Are o-suriage tanto worth buying...

[Birdman]

...and if so, under what circumstances? For example, would a tanto of this type, with a healthy blade, but of unknown maker or school, be worth buying? Would it also depend on the price? Or would other factors come into play? I have seen a few of them for sale every now and then, some on evilbay, some on other websites, some cheap, some expensive, but I never knew if they were worth the asking price, since they were supposedly made from broken sword blades.

[Surfson]

That question is sort of like "is it worthwhile to buy a used car?". Well, it depends. There are lots of nice tanto that are cut down from longer blades, especially naginata naoshi. It depends on what it is, and whether it is attractive and restorable I would say.

[nagamaki - Franco]

...and if so, under what circumstances?

 

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

[Jean]

An O suriage tanto should be a tooth pick

 

In general do not buy O suriage blades unless it is a very old one, Nanbokucho or before.

 

Buy ubu polished wakizashi, they are the cheapest on the market:

 

One among thousands, good school, not the best smith but a good blade.

 

http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/07098.html

[Marius]

Buy ubu polished wakizashi, they are the cheapest on the market:

 

Sound advice and you should listen to it.

[gtstcactus]

If YOU find one you really like buy it... As you've said before you buy things for "your pleasure" (as I do), so if something takes your fancy go for it... you are the one who gets to live with it, and have to look at it... Not the members here (well they may look if you post it here and tell you how nice it is)

 

Jean, thats a nice, wakizashi but cheap???? Not my idea of cheap.... but I guess we all have different budgets...

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

This should be easy enough to be understood by everybody...

 

Title is : Quality over quantity

 

[Jean]

Unfortunatelly Jason, it is not a question of budget, it is a question of knowing what you want :

 

A piece of history or a piece of dream?

 

I am sure you are wasting a lot of money on things much more interesting than nihonto.

 

But, on Nihonto matters, you are probably, among NMB members, the least qualified to have any opinion on this topic, as I am on diamond or carbon

[gtstcactus]

Yes Jean I spent $300 on a cactus this morning. I like everyone am entitled to my opinion, qualified or not.

 

Carlo, there's always a chubby chaser in every group.

 

What is that saying?? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

[Jean]

Jason,

 

You have totally forgotten the Topic subject : Are o-suriage tanto worth buying.

 

 

I, like everyone, am entitled to my opinion, qualified or not.

 

That's democracy

 

The problem is that you have none on the topic, which is clearly expressed in your answer.

 

Yes Jean I spent $300 on a cactus this morning

 

My advice for you is crystal clear, stick to cactus and forget Nihonto.

[gtstcactus]

Thanks for the advice Jean, but I'm not giving up on nihonto at this stage.

 

My opinion is if the guy likes something and it's for his pleasure then it's worth whatever value he puts on it. That might have nothing to do with market value.... but as they say something is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.... regardless of what anyone else thinks of it's value.

[sanjuro]

I like the top picture in Carlo's post but I dont think my budget would handle it.............. or the ongoing maintenance! :D

[moss]

Keith ,

 

Thats her mum on the left in the other photo.

 

Lots of places to hide a tanto .

 

Moss

[sanjuro]

I'm ashamed of you Moss! (although you do have a point).

 

Speaking of tanto and in particular O suriage tanto, there is usually little left of original hada, or at least the span of the original hada and the hamon from which to learn anything. Osuriage on a shorter blade removes so much more proportionally of the original sugata and proportions of the blade so as to render it a practical blade only. Having said that, if the blade is a particularly fine one, it may well be worth keeping for its own sake. The vast majority are however mediocre examples that have little artistic or study value for the serious student of nihonto.

[moss]

Keith,

 

I guess there is an end point for all blades.

The real trick is not to end up becoming a tamahagne fishing knife collector

 

Still can't get rid of mine or use it on fish,it was never a great one but it serves as a what not to.

 

Cheers

Moss

[Surfson]

Here is a cut down blade from Motoshige that received Juyo token status. Technically it's a wakizashi, but it could easily have been cut a few inches more. B

 

http://www.japanszwaard.nl/Z-D3.html

[Jean]

Robert,

 

Read carefully what is the topic title : "Are O-suriage tanto worth buying"

 

An O suriage tanto is a tanto which has been shorten to such extent that it has lost his mei and not a Katana or wakizashi becoming tanto by O-suriage.

 

Now my answer was :

 

In general do not buy O suriage blades unless it is a very old one, Nanbokucho or before.

 

I let you make some research on Motoshige and let you find the Generation involved, you will see if it fits my answer.

 

BTW, I have seen only one tachi changed to tanto, it was in DTI two years ago and made by Tametsugu - it was not juyo .... Hozon, if I remember

 

 

Jason,

 

but as they say something is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.... regardless of what anyone else thinks of it's value.

 

I agree 100% on this (BTW, that's what I do when I buy a blade) but in this case these people don't post in an international forum requesting opinion...

 

The question in the topic requests 2 answers : first one : is it worth investing/buying - second one is: can it still be valuable as art object.

[sanjuro]

Exactly...... The chances of an inexperienced collector finding such a blade is minimal to zero. It takes an experienced eye and a great deal of knowledge to recognise quality beneath what is usually an apparently ordinary example. That kind of experience does not ask questions like 'are o suriage tanto worth buying'. It has been recognised that some may well be worth buying and may indeed be worthy blades. But can YOU tell which ones are or are not in that category. Quite honestly I dont think I could with any confidence, so where does that leave the aspiring new collector?

 

As with all things nihonto the answer to the question of the original poster would be 'It is relative to the experience and knowledge of the purchaser'.

[Grey Doffin]

Another way of approaching the original question is to look at just what an o-suriage tanto is, which isn't difficult to do because there are hardly any of them out there. The vast majority of long blades (tachi or katana) that have been shortened are now wakizashi, not tanto. The only tanto I see that used to be something significantly longer are the remainders of broken shinogi zukuri katana or wakizashi, and they aren't pretty. Were shinogi zukuri tanto ever made by good smiths?

What I'm getting at: I don't think there can be more than a few o-suriage tanto worth owning.

Grey