Needing Information About My Nihonto

[Tamura]

Hello,

 

   I am new to the world of Samurai Swords.   I have always dreamed of owning one.  About two years ago, I was able to buy one.  I have limited information on the sword.  I know that it is hard to judge anything from a photo, but was hoping someone could give me some general information about it.  I am looking for detailed information on the sword maker.  I know that like beauty, value is in the eye of the beholder.  I am hoping someone can give me a idea of what the sword is worth.  This information is just for me. 

 

 

[SAS]

Probably going to need more/better pictures to say anything useful.

[Tamura]

This is all the information I got from the seller:

 

Type - Katana

Sori - Low

Kissaki - chu

Shinogi - Shinogi kukuri

Horimono - nane

 

Hamon - Midare

Surface Pattern - mokume

Mekugi Ana - One

 

Length - 27 1/2

 

Remarks - Yamato School  - 1558

                  Chu Saku

 

Signature - Namdo Ju Kanabo Saemon Jo  Masa Sada

 

 

Does anyone have any information or history on blade and/or maker?     And what could be the value of the sword?

[Ray Singer]

http://www.sho-shin.com/yam13.htm

 

Gordon Robson focuses in this school.

[Ray Singer]

It appears the sword is no longer ubu. The back of the nakago has been shaved down, and part of the mei lost.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome to the forum, Tamura - I'm assuming that's your last name, & we normally address people by their first, & you can add that in your signature.

 

A couple of points. First, when you're posting a photo of the mei (signature), please shoot it vertically so it can be easily read. Second, for people on NMB to help you, good photos are a necessity. Key areas to shoot are the nakago (hilt), boshi (area near the tip), machi (where nakago meets the blade), & several points along the blade. They need to be clear, in-focus closeups so that we can see the details, because it's the details that make or break a blade's value.

 

Okay, to decipher what the seller told you, sori is curvature (& there's very little), chu-kissaki means that the boshi area is mid-sized, shinogi-zukuri is the overall shape of the blade, there are no carvings (horimono), the hamon & jihada (surface pattern) can't be discussed without those closeup shots, & there's one hole (ana) for the pin that holds the tsuka (handle) to the nakago. The blade may well be from the Yamato school (do some research on the Gokaden to see what that means), but for him to state a specific year is dumb - there's no way to know that unless the date is engraved on the nakago. The sho-shin.com Web-site lists the first year that a tosho (swordsmith) is known to have started his work, but even those years are educated guesses.

 

Assuming that smith is who made your blade - & there's no way to know for sure unless you send it to shinsa for authentication - then it was made in the Muromachi period, when warring was pretty constant. Ray points out that, for some reason, the nakago was shaved down, which can be seen by looking at the machi - the indentations at the top & bottom are almost always the same size, but the top one on your blade looks a lot smaller That's unusual because the only real reason is to fit the blade into new koshirae (fittings), & it would have been much easier & cheaper to get new fittings than to shave solid metal. But we've seen weirder things in the Nihonto world.

 

Last, go over to Amazon, & spend $100 on some reference books! There are lots of recommendations that you can find on NMB with a simple search.

 

Ken

 

[Jean]

Done for Paul, Ken

[k morita]

Hi,

 

Mei is:

Nanto-ju Kanabo Saemon-no-jo Masasada(政定).

[TheGermanBastard]

Very nice job in the translation / image!

[Brian]

That's because Morita san manages to translate things my eyes can't even see...never mind translate