Gakusee

You are right, Jacques, and that is why I qualified the second part of the book as intermediate and not advanced. To the advanced student / collector, this book could seem not detailed or thorough enough. But the breadth is extensive and the subjects covered also wide. Regarding hada, yes, it will be nearly impossible for hada to be only mokume. Very often there are degrees and gradations of which one predominates - mokume or itame. More often than not, it is a mix of both and one needs to focus on which one is dominant.

But then, it also has a wealth of information about specific schools characteristics, smith characteristics and a lot of detail which will lead to successful kantei, etc. The second half of the book goes into intermediate level knowledge, while the beginning is indeed more introductory and basic.

The above by MU is not jifu. Jifu is not free of hada. It is a type of utsuri and very simplistically speaking as such is a top layer treatment/ element of the underlying metal.

Kiril, one other source not too widely known or appreciated is Tanobe sensei’s Gokaden series. Now that Markus has started translating the entire series and several of the books are out or to be out, it should form an indispensable part of any student’s library. I have both the Japanese versions and some English translations and find them rather useful.

Almost always true (as the mune was usually shaved to reduce overall sori and fit the shortened blade within the standard katana architecture for Edo-period usage) but not in all cases. There are some rarities which have retained their kaeri with komaru or whatever non-yakitsume boshi. A couple of examples attached below. Normally, later (post Nanbokucho) blades, which emulated earlier naoshi, could be kantei-ed to be that, later blades. So you would know that a later blade is a not a true naoshi since those were mainly early blades (late Kamakura - Nabokucho) shortened for Muromachi or Edo usage. So if your workmanship shows a Muromachi / Shinto etc blade you know that most likely it was not what you are referring to as a “true” naoshi.

Well written. Even the sarcasm is good.

Jifu on Masatsune

Jifu on a Tomonari

Midare utsuri on a Hatakeda sword

Ray, thanks for chiming in and good you called us out as nowadays I don’t have much time for here. I have to disagree with you about Utsuri being on lower quality steel. Utsuri was produced, according to some scholarship, by Bizen den smiths to compensate for the softer blade forged at lower temperature. Utsuri rehardened the body of a Bizento which was not as hard as the nie-rich blades forged at higher temperature. Utsuri is evident on good / high- quality steel and blades. To move away from the above thesis, utsuri was produced by other schools which hardened in nie (eg Yamashiro / Rai and later Bizen such as Soden or sub schools such as Aoi and Unryu) but as Brano says, there it is mostly referred to as nie utsuri. Jacques has produced a very good list above. I will summarise it as follows: generally early utsuri (KoBizen) tend to jifu and choji/ midare, Yamashiro one tends to be nie and less ostensible than the Bizen utsuri, and later utsuri (Nanbokucho / Muromachi) tends to appear as bo or shirake across various schools. Various sub differences across the latter. Brano: by the way jifu utsuri is not about nie vs nioi even though it is more often evident in nie-rich blades such as KoBizen (KoBizen tended to forge at higher temperatures and render the nioiguchi more in nie / konie). It is about the shape as in fingerprint blobs on the blade.

Use the normal methods - Paul Kremers or Bob Hughes or Kelly Schmidt as intermediaries.

Not really an issue. How do you think smiths reuse material from cracked blades (yes, it does happen) or blades they do not approve of for presentation to their clients, which they subsequently reforge. Smiths control the forging process by choosing pieces with higher and lower carbon. They do that with tamahagane and also other materials in order to achieved the desired result. So they could for instance use lower-carbon tamahagane pieces for the softer core and then the repurposed older blade remnants (with some added higher carbon tamahagane pieces).

I had never read of the kogai being used n that manner. Very interesting. Thanks.

A lovely man and a substantial loss to the community.... May he rest in peace

Thank you!

