Rivkin

Jean Pierre and Tom are very kind to praise my photography, thank you. To add a clue, let's say the one to whom the first blade is attributed has three daito that are Jubi. For the second maker, the number of Jubi daito is one. Kirill R.

Second blade. Different photography technique and equipment, something I no longer use. Old polish with a white "band" formed at the edge and concealing that there is quite some sunagashi activity there. Very large full size high resolution: http://www.historyswords.com/k22.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k21.jpg

I will be honest in stating that these two blades will be offered for sale, so there is some sense of inappropriate placement here - but because of that I did take ok pictures and I think the blades themselves are actually quite interesting for kantei and even direct comparison. Both are not signed, but papered, which also can be an issue as the attributions are not 100% certain. But since there is no prize money involved, the positions are fair and at least you get see the full blades. First blade. The polish is relatively recent Japanese work, good but way too hazy for my taste (Honami?) so the overall pictures are very difficult to take. Also, while the steel color is kind of arcane subject and depends on proper lighting, but this one does have a blue tint. http://www.historyswords.com/k1.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k2.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k3.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k4.jpg

My apologies, nothing really deep here - towards #15 I was already somewhat tired; despite so many good Rai-related blades, due to my poor knowledge of this school I just decided not to dwell any deeper. Kirill R.

I thought that shinto began as way of life rather than a date. Those in the market who had "tight itame, say goodbuy to ware" were considered shinto, while their neighbors who had "bright mokume o-hada with nagare and everything included" were still koto. Kirill R.

Chris, without much pretense of expertise or looking into Ujinobu's dates: if it does not have fumbari, its not straitish, the curvature is sort of uniform its typically the early-earliest shinto or maybe something from the 18th century, but the latter are very uncommon. And this one does look like late Momoyama sugata. Kirill R.

Well, without dragging the question for too long: Its Jirotaro Naokatsu. "The best blade that Naokatsu made", as some not too objective people commented. My own guess would have been Kiyomaro or Kiyondo. Kirill R.

Thank you, Uwe, for an interesting exercise. With good photos and quality blades figuring out what they are is by far more straightforward and very much rewarding vis-a-vis typical questions here where the blade is out of polish something-shinto-waki. Very enjoyable! I assume #1 was attributed to Mino period of Tametsugu, which has less of Norishige and more of Kaneyuki-Kaneuji semblance, and no signed/100% certain examples...Well, just trying to make sense out of it for myself. With regards to Yamashiro and Rai specifically, I don't know them that well, and judging these blades by photo alone tends to be a complex task, so I can't really comment. Other than that, #2 and #14 were not completely unexpected. #2 is a very strong Soshu work, which is rare in daito space, and apparently in exceptional condition and signed, so TJ is expected. I doubt there is another Nobukuni to fully match it, but maybe its just my ignorance. #14 goes towards how rich and diverse ko-Bizen craftsmanship can be. One can say it is beyond any other koto school. My reaction to TJ paper level is sort of bifold. On the one hand, I understand collectors who buy only TJ on the premise that really good blades were already sifted out by centuries and are residing around this niche (JuBa etc.). On the other hand, papers did create a lot of weirdness in nihonto collecting, something as a non-nihonto-psyche person I would be much better off without. You start talking to someone who supposedly can give a great advice and all they tell you - don't buy this blade! Its a waste of money! It has to be whole 1.5cm longer to qualify for TJ! No blade of this maker ever got TJ being 1.5cm shorter! Or like you are not supposed to ever buy Tsunahiro without horimono. Because these blades have really hard time making it to Juyo. In this batch certainly even in photos some of the quality shows. Though one can imagine a set of conditions (ubu, signed, early Edo papers) that would propel a number of others here into TJ. Very enjoyable photos, thank you! Kirill R.

Not Masayuki, not Masahide, sorry. Kirill R.

He is also sai-jo-saku. Kirill R.

That was quicker than expected, however Kiyomaro, if I remember correctly, is sai-jo-saku. This one is jo-jo-saku. Kirill R.

Hizen Masahiro - negative. Regarding the papers - unfortunately absolutely don't remember what level. Kirill R.

Sorry - too much is written there so cleaning it up in photoshop just does not leave much left . Kirill R.

An interesting blade which proven itself very useful when one needs to embarrass sword club member by means of kantei, since it is not an easy one by far. To make things fair, he is rated Jo-Jo-Saku, which greatly limits the number of people to consider. The two links with full resolution overall and macro shots are below. As always I don't pass an opportunity to advertise my photography - I am always on a lookout to photograph interesting blades, especially in California. I'll do it for free, since frankly it beats my typical multi-year (!) adventures which are pre-requisite to photographing blades in any museum. Kirill R. http://historyswords.com/test1.jpg http://historyswords.com/test2.jpg

I hope to sit down a little more and fill out the guesses for the rest of the swords, there are some good ones here... Much less confident to offer any additional guesses regarding which ones are TJ. I feel is that a lot it rides on nakago, which is unknown. [3] if ubu and signed can be TJ, and maybe [5] is some weird ubu and signed Akihiro and then it also can be TJ. If [5] is unsigned, the chances of TJ I think are much smaller. Kirill R.

