic sense that would call for burning them all up! I wonder if even 1% are wrong? Arnold

Hello: Thanks for the interesting tutorial. Arnold

Hello: Paul is correct in saying that there is an undertone of implicit monkey business is some of the discussion of Nakahara with respect to suriage blades, sort of a "tell all" that might indicate some disappointing experiences encountered by him. However for those of us who have been in this game for too many years to remember I see that book not as unique but just another example of peeling back the wink wink divide between those "in the know" and all others. The stream of translations and inter-change in recent decades has allowed Westerners to learn more of what is behind the Japanese informational curtain, but that process has been of much longer standing. Other folks to have been critical of "established truth" that are no longer with us were such men as Albert Yamanaka, through his writings hardly the friend of the establishment in his day, and Yamada Tanseki a polisher, author and leading member of the Chuo Token Kai in the early 1970s. There are other contemporary examples, in Japan and abroad, who have similarly drawn fire. The truth is that there is a lot we don't know about the inner workings of the sword game, and in my opinion the contribution of Nakahara is net positive and I look forward to more. Arnold

Hello: The issue of searching for blades with mei, with certified mei, or unsigned can really reduce to the issue of the size of the implicit discount in the price of each. While the answer to the question posed does not directly derive from Nakahara Nobuo, ably translated with annotations by Paul Martin, Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector's Guide (Kodansha, 2010), what follows presupposes that it has been read. Nakahara's general dismissal of unsigned blades, both ubu, a type of sword which to him is begging for a rationale, and suriage, is well known. A blade with a mei calls for a certificate of authenticity. A buyer of such a sword that does not have a certificate could be full of confidence and hope, but without a certificate resale expectations, for any of many reasons down the line, would have to face very hard resistance if the owner expects anything close to a similar certified example, with adjustments also having to be taken into consideration for a likely future certificate level awarded. Certified blades speak for themselves though sellers are likely to encourage a triumph of rosy expectations over reality by suggesting an eventual upgrade. Even a certified mei has to be viewed with some caution, particularly if koto for the simple reason that the koto data base of known correct mei is scanter than that for post-koto blades, and in my experience even within those examples said to be right there seems to be more variation than within post-koto blade mei for a given smith. Following Nakahara I cannot understand why anyone would seek out ubu mumei, though some are doubtless bought with the intention of a deceptive promotion though the addition of a mei. As for suriage mumei the danger is that they are seen by many to be virtuous blades that have lost their mei and even Nakahara is open to some limited leeway here. The issue is one of the "right price" and if seemingly overpriced the relation to a possible shinsa call comes into play. I cannot prove it but I suspect that the spread between asking price and the appropriate actual price that is realistic is wider for this category of blade than for any other, so buyer beware! Don't underestimate the bargaining power that a prospective buyer would have for such a sword as there is so much uncertainty, and markets are supposed to make that reflected in price if the market is reasonably efficient. As a natural experiment, assuming someone has the curiosity, time and money to do so, would be the purchase of a half-dozen nice looking and comparably well maintained and polished suriage mumei swords and submit them to the two different NTHK shinsa groups, and to the NBTHK, and see what happens. I would guess that the 18 resulting papers, if all are issued papers, would show a substantial amount of variation in attribution of time of manufacture, school/smith, and quality level blade to blade and judging group to judging group. Finally, there are beautiful suriage mumei blades out there and no reason not to collect them, but as for value its all a matter of having the unknowns discounted correctly. Some are gems but that requires a careful buyer to separate the gem from the would be gem. Arnold

Hello: If you would like to do some browsing I would suggest the gold and silver Sasano books. Arnold

Hello: It is a strong and clever design, and it shows movement with strength. Given the coin-like shape of the seppa-dai I would guess Ko Shoami. Arnold

Hello: Another interesting one Peter. Can you provide the citation of the book from which it came? Arnold