Is there any way to check if NBTHK is authentic or not?

[LastSamurai]

Hello guys and gals,

Recently I was asked a rather interesting question which I don't have an answer for.

I own a Koto-era Nihonto, genuinity of which is pure and out of question. It has a Hozon origami by NBTHK. But, someone asked me is there any easy/feasible way of checking origami's authenticity? By easy/feasible, I mean online and in English language.

Sorry if the topic is not in the right place. I will appreciate if someone knowledgeable could share a light on the matter.

Thanks!

[Gakusee]

  On 11/6/2022 at 3:27 PM, LastSamurai said:

Hello guys and gals,

Recently I was asked a rather interesting question which I don't have an answer for.

I own a Koto-era Nihonto, genuinity of which is pure and out of question. It has a Hozon origami by NBTHK. But, someone asked me is there any easy/feasible way of checking origami's authenticity? By easy/feasible, I mean online and in English language.

Sorry if the topic is not in the right place. I will appreciate if someone knowledgeable could share a light on the matter.

Thanks!

Expand  

Not easy per your definition.  
In person and in Japanese.
Even though there are some younger, English speaking staff there now too. 

[John C]

Yuliyan:

This may help. A link to Richard Stein's page on origami papers. It describes how to interpret them.

http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/origami.htm

 

John C.

[LastSamurai]

Thank you, guys! I had the impression that you can write an e-mail in English to NBTHK and they will respond in a couple of days with a confirmation. Maybe it's that way for NTHK.

[Nobody]

This is not a straight answer to your question.

But I assume that many of us know that an NBTHK paper is watermarked.

 

 

 

[Fuuten]

http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_papers.html

 

This page mentions a number of anti-counterfeit measures. Hope it helps.

[Rivkin]

I am getting this question multiple times for every blade I sell.

On practice fake papers do not exist.

In 25 years of collecting I've seen one fake jubi paper, two or three TH (there was a time those were circulating) and one Juyo paper.

There is no point in making fake NBTHK papers. You can't produce them en masse without people quickly catching on what you do and tracing the sales back to you. There is no deniability factor.

By comparison I can buy old paper, old typewriter and knowing the format of pre-torokusho police permits produce a decent fake attributing the blade to Marquies Kuroda. And nobody will ever prove with 100% certainty its a fake or that I am the one who made it.