Sorting out my guesses: #1. Shizu Kaneuji. #2 I feel its actually a quality sword, but its the only case where the pictures are a little too vague. Soshu, or at least Bizen heavily influenced by Soshu, but a little too brash and wide hamon for the classics and a little too good a condition as well. I will throw something like Taikei Naotane. #3. Ko-Aoe, or something old and sort of similar, can be even ko Bizen, #4 Don't know, something Shinto. #5 Sue Soshu, can be Tsunahiro #6 Yamato Hosho style, but quite likely Sendai utsushi. #7 Late Soshu imitation. #8 Pre Muromachi, something Rai related. #9 something very late, probably shinshinto, not the first class name. #11 some shinto smith, maybe Hizen Tadahiro. #12 Sue Soshu, Sengaku period. #15 late Nambokucho Bizen, like Moromitsu. #16 Yoshimichi of Mishina #18 someone rare and weird like Kongobei school. #21 Enju. #22 Uda Tametsugu or maybe Sanekage From these, I suspect 1 and 3, maybe 15 are Juyo. Which brings me to the wildest of all my probably highly erroneous guesses: #14 I think the sword is somewhat tired, hard to photograph and will look different from other angles. But, sometimes this is the way Soshu Yukimitsu looks like, which would make it TJ. Kirill R.

Great photos! There are some that appear "easy", like #16 is Yoshimichi of Mishina, but most require some thinking. #1 looks like Shizu Kaneuji. #3 is probably ko-Aoe, but also surprisingly looks like one ko-Bizen blade that was sold recently. #5 looks like Sue Soshu, probably Tsunahiro. #12 and #7 are related to it; #12 is probably the end of Muromachi Soshu, #7 is late Edo period someone who is not the first class but recognizable name working in Soshu style. #6 sort of looks like Yamato Hosho, but can be Sendai utsushi. 9 is some shinshinto+, not very distinctive. #11 is some shinto smith, maybe Hizen Tadahiro. #15 is probably late Nambokucho Bizen, like Moromitsu. #22 is sort of feels like Uda Tametsugu or maybe Sanekage. 18 is someone weird like Kongobei school. 21 feels Enju. Fugh, I expressed my than my usual share of ignorant and erroneous opinions, must get some sleep. Thanks! Kirill R.

No, its the end of Muromachi, but not Muramasa. Muramasa has much stronger tint of Mino to it, kind of Ujifusa-like, hamon is different from this one. There are also some strongly sue-Soshu looking pieces, including hitatsura a-la Tsunahiro but with very long kaeri and very symmetric, but those are rare. Very personal and likely erroneous opinion. Kirill R.

These come up on yahoo auction now and then, they do cost some money but I think below 1,400$. Looks like a somewhat modern work. Regarding the papers, tosogu is relatively seldom papered compared to swords, I would not hold it too much against it. Kirill R.

I finished reading at about 70%. The book is a very substantial improvement over Dr. Honma's. Markus Sesko did a very good job with a final edit; in the present form it is extremely impressive both in terms of analysis and objects presented. Detailed information about the Soshu school's early period, its reinterpretation and the resulting great uncertainty with Soshu attributions - it actually gets more interesting towards the middle. As good as private collections go without venturing into kokuho territory. The praise can be repeated on and on, but its really worth to bite the (price, weight, convenience) bullet and just read it. My personal interest here is anti-commercial - I myself ended up buying a significant number of copies. Kirill R.

360 pages. If someone for some reason does not mind lugging 12lbs in a luggage, I can bring a spare copy or two to SF show. Kirill R.

Received my books yesterday, so just began the reading. Very impressive! The blades are mostly TJ with a relatively long provenance, which provides interesting background regarding the old papers, koshirae, alterations done etc. Otherwise information is excessive, there is a hint of typical emphasis on lineages, as per guesses made in Edo period, but the community does not seem to object to those... But there is quite a lot on observations regarding the style changes during the foundation of the Soshu school, kantei issues, and great wealth of information regarding the statistics on signatures, gathered both from Juyo volumes and old publications. The publication quality is simply above and beyond Dr. Honma's book, which includes the photography. Unfortunately SF show reduced number of tables this year, so they are oversold and with all my recent issues I did not get the table application in time, so will not be having it there... Maybe will drop a copy to show on Grey's table if needed. Kirill R.

I'll second Uda, but will vote for 1500. There are a few period names that come up, some make more sense than others. Ignorant and erroneous opinion, Kirill R.

Nice! Kambun Shinto could be a good guess based on sugata. I would consider someone like Kawachi no kami Motoyuki. His hamon tends not to be as strongly Soshu styled or frankly as good as better ones by go-dai Tsunahiro, but sometimes he did his hada quite well, with lots of large mokume not completely unlike what is seen here. There could also be a small chance this is actually shinshinto with an unusual shape for the period. But they were more inclined to experiment with hada like this one compared to Kambun smiths. Personal and almost certainly erroneous guess. Kirill R.

Robert, without having truly strong knowledge of the early Goto [i am really out of my confidence zone here], quite a lot of originally Goto designs did spread around throughout the Kyoto area, or even the ones with Gempei war went almost everywhere in the kinko community, plus there was an extensive number of waki goto artists... Were this kozuka an exact match (and these things do often exact match to signed pieces), the argument would have been stronger, but since it is not, moreover the differences are clearly such that the artist is most likely a different person (shape of the bottom fins, for example) - it is likely someone of good skill but who worked from a similar general drawing. In this case, my fear is also that extensive condition issues here will prevent any very specific attribution. To me it looks the early Edo. Kyo kinko in this case is a conservative-general attribution, which could be really anything, and thus a low risk path for anyone cautious. At the same time, someone who is not afraid to be more specific, like Haynes, will likely be more specific and can say "early Goto", but in the end with such extensive wear I just don't know how one can distinguish for sure. Kirill R.