Sword with a snake.

[Alex1984]

Friends, please help my friend to deal with the sword. Please tell me what it is?Is there any hope that this is a good real sword?Thanks in advance

 

 

[Alex1984]

*

[Marius]

No hope. Sorry. This is a cheap fake.

[Alex1984]

  On 3/14/2021 at 4:35 PM, Marius said:

No hope. Sorry. This is a cheap fake.

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Thank you very much Marius. Can you please tell us more. I still have to tell this to my friend.

[ROKUJURO]

Aliaksandr,

I don't see much that could be related to Japan. The Egyptian Cobra and the whole mounting are pure (but bad) phantasy, and what is visible of the NAKAGO is extremely ugly, sloppily made and not made in Japan. The 'signature' was not made by a Japanese swordsmith.  

[Alex1984]

  On 3/14/2021 at 5:24 PM, ROKUJURO said:

Aliaksandr,

I don't see much that could be related to Japan. The Egyptian Cobra and the whole mounting are pure (but bad) phantasy, and what is visible of the NAKAGO is extremely ugly, sloppily made and not made in Japan. The 'signature' was not made by a Japanese swordsmith.  

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Thank you so much. I understood you. respectfully

[Marius]

This is not a proper nakago. 

[Alex1984]

Can you read the signature? Or is it not translated?

[Brian]

Less than zero chance this sword was ever within 1000 miles of Japan

 

[Marius]

Why would one bother reading a „signature” on a Chinese fake? 
 

To wrap up: nakago has neither a proper geometry, nor finish. The signature is scratched with a sharp tool, not applied with a chisel. 
 

Sorry to be brutally honest (I really don’t want to lecture you) but these things are obvious even to a beginner.

 

Oh, and I will spare you any comment on this abomination of a mounting. 
 

My advice (which is being repeated ofthen here): buy some books, see some real swords. Learn. Same applies to your friend. If you fail to do so and go out to buy a sword, you will spend money on worthless trash, like this one here.  

[Alex1984]

  On 3/14/2021 at 6:17 PM, Marius said:

Why would one bother reading a „signature” on a Chinese fake? 
 

 

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A strange idea in my head😂😁

[Marius]

Glad you are not offended  

 

read this for starters:

 

http://www.jssus.org/nkp/fake_japanese_swords.html

 

 

[Marius]

@Jean

 

apologies, haven’t seen your post and posted my comment unnecessarily.

[ROKUJURO]

Marius,

no sweat! 

Aliaksandr,

the signature might have been copied elsewhere. It tries to read KUNIFUSA SAKU TA. While the first three KANJI could be an attempt of a MEI (signature), the additional KANJI 'TA' (= field) makes no sense at all. As Marius already pointed out, these symbols have no meaning and are applied to deceive non-informed buyers.

[Karusk]

These guys will all probably crucify me for this. 
 

I recommend you buy yourself something cheap from daimyou54eb on ebay to study in hand before buying anything expensive. By cheap i mean under 1k$. 
 

They handle low end stuff that wont receive a paper but its all guaranteed nihonto as he is in Japan and the laws governing swords there are very strict. Dont pay full price he always accepts offers. It might have a crack or some rust but having the real thing in your hand will help you avoid some costly mistakes in the future. It wont be worth exactly what you paid in Japan or anything, but it will be worth more than that abomination. 
 

 

[Brian]

Won't crucify you...but will say that is bad advice. They sell dross....stuff that has no market in Japan and has little to teach anyone.
I daresay you can do much better on this forum. Our members offer far better stuff at better prices, if you just watch carefully for a while.

[Karusk]

Listen to him not me🤣. You’ll definitely love anything you get from this forum.   My only defense of daimyo would be at least you wont end up with something like this cobra abomination. Everyone is trying to make a dollar, at least daiymo is trying to make a dollar semi honestly.

 

Thanks Brian for not crucifying me. 
 

 

 

 

[b.hennick]

I was twice burned by Daimyo54 I pass his listing without looking. Don't waste your money.

[Karusk]

Burned how? Gimei? Low quality ,bad papers?

 

I definitely dont want to be perceived as arguing with any of you over it BTW. I know he handles the lowest quality stuff that wont sell in Japan.
 

