W K Clifford

it does look like similar to this one: http://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords/JT164084.htm the mei, the harmon, the hi, etc. what do you say?

what about this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280574672702&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123 橫山加賀介祐永 in bad shape, is it worth this much?

hi John, it is 光仲 for sure. May I ask you (any of you!) to enlighten me on this tsuba I only know this is the typical Mino-bori autumn flowers theme. (mediocre quality?) I will post the dimensions later (perhaps in a new post).

Hi Carlo, I understand your concern and appreciate your remarks. I would be the last person to start any nonsense about attributions. There is no subtext in my question (I asked it merely because I thought it was a amusing). Hence I would be satisfied if someone could answer it with one of these: 1. true 2. false 3. complicated.

Sorry I did not make it clear, Henry, the story was described in the last paragraph of my last post, about this famous antique expert Shi.

wow, Carlo, you are a very knowledgeable man !

I was serious about the "made in china" question though. Are they sure that these were not imports from the mainland, known as the Tang Dynasty at the time? The Tang court was very generous... Concerning Carlo's remark about good Chinese fakes fooling museums, recently there's been an interesting episode involving this sword: This sword was buried for 2400 years and yet, when it was excavated in the 70s, there was no rust on it! and it was still sharp enough to slice through layers of papers. A small miracle. And it does have a mei written in an archaic style called 鳥篆 (because they look like birds...), very difficult to decipher: it reads “戉王鳩淺 自乍用鐱”, believed to mean "越王句踐 自作用劍" (basically means that this is 句踐's sword, 句踐 was a famous warlord in the late Spring and Autumn period, roughly 2500 years ago) Anyway, Shi, one of the experts involved in identifying the sword in the 70s now claims that he found an identical sword from a street vendor, and it is genuine! Man, I saw a poor picture of that sword, even I know it is a fake. He is a laughing stock now...Senility strike... terrible tragedy

technically, these are not nihonto, am I mistaken? In fact, are they certain that these were not made in China?

Similar: http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2009/0910_1076syousai.htm That is a terrible way to write 天. it looks more like 志.

No, the one in the link has a much better mei http://www.token-net.com/katana/3k19-tomonobu0803/tomonobu.html nakirishi mei explains why the meis of different smiths look the same, but in this case one smith have three quite distinct mei styles.

see here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4281&p=32333 the three specimens, one here and two in the thread above, all have different signature styles (meaning: carved or chiseled by different hands), why?

the son

因州住 浜部儀八郎 壽實 Hamabe school shinshinto, this guy 壽實 Toshizane is the son of 濱部寿格 Hamabe Toshinori , lived 1777～1846 I once saw a 濱部寿格 sword in Ohio, there was a big nick that passed the hamon, so i did not bid on it. but it still fetched 900 dollars, why would anyone pay so much for a fatally damaged sword?

forged in 1945

see this http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/nmb/ ... 6ea9#p6659

In the first picture, the smith is Osafune Ju Yokoyama Sukekane 長船住橫山祐包, as Eric said. But he did not use sign Bizen 備前 as usual, instead, it was 備陽. An old name of bizen, I assume?

I only have one name to go about with, and that is Yimu, in kanji, 一木. I was nicknamed 一休 Ikkyū when I was little, for the similarity of the names and for being a wiseguy all the time, :lol:

did he sign like this:

not sure if the name is 忠昭 or not 佳節鍛之 means forged it for festival celebration, i think

Wow, in deep admiration... did you get it on ebay?

I think Moriyama san is right, since the signature has not been posted yet!!!

I am sure it means what you suggest here. But then the wording is a bit strange: I'd say 正宗嫡傳末流源綱廣 or 正宗末流嫡傳源綱廣. perhaps Tsunahiro san was not very well educated

以五郎入道正宗末流源綱廣嫡傳鍛之 I do not think that I need to translate 五郎入道正宗 so it basically says something like this: , following the least talented (this is what 末流 means) disciple 源綱廣 of Masamune, forged it. Confused, but this guy 源綱廣 was not one of the Juttetsu. The other kanjis tell you the date, but I can only make out the last three: 八月日. I am sure Morita-san will be able to decipher it

Brilliant! This confirms what I have long suspected: Darma was a differential geometer!

I know this is nihonto forum, but for appreciation of antiques, understanding the ambient cultural background is important. So... Plus Daishin was a good friend of our hero Mushasi! I bought this painting quite a while ago. Very cheap. According to my research it is genuine. I mean even the real one aren't worth that much. comments?