Kanenaga

Thank you Uwe, Colin and Piers. I tend to doubt it's the same guy. The teru kanji is different, as Piers noted. The time period could possibly fit, though I think this is later, ie, Meiji-Taisho. I checked the metalworkers section of Self&Hirose (my signature bible) and there is no such listing. I'll take some photos of the bronze. You will see that it could hardly be more nihonto-related.

I could use some help with a signature. I recently acquired a nihonto-related bronze sculpture which bears this signature: I make it to be Kiyoteru Saku. Is this correct? Might there be an alternative reading? Does anyone know anything about the artist? All input appreciated.

Francis, You have shown us some beautiful things. It would be more educational if you could tell us something about each one. Les PS: Please see my recent post about the Museo Orientale in Venice, for contrast. (Bardi Museum, under General Discussion)

Well, just back from my visit to the Museo Orientale showing the collection of Count Bardi. Or part of it, as the info states there is more (much more?) that is not on display. Manuel's article translates quickly to English, and gives a good sense of what there is to see, and it's a LOT of stuff. My rough count may be off by one or two items: 68 katana 72 wakizashi 75 tanto, sometimes hard to distinguish from wakizashi All the foregoing were koshirae (only one daisho set), presumably with blades inside but there was no way to tell. 26 bare blades, many with dragon horimono. Three of them with Tadatsuna signatures. One o-dachi. 17 firearms, many with prominent inlays 84 yanone, some very complex show pieces 28 katana zutsu 9 quivers 31 jingasa 15 saddles, many with lacquer decoration 19 abumi sets, about half matched to saddles 4 katana kake The foregoing were all in display cases, the lighting was dim, it was suboptimal for appreciating detail. Flash photo was not permitted, but I was not told up front so I took some pictures and will try to post a few once I edit them. I could see that some of the iron fittings had rust, and there was no moisture provided in the cases so some of the lacquer decorations appeared to be drying out and deteriorating. Also... 157 yari, most in koshirae 54 naginata, all mounted and numerous other Edo-period items such as netsuke, lacquerware, small carvings, musical instruments and drums, and hanging scrolls. No inro. Notably absent were fittings per se, not even a few tsuba; and koto items, save for one mumei katana attributed to Aoe, and one or two Norimitsu wakizashi. But then, it is called an Edo-period collection. It's a display that prompted me to think yet again about the distinction between collecting and accumulating. I did not perceive any particular focus or theme to the material, except for the obvious attraction to polearms, and to horimono on blades -- although some of that may reflect more the attitude of the curators rather than the taste of the collector. In terms of appreciation, I particularly liked some of the firearms, yanone, the saddle/abumi sets, and the musical instruments. I'm a bit surprised that no one has cataloged and properly photographed this collection, so that it could be compared to the other great European and American collections (Baur, Festing, Hawkshaw, et al.) from this same time period, i.e., late 19th - early 20th century. Those other collections no longer exist except in books or auction catalogs. Perhaps a project for one or more doctoral students in art history? Anyway, I hope this is of interest to some, and - Brian - that this has not taken up too much bandwidth. Les PS: There's a site that shows some 360-degree views of the exhibition rooms. Very little detail, of course. https://www.italyart...YmkeOM_qkZdQMSIC1Qvc

Yes Manuel, that's the one. I'll use your article to practice my Italian.

Going to visit the Bardi museum in Venice this week, billed as the most important collection of Edo-period Japanese art in Europe, much of it nihonto-related. I believe this has been mentioned previously on this forum, but not coming up on a quick search. Does anyone have any particular item(s) in mind that they would like photographed (if permissible)? Otherwise, I'll just shoot whatever catches my fancy...

It seems this is a topic about which anyone can offer an opinion, no matter how lacking their qualifications (meaning me), so here goes: Is it possible that some clarification about terminology might be helpful? I personally find it useful to think in terms of different categories of arts. Fine arts (painting, sculpture) share the quality of trying to say something about what it means to be human. They tell us something about ourselves. Beautiful though they may be, nihonto tell us nothing about the human condition, so they should not be compared to fine art. Nihonto, I suggest, should be considered applied art, or if you prefer, industrial art. Somewhat like architecture, for example. Making something beautiful when it is primarily a utilitarian item. And that's all I have to say about that. Forest Gump, 1994

TTBOMK, chips do not disqualify a sword from shinsa evaluation, unless one of them penetrates the full thickness of the hamon -- in which case the sword is considered fatally flawed.

Kirill, I've asked about this before: Utsuri -- what is it, different types, importance for quality judgement and kantei. With good photos (probably the hardest part).

I too had a Kanenaga (my namesake) very early in my collecting career (>25 years ago). Was unhappy when I learned that it was not considered a "true" samurai sword. It had bohi, and a small mon carved into the shinogi-ji on one side, just below the start of the hi. I sold it at a sword show, don't recall the dollars involved, but I would doubtless ask considerably more for it today.

Wow indeed! Fabulous things, too much for me to take in at one sitting. And kudos on the photography, Randell, considering the less-than-optimal circumstances.

John, Here's the kai-gunto, from one of the NCJSC Cherry Blossom Festival photos (see Tom's post in General Discussion). I'm no expert about these things, but the mounts appear to be in wonderful condition, the saya is same, the tsuka has "honest" wear. I can do better detail photos if you wish. The bonus blade is 26.25 inches nagasa, has typical Mino features with togari hamon, a few ware, and the boshi is ??? As I wrote, I thought I was buying the mounts. They came from a very experienced dealer who told me, as I walked away with it "oh, by the way, there's an old blade inside." Les

Thanks so much, Ray and Jan. Blazing fast answer. What a great resource this message board is!

I need some help with kanji identification on the corroded and worn tang of an old sword. I acquired a nice kai-gunto koshirae at a SF show, and this "bonus" blade was inside. It looks to be an early shinto sword in Mino style, machi-okuri (to fit the wartime koshirae, perhaps), with very little boshi remaining. It seems to be signed TANGO (no) KAMI FUJIWARA something something, and maybe something else. The last two (or three) kanji are hard to make out, the first may be YOSHI. Not easy to see or photograph, but here's my best shot. Any assistance appreciated.

Well, thought I had an auto payment set up, apparently not. So how do I renew? The "Store" is empty.

I seem to have lost my gold koban, even though I recently renewed. Help!? Les

So I tried to comment about this once before, but my post mysteriously disappeared. I'll try again. If you are not already familiar with this issue, you should read about the relative merits of papers from the NBTHK or from the travelling North American shinsa organizations. There may be archived material on this site, perhaps someone more savvy than me can direct you to some relevant previous discussions. Les

I thought there were many quality inro in this auction. Don't see them in the results. Did I hallucinate them?

So this one is also Juyo Tosogu (Kanshiro) and is available for purchase. https://iidakoendo.com/10840/

Here's a daisho version with foxes. Wedding procession -- the bride is in the palanquin.

Excellent memory, John. Old-timer??

I seem to recall an article about this sword from many years ago, possibly in the JSSUS Newsletter, and possibly by Han Bing Siong. Does this jog any old-timer memories?

Thanks Mark and Franco. Shannon, I seem to recall some discussion(s) about the metallurgical aspects in the remote past, but not sure how to track them down.

Can anyone recommend a book (or website) about utsuri? Ideal would be a discussion about the different types, with examples, and something about the metallurgy. Bizen style utsuri. Osafune Kagemitsu tachi. Photo by Darcy Brockbank. Copyright Darcy Brockbank estate.

Seems he liked it!