Sekido-san brought in Niina-gosoke's previous sword and handed it over. Wow. It's a Muromachi era sword with a wicked sori. 950 grams of 400 year old steel, registered in Kumamoto Prefecture, and it feels much deeper and warmer than my modern-made cold, hard blade.
Tough to describe, but that old steel is just...warmer, like thick stew.
The hamon is sugu and notare, with very subtle hataraki; mostly chikei. The polish is a working iai polish, but I might have to drop some cash and get a really nice polish, because I'm sure there's alot more going on in there.
Tanaka-sensei was late to practice so I ran everyone through basics and started kata work. Then Niina-gosoke showed up to take some photos. Spent the rest of the regular class teaching a beginner, and the last hour Tanaka-sensei ran us through the last 10 kata. Damn but that blade feels good to swing. I can feel my techniques changing, and hopefully it will be for the better!
Niina-gosoke said Oka-san in Shiga-ken called and said the repairs and polish to my modern blade will be 50,000 yen -- cheap! So I'll probably send him my other blade, my cutter, to have it repolished and have a shirasaya made.
Note: see sword blade terminology and sword glossary for definitions of terms.
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