Gakusee

Colin, yes the price is staggering to me too but you are referring to the appropriate elements above, which undoubtedly influence the price. Rarity, maker, age etc. By the way, genuine large Natsuo tsuba (is of this size) cost more than that. I am afraid there are too many Natsuo fakes and as far as I know there are no genuine, certified Natsuo in the U.K. I have seen quite a few good imitations, even in U.K. museums, but I am sceptical, as are some people who specialise in Natsuo.

Hi Luc May I please sense check your thoughts on and impressions of the kawari kabuto that I saw on social media below? It looks definitely better executed than the one you originally linked. However, to me the shape is again rather preponderant and bulky. Some recent lacquer work on it too. Thank you.

Thanks for the video. However I do not think he is the most famous or most preeminent polisher by far. Usually those are quiet and not in the limelight too much.

George, let us just say that, as a Bizen collector, I am very familiar with that Munetada blade and the full story behind it. Both Darcy and Ted are good friends of mine, as well as to some extent Tanobe sensei. I cannot comment on this blade as it is not mine. All I can say is that I am very glad that the blade was restored very nicely eventually (beyond recognition) and it found a very good home. In Tanobe sensei’s own words it should easily reach Juyo status…. On some of the points above: using an optical analogy, one needs a complex evaluation process entailing a perspective on own acquisition / collecting objectives viewed through the financial-ability lens with a risk/reward filter against a background of what is available in the market. The risk/rewards filter is for fine-tuning what one is comfortable with. Personally, I have no issues with a shorter blade and prefer to sacrifice length but gain quality. Hence, I sometimes acquire kodachi. Shorter katana/tachi blades are often underpriced and undervalued. Again, the filter is important as is the objective. If one aims for a TokuJu level, then more often than not, one should not sacrifice length (unless we speak of tanto or very rare-smith zaimei kodachi). But if one is content with “only” Juyo and, importantly, understands what one is buying, then length is a subsidiary issue. in relation to your question about what else is available. At the 2022 DTI I bought a blade from a good friend, a Japanese dealer. There was another superb Bizen blade which ended up in the US. He at the 2022 show had a very nice Awataguchi, which also ended up in the US. That blade was well into six figures. From memory, Kusanaginosya had an Awataguchi in the last 6-9 months. At the moment also Sato san (Katananokura) has one but that is in the $115-120k ballpark I seem to remember. And so on…. Do not rush. Take your time. Research. It took me 8 years to find / be able to afford / buy a Muramasa and then finally I got two. Eventually, sold them and moved on to something else.

George, this is from a solid, strict shinsa session (#65). You are clearly not that new to the game if you are looking at Awataguchi, so my presumption is that you are familiar with the laxer, more confusing mid-20s sessions. Shinsa 65 should be solid. Agreement from Tanobe sensei is a second, reliable opinion. If he did not agree, he would not have written the sayagaki. He goes one further: he attributes it to a specific smith. There are various considerations about the smith he has attributed it to - please research. To a comment made above: not all Awataguchi blades have nashiji hada. Some have larger / looser grain too. Yes, ideally you would want nashiji as that is stereotypical. One needs to register the rarity: around 150 Awataguchi Juyo swords….of them roughly 40-50 TokuJu and among the latter - only a couple of short katana. The majority are longer than this. So, length is indeed a factor here. Probably the blade characteristics / smith play a role too. if you can afford it and get a good deal from Fred, why not? Of course, there is always the danger of demonstrating wealth and affordability on the board as that might sometimes attract certain type of commentary. But if you have the ability and financial status to invest as you outline, an Awataguchi is in my humble view a worthwhile investment. Compare also to Eirakudo’s, for completeness, before you pull the trigger. Talk to Fred and some of the collectors with Awataguchi.

At the moment there are 4-5 Awataguchi across different dealers in Japan and US. Perhaps a good time to consider options as indeed these are not common at all…

Been like this for a while. Just use a concatenated complex search in your search engine using the term + aoijapan.net

Jeff - please spend a bit more time reading to familiarise yourself with the context, the meanings, the methods used by smiths and so on. Please firstly understand the quality implications of custom-ordered swords with particular emphasis on what that meant in terms of quality and performance characteristics, before you make sweeping statements about what it might hypothetically mean merely semantically.

