stevel48

Just to play devils advocate, what do you thibk of the kiyo vs. naga. I Imagine that Naga has several variations in the signature and is an individual thing.

no no , it's just that I couldn't see what you guys are seeing..the right side of the character.

bingo...now i see it. Thanks for making it crystal clear now.

I'm new at this guys so I hare to ask questions and learn as much as I can. My understanding is that eack kanji is part of the name. This sword has 2 and the first one being as you say naga and the second one being hiro. Am I at least correct in my understanding? So on Steve's kanji charts I found 2 names that matched the first kanji character, Naga and Kiyo. I feel that Kiyo is a slightly better match. I didn't find anything that matched the 2nd kanji for hiro. Feel free to point out which character says what and why. Please don't take my questions as an insult as they're not meant to be.

Steve, those kanji were fantastic. Thank you. I now believe that the first kanji is Kiyo and not Naga. The 2nd is still unknown.

It's so faint that maybe I'l never really know. the darn thing looks 500 years old though with the pitting and discoloration. The shape of the blade matches up with the Momoyama period. I just can't find a match for that 2nd kanji character. It may have been cut off. Looks like the nakago may have been shortened. Steve

Thanks guys!

Agreed. I'm waiting on some new photos of the blade to look at the ware. I would have the handle re-wrapped and the tsuba cleaned iup.

It's not too visible. Looking into a purchase but I dont think the seller has the mei correct. He has it listed as Naganori but I cant match the kanji to Naganori.

All I want to be sure of is that it is real. That is a nihonto from a time when the samurai were active and when swordmaking was a religios art. I just worry about well faked modern swords. So i'm wary as a new buyer of non paper swords. I'm reading and learnign as mich as I can about smiths, eras, mei etc etc I hope I am not breaking board policy by posting a link to ebay but this is another option I am looking at as well as one sword listed in our forum for sale with papers. If the seller is correct it is from the era i prefer. http://cgi.ebay.com/SIGNED-SURIAGE-KOTO ... 5636dfcf77

Well for the price point of 1000 USD what is the concensus? Is it worth spending the $ for a simple nihonto. I don't need the best of the best but just a good example of a nihonto sword to add to my worldy antiques collection. I would have it polished. The hamon that is hidden looks very nice..mimigata-midare

Yep, it's that ebay auction. So it may be a fake sugnature. It is cheap and you do get what you pay for so I think I'll keep looking for a nice sword with papers. Thanks so much for the help everyone and I look forward to being part of these boards. Steve

I'm fairly new at this so I wantes to see what you experts think of the blade. Needs a polish. signed: Tadayoshi 忠義 Links to photos http://proxy.f3.ymdb.yahoofs.jp/users/4 ... LBRO_wz08C http://proxy.f3.ymdb.yahoofs.jp/users/4 ... LBI7UosDA4