sashko1 Posted October 15, 2007 Report Posted October 15, 2007 Hi, can anybody tell me what the signature on Nakago means? I'm suspecting this is a fake reproduction katana that I purchased from e-bay? Much thanks, Sashko. Quote
sashko1 Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Posted October 15, 2007 What it says, if you know? Thank you. Quote
Bungo Posted October 15, 2007 Report Posted October 15, 2007 Tam- Shan ( yama ) -do ( michi ) use combinations to suit your taste ( sound, that is ) milt the ronin Quote
sashko1 Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Posted October 15, 2007 Thank you. Do those words mean anything in English at all? Quote
Brian Posted October 15, 2007 Report Posted October 15, 2007 Sashko, These fake mei don't usually have any real meaning in English. They are just a combination of gibberish designed to look like a Japanese signature, using whatever characters they felt like using on the spur of the moment. Sorry...definitely fake. Brian Quote
sashko1 Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Posted October 15, 2007 Thank you all for your input. Sad, I had to know better before buying this piece of junk! Quote
remzy Posted October 15, 2007 Report Posted October 15, 2007 Hehe look at it positivly and do like me, make yourself a nice wall katanakake for your replicas and keep your prized nihontos hidden under your bed! (or in a safe!) There is always a good side to everything, useless junk swords can serve as a great decoy for thieves as well as decorative purpose! (assuming you can stand to look at it!) Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 You got a good point mr. remzy. I will try to bring it to a more-or-less presentable condition because when I started to look at this cheap piece of you-know-what I found so many flaws! I think bathroom wall would be a good place to hang it after all?! Thank you. Quote
remzy Posted October 16, 2007 Report Posted October 16, 2007 sashko1 said: You got a good point mr. remzy. I will try to bring it to a more-or-less presentable condition because when I started to look at this cheap piece of you-know-what I found so many flaws!I think bathroom wall would be a good place to hang it after all?! Thank you. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: OMG! Quote
rkg Posted October 16, 2007 Report Posted October 16, 2007 Hmmm... Bathroom mount... do you use a KatanaKaka for that? :D Or do you just need a katanakaka for this piece? rkg (Richard George) Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 I guess I will just nail it to the wall... Or... I guess I could buy KatanaKAKA from the same seller on e-bay!? Alex. Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 Guys, the Kissaki shape on this sword is very bad, there's only , I'd say, 5% resemblence to the real Kissaki. I want to make it look at least ~50% similar. The tip is too pointy, so I'm planning to round it up a little. There's also no Yokote, which I'm planning to create. Whould you have any suggestions to what's the best approach is here? I'm pretty confident with my hands, so I'm not afraid to take on this action. One thing that I would consider the last resort is to do any (black)smithing on it, since I've never done anything like that. But other than that any grinding, cutting, etc. - I'm for it. Also, I don't think this sword was ever tempered, even though I think it kinda resembles Damascus type steel. So maybe, if it is possible at this point to forge it somehow, so that my soul gets at least some satisfaction even from a piece of $!@# ? I'd love to hear what you got to say, please? Thank you a lot, Alex. Quote
Bungo Posted October 16, 2007 Report Posted October 16, 2007 why don't you leave it the way it is ? Compare it with an authentic example, then point by point list the " differences ". You learn something from this exercise and hopefully other " unsuspected " will too............. p.s. by re-shaping it to resemble the real McCoy, you'll just contribute to future " confusion " ............ just my opinion, but of course. milt the ronin Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 I think you are right ... But there's such an enormous wish to have a real Katana!!! I just can't afford at this time (as I realized recently ) to spend $+2000 on the real thing. Therefore I want to make something that will resemble it, trust me this is only for me - I'm a weird character - this is the 5th day that I take the sword out look at it for an hour, think ..think..think... and put it aside in a fury and disgust. You know what, I think I will create a website for this matter and describe all the details in it so others won't stumble. Actually I already created a little something when I was arguing with the seller of the sword, take a look: http://www.fishingvolyn.com/Bad_Katana/ ... hinese.htm Alex. Quote
Bungo Posted October 16, 2007 Report Posted October 16, 2007 he sent you a better looking kissaki............. milt thye ronin Quote
Russell P Posted October 16, 2007 Report Posted October 16, 2007 These guys really make their money on postage Good web site to show two fake Nihon to Thanks for sharing and hopefully educating others :| Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 I read somewhere that there was a time period when straight Kissaki was produced... Therefore I thought it was from that period.... Stupid me! Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 O trust me, I will blow this up.... This web page will become more educative pretty soon! I will try to accumulate all the details of this fake business as well as details of faking. Regards. Quote
Russell P Posted October 16, 2007 Report Posted October 16, 2007 Your Kissaki information is good accourding to Nagayama "CBook of JS" "Some say that most swords in early Koto times had Kamasu kissaki" There is a lot to learn with this subject Quote
sashko1 Posted October 16, 2007 Author Report Posted October 16, 2007 But you know what... I think this site has a perfect examples of fake swords listed in "Fake Swords" section. Quote
katanako Posted October 22, 2007 Report Posted October 22, 2007 I agree, totally fake and horribly written kanji!!! The inscription makes no sense. How much did you pay for your lesson? HENRY USA Quote
AndreasU Posted October 22, 2007 Report Posted October 22, 2007 Hmm, I walked through your thread and the first thing I thought: Why did this guy buy a sword in CHINA. I mean China is known for beeing the biggest fake producer in the world! That allone should had ring your alarm bells! Second: how did you come across this board? After you bought the sword or did you know it before. If the last thing, then this sword was to cheap for you...... third: if these pictures are all correct you got from the seller in advance, why did'nt you inform yourself in advance? This sword is so far away from a Japanese sword, in shape, in appearance, from the saya, that you can feel with a stick from distance that this can`t be true! You can get swords below uS$ 2000 easily, just buy an oil quenched blade, it is not nihonto but more "real Japanese" than any chinese fake can be. I am a new collector as well. The difference between you and me is that I searched the whole internet for information in advance, stumbled across Richard Steins brilliant page http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm and from there I bought two books: The samurai sword from John M. Yumoto and Modern Japanese Swords and swordsmiths from Leon and Hiroko Kapp To collect this kind of swords, it need a huge interest in understanding the metallurgie and forging technics plus a minimum of interest in history. Prepared with this base knowledge mistakes you did can be avoid (and still then you can spend money for mistakes, believe me I know what I am talking about) It is true and true and mor true, what members of this board are saying. Before buying a sword, buy books, read, understand and then WATCH! and after all this consider to buy your first sword. And never do this in Ebay for your first buy. Save the money and go to a respected reseller ( I choosed AOI-Art.com but there are a lot of others as well) and buy your first sword. From there you will get good explanations and you can be sure that most of the time you get what you paied for. The Nihonto collecting community is so small that none of these resellers will trick you. If they try, what do you think how long it will take until the community will discuss about? You learned it the hard way...... Quote
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