Indeed, they were not made for one battle but were simply mass produced swords forged in large numbers and distributed in bundles. M Sesko: kazuuchi-mono (数打ち物) – The changes in the Muromachi period, the insecure times during the warring Sengoku era, and the sword trade with Ming China brought an unprecedented mass production of swords. These mass produced swords became to be called kazuuchi-mono (lit. “made in large numbers”) and the Osafune smiths of Bizen province and the Seki smiths of Mino province were the main producers of such swords. But also Yamato was back then a center of sword mass production. As they were delivered in bundles (taba), they were also referred to as tabagatana (束刀, lit. “bundle swords”) or tabane-mono (束ね物). To distinguish between a mass produced and a elaborately made swords when talking of swords from the Muromachi and Sengoku era, the term chūmon-uchi (注文打ち) was introduced which means lit. “special order sword” or “sword made on order (and not produced ahead for stocks).”Mostly kazuuchi-mono were only briefly signed or not signed at all whereas chūmon-uchi proudly mention the full name of the swordsmith, his place of residence, and the production date on the tang.

Congratulations and enjoy them! Often the greatest pleasure is in the journey, not the destination, and appertaining expectation….So please do not rush to get everything immediately done but savour the anticipation

You both could join established clubs which have regular Zoom sessions. I know the NBTHK AB organises these online sessions and so do other clubs. It is not ideal but if your objective is to “talk swords”, as you both state above, such sessions should at least go some way. Of course, they are no substitute for physical meetings.

Well, have you checked Eddy Wertheim of the Japanese Gallery in Kensington or Pablo Kunz from Unique Japan (who people do not realise is based and lives in the U.K.) and so on? Peter Yorke sadly passed away… There are probably another 5-6 U.K.-based people from whom you can buy papered swords and they operate on a “semi-professional” basis. There are also the various antique dealers who specialise in more than just Asian art eg Peter Finer and his sons and the like. Actually, there are sources (including the auction houses with their biannual Japanese auctions) from where you can buy papered swords in the U.K. . Also, members of the ToKen Society buy and sell from each other too. https://new.uniquejapan.com/home/ japanesegallery.com peterfiner.com NB: I am not endorsing anyone mentioned above and have no relation to these apart from knowing some of them. Caveat emptor and make your own conclusions.

Paul, this was good, thanks. Clever use of dual cameras and inset video stream. You still need to work on the lighting element for the swords. But otherwise, thank you so much for pioneering this.

Gary, thanks for posting. We cannot tell much from these photos but it looks like a great sword. Could you photograph the kinsuji and sunagashi which must have given it the attribution together with some nagare? Also the koshirae seems to have lovely byakudan nuri.

Well, Pablo is a professional dealer His catalogues and documenting, as herein, are always very high-quality.

Why are we seen questions such as is this way past polish / point of no return? The photos are blurry but I cannot see deep rust or disappearing hamon or a very thin blade where there is a danger of kawagane being thinned to have shingane show through. Measuring kasane, motohaba, showing more focused pic of the hamon and kissaki will hep people evaluate the state a bit better.

Well done, Manuel. Congratulations on this impressive result! I hope to see you again soon, with the rest of the Italian nihontophiles. Keep it up and all the best!

Dear Yurie, this sounds like an excellent idea. Thank you for the initiative!

I will be honest: I like the sea horse menuki most of all in this package but it is a bit like the tail wagging the dog from an interest perspective... Might be rather late-manufacture. The dai ito has some wear to it and greasing from handling while the sho - looks newer. They have different menuki etc so probably retied at a different time..... The was put together at different times with different elements.. Probably the tsuba were replaced at some point away from some more insect themed or marine themed.... However, there are some valuable elements in there and the NBTHK clearly wants to preserve those... That is why they probably papered them.

Axel, well, people's tastes are different. It might have some good elements but it feels put together incongruently, without following a continuous theme or aesthetic. It just appears haphazard: Shoki...oni... tadpoles.... autumnal leaves.....masks..all sorts of clashing metals.

As far as I know, the Munetsugu daisho is part of Udo's personal collection and was for display only. He has had it for over 20 years and it has some emotional connotations but you could get in touch with him via his website (Honto Nihonto). 'Best' is always subjective. To some, it means the rarest. Others look for it among the top-rated blades (Juyo) and others assume it should be the most expensive. We had another thread on 'best' in here. Best from what perspective? Best as a weapon could have been the two massive Nanbokucho blades..... Best aesthetically - we all have different tastes. Probably on the daisho we should say - the rarest. True daisho, same smith/dating/ same paper/koshirae. I quite liked the Hikobeijo Sukesada and also the tiny Sengo tanto with lovely TH koshirae (Seiyudo).

Luc, thanks for helping out with the educational side of the event too. We appreciated it and the small but avid audience of Katchu followers all seemed to enjoy the kabuto kantei. That was a novel approach to education and in general such sessions are valuable to discuss more intricate details of items and examine them in hand - whether it is swords or kodogu or kabuto or amour.