Dear Piers, thank you so much for satiating our visual cravings! These are wonderful koshirae. I particularly like the various tachi ones - the efu one and kenukigata one. Without reading the labels and from a distance while not zooming in, I thought we were dealing with plain old egg-shell technique in the above conundrum. Interesting to learn something new in relation to the otolith usage. Please keep sending us info and images (much appreciated!) as Tumi is too busy given all that is going on in the museum and his exciting life stage, and Paul Martin - even busier with the various media outlet participations and projects. Thank you sir!

Watching this and collecting are not mutually exclusive….Good luck to the sellers and buyers. The ones who are the best off are Sotheby’s, skimming value from buyers and sellers. Regarding Peter’s broader point: yes, collecting has changed dramatically as Japan is more accessible to us, mere mortals (while before it used to be a select few’s privileged domain) and information in English is much more available than before. The Internet democratised access to information and brought us closer together.

I am sure the friend already knows the answer

Note that some of the initial estimates have sensibly been revised lower for the formal auction. Still some pieces are rather highly estimated (and it is up to the buyer to figure out why etc) but others seem attractively priced…. Just a word of caution to potential buyers: obviously, with Paul’s connections and friendships with the NBTHK, what could have been papered probably got papered… Sometimes, people believe they find gems in auctions etc that are undiscovered and hold a potential for this or that…. So, buyers need to factor in papers, provenance, sayagaki, estimates, hammer taxes, value added taxes, insurance and shipping etc etc Good luck to everyone (sellers and buyers)!

These could be stolen Juyo papers. The copy of the Zufu is accurate etc

Thanks HB I have met both Hataya san (senior and junior) and Shono san (father and son). It is good they will be visiting again. Your post is helpful and clarifies matters. I think such an initiative will be particularly helpful to new starters in this hobby, of whom undoubtedly there will be a representation at the fair.

Several Ko-Bizen Sukemura are mentioned by the NBTHK to have existed. Token Komachi mentions the same in their description. Nice blade, which has been with them for several years (3-4?) and has indeed been decreased in price to probably close to cost to them. Note some areas of weakness/ scratches but after all it is more than 800 years old. The Juyo Zufu describes the good nie and nie hataraki and nice remaining koshizori and some utsuri. A worthwhile blade.

Well, in fact, my main interest is Bizen den, particularly Koto and Heian, but life is too engrossing to be contributing to the forum unfortunately… My workload has exponentially increased in the last 15-20 years since I have been on the forum and my presence here is now mostly reduced to reading what others write and the occasional post. Yoshifusa is a great smith and, for a stereotypical/mature/ top Ichimonji, one can also go to Sukezane and Norifusa. In fact, you get more “bang” for the proverbial “buck” with Norifusa, as Yoshifusa and Sukezane seem very premium-priced. Sometimes the top quality Norifusa are surprisingly cheaper than a Yoshifusa which could not be as good in appearance or preservation. My own Norifusa, when I still owned it, had a very fine jigane and jihada (better than on almost all Ichimonji, including my other ones). The hamon was also very active etc.

In fact, Piers, with your profound knowledge of armour, teppo, language, the Japanese culture and elegant, polite manner, I think you will be one of the best moderators ever…. In fact, you will elevate the role and discourse, if I may say so. And after all, keeping control of us all will not be dissimilar to your teaching career and managing unruly hotheaded youngsters.

Hmmmm, you seem to know me better than most . Not sure whether to be flattered, perplexed or perturbed? Well, in fact, I know this sword and its previous 2-3 owners….. In reality, the sword looks much better in life than these pictures give it credit for. I am not sure why it has been changing hands so much in the last 4-5 years…. When I first considered it, it was “only” at Hozon level but of course it made it to Juyo…. Perhaps one thing to note for those who might consider it is that it is in the early Ichimonji style, more akin to a late KoBizen in nature. It’s more heavily nie rendered and the choji are rudimentary, if I could say that, and the hamon is more sugu-/midare with some wild niesuji activities. Anyway, for someone like me who likes KoBizen that will tick the boxes but it is not for everyone or for those who are after a stereotypical Ichimonji… P.S. The koshirae is a recent add-on by the dealer. In fact, it must have been added by the last or penultimate dealer who had it.