Gakusee

So Sue Aoe (from end Nanbokucho / early Muromachi) is described below in Nihonto Koza. See attached. I shall admit that they do mention shiraki utsuri as possible, so I was wrong 😑 on that point. But the jigane (while not as clear as the developed / mid Aoe ”saeru” that succeeds the slightly more rustic koAoe with its possible sumihada and less refinement) is not rough. Could you be commenting on state of preservation whereby the core hada is showing through? Note the Sato sensei clearly states sumihada is scarce. And also note that there is a specific clarification on nioi only. Overall, I do concur that it is a big sub-school with some varied workmanship. Some flamboyant and vivid and some more subdued and subtle.

Interesting… However, sueAoe does not have rough jigane, utsuri is not really shirake and it is not nie rendered. I do get that sometimes the boundary is blurred between konie and nioi but we do not really see Aoe in nie and also there should be clear, distinct and nice (saka) ashi. Even in Eirakudo’s photo, they do not look like typical Aoe ashi. How does it feel in hand (lighter or chunkier) and is sugata more graceful (Enju) or heavier set with wider mihaba (probably more sue Aoe)?

This is not Aoi (which has its own distinct photo graphic style). This is Eirakudo and it is pretty unique in maximising the contrast in its photos and working with shadows etc

I use the same maths as it is effectively 3 and 0 repeating indefinitely: 3.0303 etc or 0.3030 or 30.303030 etc. Very easy to put in a calculator I personally put this in the calculator for this above: 2.47 x 30.303030 for result in cm

Well, Kiril, it could be because everyone scampered off to the “secret forum”, you oft like mentioning. And frankly with this polish, these photos and this lighting, it could be almost anything between Bizen- and Mino-inspired something to something else.

I have owned (not anymore) a blade from them. The blade did not disappoint me and had everything the photo showed. Well, difficult to disappoint as it was a zaimei Ichimonji blade with sublime jigane and active hamon. I have also considered buying others from there but one needs to examine closely the ones with thin hamon or hamon close to the hassaki. Since the contrast is indeed so powerfully magnified, sometimes the habuchi appears stronger than in real life, where you can be disappointed. So in real life everything is softer and more subdued than their vivid, high-contrast photos.

Bear in mind the contrast is maxed out, shadows and definition have been tweaked

To sum up: - Yamato, Yamashiro and Bizen (book 1): currently available in their Japanese, original versions (and have been for a while actually) - Yamato and Yamashiro translated by Markus in English currently available to purchase - Bizen book 1 in English (Markus translation) available some time in 2026

Actually outside of online forums Guido is a great person, entertainer and intellectual. I like his sardonic wit and analytical mind. And as some of you know, his Japanese singing ability is also quite impressive. However, sometimes people on this and other forums could be friendly in person, but they just don’t behave “online”. Please focus on the positive sides of this hobby and do not expend energies bickering.

Hmmm. Not the fine itame mokume style of Norishige (so well regarded at TokuJu) and yet not quite the beautiful and desirable matsukawa hada. Quite a bit of hadatachi and nagare in a style in-between. Some other Norishige blades have what looks like utsuri (eg attached). Here there are some spots which look almost like sumihada but it is not clear what it is. One will need to look into the sayagaki in detail… And yes, the habaki is exceptional

Alex if I am not mistaken you are into Mino? Or perhaps I got that wrong. This is Soshu style and hence quite ara nie heavy. Not for everyone indeed and I also prefer a more refined nie experience.

Not really H, need to pursue this more Both are late Soshu/ Soshu inspired but not quite top Soshu. Therefore when you see such Soshu like works which are not as refined and sophisticated as top / core Soshu, you default to Sanekage or Tametsugu. Perhaps not enough nagare or togari for the N Shizu attribution

There were several threads a few months ago about faking Juyo swords. Chris / Hoshi commented on them and a few others. Someone in Japan has been “re-creating” Juyo rated swords off the oshigata in the Juyo books. Probably stolen or misplaced Juyo origami which the person on Yahoo somehow got hold of. The authentic Japanese swords were properly forged and imitated the hamon but there were differences to what one would expect of the original. These were supposed to be high level swords (Go, Awataguchi etc) with genuine Juyo and TokuJu origami but the nie was not right or the specific hataraki, though very close, were not an identical match to the oshigata or TJ photo or the nakago was ever so slightly off. Worthwhile checking these threads…

You are looking at a grossly enlarged image and over exaggerated kizu. In real life these will be barely visible due to their tiny size. However, the positive features, ie the vivid and rich utsuri combined with the rich hamon activities will always be there and visible. Speaking from my own experience, I have noticed that we as collectors have started obsessing over the slightest defect in these usually highly enlarged images, which, however, with the sword in hand, are either not noticeable or barely visible. To compensate for that, I have started scaling down the image, still on a high resolution large screen, to real size (usually measured at yokote and/or machi) in order to get a sense of the real scale of the kizu. I think it is clear that 3 and 5 are good quality Nambokucho Aoe.

Don’t get discouraged - people cannot tell much in some cases. I think most of those who commented conjecture that 3 is probably the best. Number 2 has interesting hataraki and utsuri but the jigane is tired….And of Nanbokucho Aoe one expects high quality and refined jigane.