steve oakley

I put some oil of the kanji in an effort to make the kanji stand out more. As a result the rust in the kanji has shown up more. I tried talcum powder but no luck. The camera has made the nakago look more red than what it is actually in hand. The nakago is all the one colour and not a new red rust colour but a brown. regards Steve

Hi Just seeking some assistance with a mei which i believe to be a bizen blade starting with Bishu Osafune. Any assistance would be appreciated. It may be a hard one due to the rust. The first kanji cant be seen due to the rust but would be Bishu i think, 1. Bishu 2. Osafune 3. ? 4. ? 5. ? 6. ? photo 1 is of all of the mei photo 2 is for kanji 1-4 photo 3 is for kanji 4-6 Thankyou Steve

As i was looking through ebay i noticed this auction. The seller is being open about the current standing of the blade and even mentions buying at risk. If you look at the images the hamon is thin gunome but when a polishing stone was applied then the gunome hamon disappeared. One consideration when buying a blade is the beauty of a hamon but in this case it states that the gunome was drawn. I have no intention of purchasing the item but curious as to others thoughts on the hamon. If it can happen to this blade in question then there must be others out there. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Japanese-Sam ... 5706wt_952 regards Steve

Hi I don't know the seller but it seems a reasonable price, 3 days to go though. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/190597675907 ... 600wt_1185 Steve

The point about the bo-hi some refer to it as the blood groove, or how assists with extracting the blade from the body has possibly continued due to urban legend or whatever (maybe one for myth busters ). An article on the internet about some of the points just covered is here http://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2008/0 ... od-groove/ In regards to learning Kantei about the known or identified history of their bo-hi, as i said i have found little on this subject. Any references to this subject would be great. As Mr.Sanjuro states that if the blade is O suriage, because the original nakago has been removed thus moving the hi further down the blade. From this I assume that generally it would have been an older blade shortened to reflect the times. Yes i have seen bohi on koto blades but no many though. I would think that bo-hi was more common during Edo times when katana were more artistic? The reason i say this is that during the Muromachi period when blades were mass produced to keep up with the wars, it would have been time consuming to add a bo-hi. Which leads me to this question, when was the bo-hi first seen on the Japanese blades? regards Steve

I have a question about bo-hi on katanas. From reading, the bo-hi is done to hide faults in the blade Shinogi-ji or to supposedly lighten the blade. My guess (speculation on my behalf) is that a a bo-hi extending into the nakago would have been originally done when the blade was made and that a katana with a bo-hi stopping at the habaki was possibly added later to hide faults. Happy to hear different views on this. It seems that a bo-hi is not seen in as many older blades. Was this a preferential thing or because of some other reason. I have attached an image of a katana with a bo-hi that extends into the nakago. Is there a way to determine age according to how a bo-hi is done. I gone through previous posts but not much is covered on the bo-hi origins regards Steve

Here are some more photos. Hawleys has a Bishu ju Kanenaga dating at 1558. Is anyone able to assist further with this smith. Thanks Steve

Yes, it is mine. Steve

Thankyou for the translation. I have not been able to source an info on this smith, Is anybody able to assist further when this smith was working. regards Steve

Would someone be able to assist me with the translation of this mei so that i can do some investigation of the age and smith. Regards Steve

I have attached a few more photos. The tsuka has since been re-wrapped and the tsuka fittings are not the original from the purchase as seen in the koshirae photo. However the tusba and kojiri are unchanged. Steve

As this is my item, I have waited and watched the comments. Yes I am surprised at the results at Shinsa. I was thinking that it would have been failed at Shinsa for being too tired or unable to attribute it to the school or period. Not that they believed it was WW2 oil quenched. As a novice I would have said it was a few hundreds years old, not the age of my father. I have attached some more photos. Yes it did get a touch up polish but in hindsight maybe it should have been left as it was prior to Shinsa. The polish did remove some unsightly rust marks and small cracks though. In regard to the photo that shows the rough hada, this is this the only area on the blade that this appears and there is no roughness on the respective opposite side. So if it had been bent then straightened i would have thought that the roughness would also be on the opposite side. Unfortunately, i have missed the boat on the NTHK-NPO Shinsa coming up, but yes i will submit again and see what the result is. I will inform you of those results in good time. Thankyou for your opinions. Steve

Hi I have had a sword shipped using FedEx express out of Japan to Australia and they sorted out the import duty that i had to pay. Nice and easy. This was about 18 months ago. regards Steve

After reading a few posts recently about storage, i must admit i like mine displayed. I have a converted bookcase that can be locked. Steve

Hi Had one done recently by Fred in the USA. Well priced and the work was good. http://www.Japanese-swords.com/ Regards Steve

Here is a customs broker that I used previously http://www.auspostcustoms.com.au Although the are for the importing of goods, they maybe able to assist with your export questions. Steve

Hi I sent a sword through Auspost in April this year to the United States for repair. I sent it by normal air post with insurance, it got to the destination with no problems in about 10 days. I believe I listed it as a Japanese Nihonto Antique over 100 years old. It came back last week after the repairs were done without any problems going through Auspost or customs. I would not recommend surface mail. Sent a book to Germany in early March and it never arrived until late June. I actually thought that it had been lost in the mail but it eventually turned up to the address. You could give surface mail a go but after that experience I would never use it again. Maybe if you select regular postage rather than express it may go through, its just a thought. Steve

David I to was thinking if this service was available to have a katana put before the Shinsa team. I am not in a position to attend at Sydney but am in Melbourne. It looks as if you may have two customers if a service was offered. regards Steve

Hi Found this website. Refer to their services, have not used them. http://www.jigokustudios.com Steve

Thanks Chris It is a mumei 29 inch blade katana that has not had the nakago cut down. From the shinto period. I knew hagire was vertical and fatal but wasnt to sure about this one as it was i the hamon. Thankyou Steve

Hello I have a katana with the following hairline crack in tha hamon. It is about 1cm long. Would this be considered a hagarami and as such a fatal flaw. The crack is not visible on the other side of the balde. The reason i ask is that i intend to take the katana to Shinsa but do not know if am wasting my time as it may be considered a fatal flaw. Obviously the katana needs to meet other standards to pass Shinsa as well. Opinions welcome. Thanks Steve

Hello fellow nihonto enthusiasts. I would be interested to hear from fellow members of their stories for having a great find or got a great deal. Im sure there are plenty out there. I think that there would be others that would love to hear how you found a nice nihonto at a garage sale or found it in the roof. Your chance to show us all that there are still great deals out there if you know what to look for. Alternatively if you have been a sucker on the receiving end of buying a treasure which turned out to be a not so treasure. Love to hear any stories if the moderators will allow the topic to continue. Steve

You could stick it on ebay as a genuine replica. :D Steve

Hello All This is an old thread i have revisted. After cleaning i inspected the Nakago and found what i could believe to be the impression of a stamp. Or my eyes are old and interpretting things wrong and it could be a couple of dents. The stamp itself is unreadable. I thought that considering it is only signed as KIYONOBU on the Nakago and not the full signature of NAGAMURA KIYONOBU that the stamp would attribute it to the lower class sword maker of SEKI KAJI TOSHO. I have only seen two other swords and both were signed with the Nagamura KIYONOBU Any opinions on whether this could have been a stamp as i thought it was roughly in the right spot to be a stamp. regards Steve

Hello All I have a another question if someone may know. If there were 8 smiths of this name did they all receive the Chu-josaku ranking. regards Steve