DirkO

Ah yes, that's more likely!

The dog is one of those typical Spanish greyhounds. This fact, together with the clothing style, hat, ... would make me think Spanish rather than Dutch.

Stylised bonji perhaps?

Here's yours in line with some papered examples - it seems to compare favorably - which obviously isn't a guarantee as you well know

My guess would be Mino Goto, very nice example, congrats!

Rookie mistake! because it's not in columns my Western brain misled me. Thanks for putting me straight. Now to research that name Fukuda Eisai.

When I was going through an old tsuba collectors book about Nobuie meetings (as one does) , I found a few very nicely made sketches of some deities, which had this annotation: I think it's 東齊永田福 - Tosai Nagata Fuku? The Nagata might link it to the Murakami school somehow, but that's just guess work on my behalf. Any insights would be appreciated.

hyotan namazu theme, nice! One of my favourite.

Mine arrived safe and sound. Decided to apply some felt foots to them. For those still on the fence about these they really look great! Easy and quick seller, well packaged,... What's not to like? Yes I admit, those are IKEA Billy!

魚子地 nanako ji 鋤出高彫 sukidashi taka-bori

There's actually a number of smiths who signed 貞次. It's a nice, very good sized piece. My guess would be Momoyama or even later. It has a elongated kissaki, high shinogi, some masame and shows attractive activities - which narrows it down a bit, but not by much. I think your best bet would be Massimo Rossi in Rome to have an in hand appraisal. He can also tell you about a possible polish. I think it would look stunning, but could be I'm overlooking things not shown in the pictures. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Naomichi was one of the names the shodai Kanemichi signed with, so I included them.

Looking at the quality of the plate, the design and the inlay, I would assume early Heianjyo, but not Onin. Nice transitional piece though. I totally follow your reasoning.

Here are some shodai (1st generation) Kanemichi for comparison - to me, yours has a good chance of being authentic, the mei checks out.

"... most of them show a mixed-in o-itame which appears in places as the famous "whirlpool" of Naotane. So it is nevertheless possible like here to read the personal handwriting of the smith" - kantei-point enough? 320.661 Shinto and Shinshinto Kantei-zenshu "That is, Naotane also faithfully copied the shapes of the old blades whose style he tried to recreate. His jigane is either a koitame, an itame, or a masame whereas a characteristic feature of him, the uzumaki-hada, i.e. whirlpool shaped mokume areas, are first and foremost seen in combination with an itame-hada." - From Token Bijutsu 2019-02 "The jihada of such works is an itame mixed with ō-hada and shows mostly a characteristic uzumaki (a conspicuous whirlpool-shaped mokume element). This is one of Naotane´s most typical features and is not only found on works in the Sōshū tradition" - From Nihon-shinshinto-shi The Connoiseur Book describes it as his unique umuzaki hada and the list goes on... He didn't do it always, that's correct - but when you see it and the blade is from the correct era, your first guess has to be Naotane. Doesn't mean all of his blades had it, but it's a definite kantei point.

"When we take another look at the jigane we learn that there are some “unbalanced” areas of mokume within the ko-itame (in particular at the base of the sashi-omote side). These areas of concentrical mokume circles are referred to as uzumaki-hada and are a characteristic feature of Naotane blades." - From Token Bijutsu 2009-03 "That is, Naotane also faithfully copied the shapes of the old blades whose style he tried to recreate. His jigane is either a koitame, an itame, or a masame whereas a characteristic feature of him, the uzumaki-hada, i.e. whirlpool shaped mokume areas, are first and foremost seen in combination with an itame-hada." - From Token Bijutsu 2019-02 "When Naotane worked in the Bizen tradition, he hardened a ha, whose yakigashira appear to “fume” into the ji and connect with the utsuri. Works with a strong tendency towards the Sōshū tradition are generally forged in itame, but also show a unique mokume, which is referred to as uzumaki-hada." - From Token Bijutsu 2022-02 "The jihada of such works is an itame mixed with ō-hada and shows mostly a characteristic uzumaki (a conspicuous whirlpool-shaped mokume element). This is one of Naotane´s most typical features and is not only found on works in the Sōshū tradition" - From Nihon-shinshinto-shi

Those o-mokume whirlpools are uzumaki and actually a kanteipoint for Naotane, however this doesn't change the fact the hada is indeed itame.

I'll offer up this extreme close-up of inlay that has travelled and expanded a bit. It has been reworked to clearly show the silver expansion. Also I don't know where I read it, but this bleeding of silver is supposedly actually a desired feature amongst collectors.

yamagane (山銅), lit. „mountain copper“): The term „yamagane“ describes raw, unrefined copper, whereas during the Edo period, sometimes relatively pure but already smelt copper was also called yamagane. Until the Sengoku period, the term yamagane was synonymously used for copper which came directly from the mines. This copper varied strongly in colour according to the area of mining. According to analysis, yamagane contains lead, arsenic, and antimony, and this is the reason why it is harder and darker than pure, refined copper. Early yamagane pieces like tsuba or kōgai appear subtle and plain, but this makes the special aesthetical sense of yamagane. Important to note is that copper or rather its patina changes over the centuries, therefore dull and darker copper pieces are not necessarily made of yamagane. So one has to be careful when examining and judging sword fittings. Above excerpt from Markus Sesko's Handbook of Sword Fittings

Hi John, I kinda see where they got it from? Could be a stylised form of the below. Obviously I gladly defer to the papers. It reminded of wada sukashi, but if the NBTHK say pine, pine it is.

https://markussesko.com/2015/07/07/some-thoughts-on-wada-sukashi/ for more info about the sukashi

I would imagine his work will be in the NBSK publications, however I don't have any of the more recent ones. Would also be interested to see the other entries for non-natives.

As stated at the top: https://nbsk-jp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/12_e.pdf Congrats to the non-natives that did quite well: Tosogu: Ford Hallam - Gold Prize (2nd place) Jeff Broderick - Bronze Prize (2nd place) Christoph Kopp - Nyusen(Recognition prize) Saya-nuri: Michael Cummins - Nyusen(Recognition prize)

Here's the kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/japanartexpo/Japan-art-expo-2022?mc_cid=0da49b1820&mc_eid=fbd8a201a3