Nihonto Question on Re-Tempering

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Battara

Domo arigato to you both.

This is what I figured but was not sure. That is why I am so very careful and know what I want and don't want to throw away my money on re-tempers, blades with kizus, blades that need massive amounts of polish, etc.

Nihonto collecting is unforgiving to the extreme with even minor defects rendering an otherwise healthy blade worthless.

However, this doesn't mean the blade has no value from historical or ethnographic point of view.

Now, it is our choice how much weight do we place on nihonto criteria/standards and how much on ethnographic criteria/standards.

However, if one wants to be on the safe side, one would only aquire NTBHK papered blades from reputed nihonto dealers... preferably directly from Japan.