Hi Chris,
thank you for your input
. I have tried to 'capture' the hada but it seems almost impossible ....it is very subtle. I have posted my poor efforts below. I am amazed as to the relative rigidity of the blade , there is flex ..but I would normally expect much more flexibility from a sword blade just over 3mm thick.
It seems that many of the scratches were caused by sharpening (crudely) ...I believe (by patina) that this sharpening may have occured 'in the field'. The shinogi, is very regular so must be the photos. The forging marks are scratches (the ji and the shinogi-ji ) they look worse than they actually are (magnified picture)
Kind Regards David