Shin Shinto Swords

[Thekirsh]

Hi All,

 

Going on the recent thread about " flaw -ware " is it a given that unsigned shin shinto blades

are all of a lower standard?

 

Thanks Simon

[Grey Doffin]

There are no givens with Nihonto.

Grey

[Ed Harbulak]

I have a flawlessly made tanto and also a flawlessly made wak, both are shinshinto. They both easily passed shinsa and were attributed to higher ranking smiths. The tanto was attributed to Koretoshi (who was the second generation Tsunatoshi) while the wak was attributed to the 8th generation Owari Nobutaka. There are many reasons for a blade to be mumei and swords should be judged on the quality of their workmanship not whether they are signed or not. If nothing else, at least you don't have to worry about a mumei blade being gimei and if it's a flawless blade, the workmanship should enable you to decide if it's worth owning. We all get too hung up on swords with signatures, there are plenty of outstanding mumei blades, shinshinto and older out there.

Ed Harbulak