Grey Doffin

Harima no Daijo Fujiwara no Shigetaka, I believe. Grey

Excuse me but I think this is uncalled for. Richard came to us with a legitimate question seeking help. Nothing he has told us seems the least bit strange to me; I can imagine someone in charge of an estate acting exactly as Richard says he has acted. Questioning Richard's honesty or motive is, I think, entirely out of line. What's more, Richard gave us his name on his 2nd post on page one of this thread. Back to friendly sword talk, please. Grey

Matt, If the smith is closely associated with a school or den, then you would expect him to follow the tradition. This is especially so in Koto, when the 5 den were important/influential. Come late Koto and into Shinto the strict adherance to tradition starts to break down. Also, exceptional smiths of this period often made a break with their teachings and started doing their own things, hamon-wise. Hybrid of the 2, I guess. A good book that discusses kantei by hamon (and other aspects of kantei) is The connoisseur's book of Japanese Swords by Konkan Nagayama. Grey

The date reads "Kagen Ni Nen", 1304. Didn't bother translating the mei because I'm certain this isn't a 700 year old Nihonto. My guess is that the blade is from one of the Chinese or Thai knockoff factories, but not low end. Looks like what we would call a hand made blade but given the date, bad patination of the nakago, and the cheesy tsuka-maki, I doubt it's Japanese. Grey

To answer the original question: what does a welded on nakago look like? Sometimes it is tricky to spot the repair; you have to look close. With careful examination of the attached picture you should be able to see where the weld was done. Grey

Does read Kiyomitsu. May be 16th century; may be later. May be Bizen (does look like a Bizen nakago); may be somewhere else. Definitely Japan. Maybe if we saw a picture of the whole blade we might be able to tell you more about age, and if you can describe the hamon and hada we might have something to say about den/school/province. Grey

A bit of each, I'd say. Grey

Us power/massive commercial sellers hate it when you private people bid on swords and make us pay even more. On a more serious note, I'm selling a wakizashi by another important smith, Yamato Daijo Fujiwara Masanori, no question about the mei being right (I think the Mondonosho Masakiyo is gimei), my price is reasonable, and there'll be no game playing like you'll get on ebay. Rather than taking a big chance with online auctions and more often than not wasting your money, there are some decent deals to be had on the For Sale/Trade/wanted forum here at NMB (look for my wakizashi there). Grey

Shan, Do you have a photo of the nakago so we know which Kanji are used in Kanetsune? Grey

To clear up any confusion, mine included, this smith, who was the 2nd generation Munetsugu I think, signed both Masatsugu and Munetsugu. The sword in question is signed Masatsugu. Grey

I believe it says, "Iyo no Jo Minamoto Masatsugu". Hawleys has one in Musashi working around 1661. Grey

Syd, The picture of nioi above does a good job of showing nioi but the one of nie doesn't show that feature as well. Darcy's recent post with pictures of his Go Yoshihiro: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4099 shows nie very clearly ("If You Like Nie", further down this forum). Of course, not all swords with nie look like darcy's Go, and nie can be small (ko nie) or large (ara nie) but all nie is seen as individual crystals, not the undifferentiated cloud of nioi. Nie and nioi deki is another matter. A sword in nioi deki can have nie and a sword in nie deki likely will have nioi. Here it is the crystalline structure that is the base of the hamon that determines the deki, not necessarily the most visible aspect of the hamon. This part of kantei can be very confusing, just like most everything else about these sharp objects we collect. Grey

The nakago looks like it was patinated yesterday. Grey

Nick, The real Sanjo Munechika worked 1,000 years ago and is among the most important smiths ever. Your tanto isn't by him. For some reason I don't know, many short tanto made during WWII are signed this way. Grey

Kin pun mei (lacquer) or kin zogan mei (gold inlay) are attributions, supposedly made by an authority of some sort. Normally, but not always, the person making the attribution would sign his attribution, which isn't the case with this sword. The lack of a signature doesn't mean that the attribution is wrong, just that it is somewhat less likely to be correct. The only way you'll be able to know if the sword warrants restoration is to show it to someone with the knowledge to tell. A classically trained polisher would be a good bet. Grey

Sebastian, The 5 traditions (den) of Koto are Yamato, Yamashiro, Bizen, Soshu, & Mino. Each of these had sub divisions. Once Shinto came around the lines between the traditions blurred and the smiths of this time and later are said, in some cases, to work in the style of one of the 5 Den, but not to be of that Den. There were many different schools in Shinto and later. I think there is a list of recommended reading at the links at the top of the NMB welcome page (or somewhere here). Read every book you can get your hands on, and if you learned something read them again. Grey

Someone should jump on these books: good books at a good price. http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-Samurai-Sword-Fujishiros-Koto-Shinto_W0QQitemZ110303115110 Grey

John, I'm constantly updating my index. Currently, the periodicals that are included are: "Token Bijutsu" English edition complete, "Token Bijutsu" Japanese, maybe the last 6 years and only those articles for which I have translations, "The Afu Quarterly", Florida Token Kai "Newsletter" complete, JSS/US "Newsletter" from the early 80s on, and "Meito Zuikan" by Fujishiro (not complete). Don't buy the hard copy; it's out of date and soon will be obsolete. I'm close to having the current Index available to all on the JSS/US website. Grey

Trouble with that interpretation is that the yasurime aren't Kongyobei; they're Mino aren't they? I don't think mori is the answer and I'm beginning to think we may never know the answer. Thanks again for trying. Grey

Hey guys, thanks for all your effort. A better, unglued picture is below. Grey

Nope, just some old glue. Can't be too firm in the tsuka, you know. Kanetoshi doesn't seem right. Anyone have a better idea? Grey

Hi guys, Can anyone read the 2nd Kanji here? Kane something. This will be for sale. Thanks, Grey

May be even worse if you did. Don't clean it. Grey

I think you have a Namban (sp?) (foreign influenced) tsuba. The tip off is the rectangular seppa dai and the convoluted sukashi. The period would be mid to late Edo, if I'm not mistaken. Anyone agree? Grey

I get, "Noshu Ju Jumyo". Grey