Katana showoff (and eventual help)

[MovieFactoryYT]

Hi there,

Its me again.

This time I wanted to post my 2 katana that i own. both of them seem interesting, atleast to me.

The one in koshirae couldnt be attributed to a smith(in the hozon certificate), the only information i have about it is that its mumei, sue bizen school and from the bunmei era (1469 - 1487). it also has a bit of damage at a specific spot (shown in the pictures).

If anyone is able to find out more info about it, please tell me.

The one in the Shirasaya is allegedly a Kaneharu Gen.3 piece (Kanbun 1661 - 1673). it isnt NBTHK papered but i have Japanese registration papers and an assessment document of an expert from germany.

what i find interesting about it is that its length is 2 shaku down to the millimetre. so from the length alone it could be both a katana or a wakizashi.

Now i first gotta save some money till i can make my next purchase.

[Alex A]

Hi Simon, difficult to tell from the images, but is that koshirae modern ?

[MovieFactoryYT]

The Saya and the handle itself are pretty old. The wood looks like it has seen a lot. The seppa and tsuba also look quite old. The wrapping and the samegawa look relatively new. With fuchi and kashira I have no idea. They don't look beat up but they also don't look like they have been cast. 

[Alex A]

Your blades look nice,

 

Just have a thing about decent blades being brought down by questionable koshirae.

 

The ito wrap looks amateurish, if any of the fittings are modern repro i would get rid and start again with old, or just get shirasaya made.

 

Nice swords though!

 

 

 

[MovieFactoryYT]

hmmm, maybe it is because of the picture angle or because of my yet untrained eyes, but the wrapping looks fine to me. the diamond cross sections are the same size and evenly distributed exept at the place where the menuki is at

[Alex A]

Perhaps the images Simon, cheers

[Ken-Hawaii]

Simon, please don't get sidetracked by "local experts." If you want/need authentication, submit your blade to NBTHK/NTHK.

 

At exactly 2.00 shaku, your blade is a katana, by definition. Not an either/or thing.

[MovieFactoryYT]

i did plan to send it to a shinsa anyway, it just had that document with it when i bought it so i thought id mention it. correct me if im wrong but isnt the "max length" of a wakizashi also 2 shaku? everywhere i only read "wakizashi length is between 1 and 2 shaku"

[MovieFactoryYT]

another question. curretnly im reading a few books about nihonto and trying to educate my self about that topic in general. i still have a lot to learn and there is much i dont know. what impact does the damage of the sue bizen sword i shared above have on the swords value? i personally think it gives the sword a bit of "flavor" but how does the market see that?

[ChrisW]

Basically it works as follows:

A katana is 2 shaku (roughly 24") or greater.
A wakizashi is less than 2 shaku but greater than 1 shaku.
A tanto is less than 1 shaku.

Some people argue over whether shape/original intent has an impact, but the definitions are directly linked to their length; so there's no real argument on it. Its just quibbling over minutiae at that point. Your blade is a katana. If it ever loses any length due to suriage, then it becomes a wakizashi.

[MovieFactoryYT]

wasnt active the last few days.

thanks Chris, that made it clear.