Marius

I tend to be mercurial, sorry, so... the tanto is no longer avaiable. Brian, can I kindly ask you to move this topic to whatever section you deem appropriate or just to delete it? Thank you

Allow me a few words about the maker of this tanto, Hiroshi Kojima, the 4th Naohiro... I have known Kojima san for years and I regard him as one of the most open and helpful Japanese sword smiths. His only wish is to make swords and spread sword knowledge. He shares his sword knowledge willingly and teaches to focus on steel and its particles. He does not care about recognition, he plays down his own knowledge and his sword making skills in a way that reminds me of the best English traditions (those who know true Englishmen will know what I mean). He is not a Mukansa and will probably never be one - he simply does not care about it. He loves his work and that is sufficient for him. Kojima san is always keen to experiment - two years ago I have studies a sword by him that was folded only three times and quenched/tempered without clay (it came out with an amazaing saka-choji hamon). This tanto in its current shape is also the result of an experiment. Kojima san appreciates simple, functional swords, even if they are no masterworks. His own swords are functional, too. He does not try to emulate any particular style, but his daito are usually tachi with a rather tight steel full of ji-nie, a flamboyant choji hamon and utsuri. If he makes a sword in the style of early koto, his steel is not so tight anymore. He is the last sword smith of the Naotane lineage - I cannot imagine any candidate who would have the talent, patience and humility to go through a full apprenticeship at Naohiro's. I own a few swords made by Naohiro, including this interesting tanto. I have bought it to study the effect of polishing on steel activities, but also to analyse natural choji in comparison to designed choji (in this case I used a gorgeous Chounsai Tsunatoshi tanto as a benchmark for designed choji). Now it is is time to part with it. Being lazy as I am, instead of taking pics and writing a description I am referring you to a webpage on which this tanto and its origin is described. It is a fascinating story. Before you jump to the page, please let me tell you a few words about this tanto. 1. It is what people tend to call a "cleaver". It is absolutely massive in hand, very broad (motohaba of 3cm, that's 1.18') and still thick. 2. It is in beautiful, classical polish which does shows the steel and hamon very clearly (on one side the choji remind me of Ichimonji). There is utsuri, as in most swords by Kojima san. 3. It is unusual and ideal for serious study. It is with a friend now, who is studying it. 3. It comes signed and with a sayagaki by Kojima-san, which describes its history in somewhat poetic words, AFAIR. So, here is the link: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/effectofyakiire.html This tanto is yours for withdrawn (includes shipping to EU and US, but charges are extra, payment schedule possible). Return policy: 7 days inspection period and if after that you don't like it, just return it for a full refund, minus shipping costs (a purchase with a payment schedule is excluded from this guarantee, but we can work something out also in such a case). If it remains unsold for a couple of days, I will ask Brian to move this thread to the nihonto discussion section, if he deems it educational enough. So posting it makes sense in any case.

Sylvain is from France, Emma. Look under his avatar

Patrick, remember, I am a nincompoop But whatever the opinion, you have a cool tsuba that you can enjoy, and that is what it is all about Of course, attributing is fun, but let us not become obsessed with it.

Do not count my "voice" as ko-Shoami - I simply do not know. We are not shinsa, we do not have to come up with more or less irrelevant attributions, we have the luxury of saying "no idea". Please just enjoy your tsuba.

Gentlemen, Kanayama is just an appellation. There are no sources, no documents regarding this "school", which is nothing more than a group tsuba sharing some common characteristics (thickness, compactness, pronounced tekkotsu, representing "tea aesthetics", if you will). You can call this what you want (I'd call it a very nice sukashi tsuba), but it does not seem to belong to that group and it does not match Kanayama as described by Sasano, Torigoye or Okamoto. When in doubt, go for (ko)Shoami

That looks like a ko-kinko kozuka to me - the motif, the nanako, the wear...

Of course I don't AFAIR they show some activities in the steel. Regrettably, I don't have these photos any more.

FYI: I used to own this one. Pictures do not do it justice. This is a very nice tanto, so if you want an utsushi of a Kamakura tanto, the quality is very good and the price attractive.

@Surfson Yes, part of it must be some kind of modern swashbuckling I agree that a longer sword is harder to make, but do 6-8 cm make a big difference? Besides, with osuriage swords, we can only estimate the original length of a shortened blade, so if we hold a 62 cm daito that we guess was originally 70 or 78 cm long, the effort and craftsmanship that went into this blade remains unchanged, we just can't see the part of the blade that has been cut off. Also, what do we make of tanto masterpieces? Are they somehow inferior to a daito? There were some makers who made no daito, or no daito made by them has been preserved. Will we dismiss an Awataguchi Yoshimitsu because his blades don't have a 70cm nagasa?