I honestly only dared say this because of how bad this cobra thing was.  

[b.hennick]

I bought a socket yari. The pole looked new. The whole thing was new. I bought some menuki, they were new too. He agreed that I could return them. They were never received. Burned twice. I  wikl not do business with him.

[Bugyotsuji]

Ouch for your experience, Barry. Actually I think he is kind of hit-and-miss, because he does not clearly distinguish among what he is selling. Perhaps I did not phrase this correctly, but you can sometimes find a bargain among Daimyo's stuff, which he himself may not have recognized. Pot luck perhaps?

[Karusk]

 Returning them is a whole other issue and if you wish to have a return option buying directly from Japan isn’t feasible.  The laws are very strict for import and its likely they were seized and destroyed due to them being modern. 

 

The pictures are clear and well done. Dont call someone dishonest when they spell out the rules clearly. They were real nihonto from Japan and Its unfair to blame him for you not being able to tell an items age from photos.  You being unhappy with your purchase is not him being dishonest. 

 

 

[Geraint]

Dear Karusk.

 

One of the interesting features of the board is that you can see quite a lot about individual members, for instance you can see that Barry has been a member here for quite a few years, that his rank is Juyo, that he has quite a number of posts to his name and quite a number of positive responses.  From this you might conclude that he knows a thing or two.  

 

You might also notice that he did not call anyone dishonest, he simple reported in brief that his experiences with this seller were not positive and that he would not do business with him.

 

It is hardly worth mentioning that in spite of you posting the seller's returns policy Barry states that he had agreed the returns with the seller and so much of what you wrote can not be said to apply.

 

Food for thought?

 

All the best.

 

[Karusk]

@GeraintThats my whole point. If he is juyo status here he should have been able to perceive the items age before he decided to buy it. With clear rules about returning and judging the item yourself I consider saying he was burned to be calling daiymo a cheat and dishonest. You really cant hold the seller responsible for lost returns with the strict import laws Japan has. He paid for and received the item daiymo cant be held responsible for returns when he has a clear no returns accepted policy. Also if you return it and have the tracking for returning ebay will refund your money with their 100% money back gaurantee if the seller does not. 
 

I just dont think its fair to say daiymo burned him when he just wasn’t happy with his purchase. In the described situation he burned himself. Anyone with juyo status on this forum should know the difficulty involved in returning an item to Japan. I dont have any status here and I know that returning something to Japan is nearly impossible even with papers and torokusho copies. Ive never had a bad experience with the seller he’s always sent me the exact item pictured. What Mr Hennick is describing is called buyers remorse. 
 

Here i am arguing and defending daiymo. Im sorry honestly. You get what you pay for and all i was trying to say originally is if you want something cheap to study that is Nihonto that daiymo is where i would send you. I stand by that. Anything you buy from daiymo would be 1000x better than this cobra abomination and be gauranteed from Japan. Getting something that wasnt as old as he thought is on his own judgment and not daiymo.  I have a good relationship with the seller and i felt obligated to defend him. 
 

Im gonna unfollow this thread and focus my attention elsewhere. Ive said enough and i dont want to get in any trouble trouble here as i am enjoying the forums immensely. 
 

 

 

[Brian]

What issue do you see with returning menuki to Japan? Should have been easy and efficient.
Fukuro yari under a certain length also don't have torokusho. But anyways, there is no doubt that most of the low-end Japanese sellers take chances and half the time don't know what they are selling. It is almost impossible to gauge age from pics and if a seller says it's old...and it's not, then he deserved this feedback. Probably a great deal of the yajiri and yari on auction sites currently are fake or modern. They are churning them out. Not hard to get taken, even if you are a long-term collector.
No..the sellers have to take their criticism when earned. That's the way it works.

[Bruce Pennington]

Sorry for dragging up this old thread, but it reminded me of a "sword" I came across in a pawn shop recently. Not the "TO" kanji on the habaki:

 

[Shuko]

  On 4/13/2023 at 7:09 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Sorry for dragging up this old thread, but it reminded me of a "sword" I came across in a pawn shop recently. Not the "TO" kanji on the habaki:

 

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lol, we could all chip in $0.50 and buy this for Brian as I bet he doesn't have one this bad .............................