Gimei versus original mei compared to blade quality..

[kusunokimasahige]

Hello, I was wondering wether you can have a perfectly smithed sword of whichever era, but Nihonto , which has a gimei, but still gets rated highly in a shinsa, simply because the quality of the blade/smithing work is good...

 

is that possible?

 

KM

[David Flynn]

I believe all gimei signatures must be removed before resumitting

[kusunokimasahige]

doesnt that seriousely damage the tang?

 

KM

[Mike]

The removal must be done professionally so there is none or very small damage. AFAIK gimei swords are rejected in shinsa (but I might be wrong). Mike

[kusunokimasahige]

cant the people holdig shinsa see wether it is gimei?

 

who should i go to or write with a tang-rubbing to get proof of mei or gimei?

 

 

KM

[DavidF]

Any gimei blade, regardless of quality, gets an automatic pink paper. I've never heard of an exception to this rule.

 

If your blade does happen to get a pink paper, the shinsa team will usually record the reason for the rejection. Reasons I've heard for rejection include, gimei signature, poor quality, hagire (fatal flaw), and the polish was not good enough to judge quality.

 

If you've already submitted a blade to a shinsa and got a gimei finding, you may want to compare it to an oshigata on file to try to see what they saw. Furthermore, most shinsa lean towards caution, and may designate a blade as gimei if they just don't know. It always pays to have a second opinion with a gimei result before having a signature remove.

 

Also, some people on this board have a pretty sharp eye when it come to signatures. So you might want to get an opinion by posting a mei with an example oshigata.

 

Hope it helps...

 

DaveF.

[kusunokimasahige]

it certainly does!

 

i already posted a mei photo, of which one says its gimei, the other isnt sure..

 

see my post in nihonto for the photo...

 

i have never taken a sword to shinsha since this sword will probably become my first nihonto.. and that its truly Japanese is more important to me at the moment than who it is by... not rich here yet.... :lol:

 

KM

[mike yeon]

Sometimes on the pink paper, the shinsa team will state gimei but verify the true maker of the piece. They still won't issue a paper but this can be a good start to deciding whether to remove the mei or not.

 

mike

[DavidF]

it certainly does!

i already posted a mei photo, of which one says its gimei, the other isnt sure..

 

If it the blade from the "anyone of you know this smith" thread, then my impression would be to concur that it is gimei (but I could always be wrong). Assuming that you had the signature removed, I think probably the biggest problem for the shinsa team would probably be the workmanship of the blade--the shinsa team tends to be more picky with gendaito stuff. The blade may not be worth having the signature removed. But if you a low-end (but genuine) Nihonto, then you probably couldn't go wrong.

 

DaveF.

[kusunokimasahige]

thank you for the info David!!

 

its is true that the pics i received and posted are not that great...

 

will have to see with my own eyes what range it might be in... anyway as a first it looks allright to me.... even when gendaito... probably will chuck the mountings anyway.... just a bit worried about that riveted metal thingie to keep the tsuka straight....

 

as long as i dont come home with the Chinese baka na kuso stuff i am okay with it...

 

:lol:

 

KM