@Gakusee Excellent remark, Michael. Our fixation on length never ceases to puzzle. Is that perhaps some kind of a "I have a longer... sword" boasting? Given that also wakizashi-length swords were highy valued and given as rewards by warlords to their best generals (AFAIR Takeda Shingen has at some point given an masterpiece wakizashi to Baba Nobuharu) our insistence on long blades seems outright funny. Of course, we have to take into account preferences prevalent in the market. Ubu is of course always desirable as the original shape is preserved, but length? Is my 59 cm ubu Fujishima uchigatana somehow inferior to a a 68cm ubu daito of the same school? I do not think so, do you? And why should be an osuriage daito with a 62 cm nagasa be inferior to a 70cm nagasa daito? OK, if we have a 110 cm "monster" then the value lies also in the rarity of such an item, but for a "standard" katana length of an osuriage daito, do 6 or 8 cm make such a difference?

@Jacques, Oh, my apologies. I stand corrected.

Jacques, as wiritten - I try not to confuse chikei with layers of mixed steel. But whether this sword has "real" chikei or not is really impossible to say just by looking at photographs. Also, I suspect that we get hung up on all those chikei, inazuma, kinsuji, sunagashi and what have you, because using these terms is fun and makes us look more like experts.

Please enlighten me... What is special about this sword? It had an orikaeshi(?) mei that has been removed (my guess would be that the mei was Norishige). It has a nice shape and is relatively healthy. It is certainly a good sword, that the NBTHK has attributed to ko-Uda (a grab bag for swords with certain characteristics that cannot be credibly attributed to a sword smith). It has what the NBTHK calls "chikei" (which is their damn right to do, of course) and which seem, in fact, to be the result of a particular forging technique using mixed steel. These chikei are very attractive and we all like them, but there is also another definition of chikei - arrays of steel particles that form a web disconnected form the patterns of the ha. I read that the latter are found in great swords, but even if they were present in this sword, we could not discern them in the pictures. Not in this polish anyway (regrettably, this type of modern polish is being applied even to the most valuable swords, defacing them IMHO - if you don't believe it, study the Norishige tanto at the Tokyo National Museum with its ridiculous notare-like whitening) I used to own several "ko-Uda", all of them o-suriage mumei. I loved all of them - they were simple functional swords made with steel of varying quality in such an ingenious way that even with its mediocre steel the sword could still hold a sharp (hard) edge without being brittle. None of them was contrived, their beauty was natural, it was a result of pure function and a certain tradition that you can see in very old swords (Shōsōin anybody?). They do not have those fascinating choji as Ichimonji. They were not as "perfect" and clean as many great Yamashiro swords (you certainly know what I mean). They lack the flamboyance of Soshu masters, nor do they show innovation like Kagemitsu's slanted hamon. But they are honest weapons. Like the one discussed here So what is so special about this "ko-Uda" in your opinion? How does it differ from the other ko-Uda that can be bough cheaper? The potential it has to be papered to Norishige at some point? I am just being provocative, so feel free to bash me

Mekugi ana have strange habits. Some have been made to deceive.

Uchigatana, late Muromachi, ubu. I have no idea why the mekugi ana close to the end of the nakago, but it does not make the blade suriage.

I think it is yamagane, but hard to say from your pics. The sukashi style is rather rustic and if the material is yamagane, it could be ko-kinko.

Snow flakes

This is an exquisite tsuba. The photos aren't showing the quality of iron, which I expect to be superb. Also, the mimi is incredible. Those tiny irregularities - what a subtle juxtaposition! A lesser tsubako would have given the plate a "perfect" mimi. This is Owari workmanship at its best, but also an emanation of Genroku art. At this price it is a steal.

They are actually tobacco pouch clasp ornaments. Sometimes sold as menuki.

Arnold, persuade Grev to wait for two years, submit it again and that tsuba will come back as ko-Shoami. Or Sado

Six ken tsuba - ko Shoami Waterwheel - Naoaki (?) Flower and leaves - ko-tosho Abstract - late Akasaka Daikon and steam - (ko)tosho

Me? A voice of reason? Well, thanks for the compliment Brian, but please look at my signature. It still holds true

@Matt No time wasted. You gave me a good opportunity for an occasional rant

Honestly, gentlemen. We are attempting kantei here with nothing else but a hint of a shape and out of focus pictures? Matt's only decent pics are not his (hey, that is not a reproach, just a fact) and they do not disclose much. The "kissaki" is just a polisher's work, the original shape was probably devoid of yokote. In Matt's pics you see the hadori not the hamon. In the two pics by the seller you see only parts of the hamon. Please let us not make all this a joke. I know we have limitations, but for goodness sake, let us try to do this fun game (because that is what a kantei game is) based on decent pictures. Otherwise it becomes a caricature. Now, I wait for the flak.