Markus

Just wanted to let you know.. Found via: http://markussesko.com/ Or directly: https://japaneseswordlegends.wordpress.com/

There will be a book of course in the end and I think it will be something like if you donate a certain amount to the crowdfunding you get the book, for a certain lower amount you get the eBook, and for a certain higher amoung you get both. Try to figure out which platform to use and how much I gonna need to make time available to feed the online database. Oh, and the sending of photos and oshigata is already going on for some months. Got quite a nice basis to work with in the meanwhile, thanks to NMB.

It is indeed a work of Kotani Yoshizô Kaneyoshi. He was born in 1894 and mei like "Mino Yôrô-jû Kokaji Kaneyoshi saku" (美濃養老住小鍛治包義作) or "Mino Yôrô-sanroku-jû Kotani Kaneyoshi saku" (美濃養老山麓住小谷包義作) are his early signature variants. Later on, he was assisted in developing his cursive script mei by the local calligrapher Ôno Hyakuren (1864-1941). And as Peter said, Kokaji is just a nickname that refers to Sanjô Kokaji Munechika. More info on Kaneyoshi will be found in my upcoming Gendaito book but this is one of those cases where a living online database makes sense. One quick adjustment, and the info is updated (with pics), easily available for future generations of collectors.

It is actually the character for (友). Just an older way of writing it that resembles the character (支). See below mei of Ko-Bizen Tomonari (to whom I think this mei alludes to).

@Peter: That's true and an eBook will still be published but here too, I can't pack in everything and have to make cutbacks. That means, I have about 1,100 smiths what would potentially end up in a 2,000~3,000 pages eBook if I try to put in everything. Below I (very briefly) visualized what I am thinking of: A start page from where you click either on the alphabet or scroll down and click directly on the character, i.e. first part of the smith's name. This brings you to a page with all smiths using that character from where you pick one and get to the separate, detailed page that introduces all the data, oshigata, and pics.

I will write that book because it will form the basis of everything. Online database should be a great and much more flexible reference, so to speak an extended, living and breathing big online brother of the book. Maybe book sales can flow into funding this project too (have to see how many copies I get sold, Nihonto book sales are VERY manageable ). @George: I received with thanks your pics/oshigata. Are all stored and waiting for selection process. @Robert: At the moment, I don't know how much I have to get to realize it. What also might be a "problem" is that this would be quasi a donation style thing as contributors don't get any physical output back. But possible would be if someone donates for example over a certain amount, he or she receives the print book. I mean I could do much myself but I don't want to let this end in an amateur makeshift site. That's why I mostly need the money, to pay someone professional who leaves me with an easy to maintain/update and nice looking HP. So that's why I posted it here to check feasibility and to see what doesn't make sense at all. What I am thinking about is a main page with alphabetical/kanji index. If you know how to read your smith you go to seach, for example KANEFUSA. Then you get a list of all Kanefusa with Kanji, family name, and place of residence so that you can go from there. If you don't know how to read the smith, there will be a site with KANJI and you pick one or two what brings you to the list of all smiths with this or these kanji. And if you have found him and click on your smith you get to a separate page that lists his bio and all other data available, much like in the preview I did a while ago.

Hi folks, Over the last couple of days, I came up with a (maybe) crazy idea concerning my upcoming Gendaito Project. What if I make that whole thing available as an online reference. I know that there us a lot of useful stuff out there, first and foremost Rich Stein's most hepful pages and Ohmura's page, which I absolutely don't want to overshadow. But still not that much is out there on the biographies of the Gendai smiths and an online database has just so many pros, like: * Fast and easily editable (when errors are spotted). * Very easy to update (when new data is discovered). * No whatsoever page limitations, so each and every info available on a smith can be collected and published (don't have to weight up what to publish and what not because of limited book pages) * Pictures can be added at will and no quality loss through (on demand) printing. * Easier to search in database than in book (of course does not apply to eBook). * Accessible on your phone or tablet when on the go (no book to carry around that might fall apart after a while). * No book-style eBook download and no downloads of eBook-style updates. * Links to sites and pictures which are indispensable but where I did not get the right to (re)publish them. * No expensive book puchase necessary as online database will be freely accessible, i.e. great for everyone. Cons: * No physical book. * Might need some print outs if you want to compare mei right next to your sword (but what shouldn't be that a problem). Well, as indicated in the last point of the pros, I would see this a free database but what in turn requires a Kickstarter initiative. Should not cost a fortune but the start up would exceed my possibilities, both in financial and coding/web design terms. In short, a professional web designer has to be paid with whom I would bring that to life but from where I can go by myself then (i.e. updating and editing). Also some $ would be necessary for maintenance and web hosting but biggest chunk of the (potential) money raised via Kickstarter would be for the coding/web design and for the time involved fitting the data base. Also I want something stunning, visually appealing, easy to work with, something "21st century." Not just line-based content. So this might require quite a few thousand but imagine how much more useful this could be than a physical book without cutting back and witholding data just because of page limits! Just wanted to see how response is on this idea and willingness to financially back a potential Kickstarter campaign or if I should better bury it right away. Any input is greatly welcomed! Didn't want to post that on my page but first here as NMB is so to speak the cradle of this entire project and most of my supporters for this project so far should be around here.

This is a very sensitive topic and I was thinking about those issues myself quite a bit over the last years. We all agree that we have to separate the great masters from the ordinary rank and file smiths. When talking about the great masters, we also agree that they knew pretty well what they were doing but also only to a certain extent. That means they had pretty much control over most parts of the forging and hardening process but certain things always remained a "mystery" or "the deities having their fingers in the pie" in those days. What I personally think is that decisions had to be made sometimes and I think that a perfectly uniform overall quality had probably priority over the intended course of certain areas of the hamon. In other words, if everything turned out uniform after yakiire, they might have left it that way instead of focusing too much on certain elements. Of course, if some of these elements turned out to be completely off (e.g. an inharmonic togari or just too much nie along the boshi), the smith would have given it another try at yakiire. At the same time, we also might face subtleties in wording here. From my experience as translator, I notice namely certain "trends" in sword and kodogu descriptions. Some are obvious, others are more between the lines. There were years where one aspect was stressed over and over again whereas in other years, every writer was mantra-like repeating another aspect. So maybe when these texts were written, there was a trend towards a greater focus on "what is deliberate and what is accidental" and every author tried to figure out which hamon turned out as desired by the smith and which one not so much.

Thank you Jean, you one of my most loyal readers!

A paperback copy is only available directly via me (no hardback). Please leave me a PM or get in touch with me via "markus.sesko@gmail.com" for further info about how to proceed.

Thank you Peter!

E version is now available here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/markus-sesko/e-masters-of-keicho-shinto/ebook/product-22366618.html

Nakago has strong sori and the tip is a simple and unsophisticated kurijiri. [muzôsa means here that the saki was simply rounded off and became so a kurijiri, i.e. the smith didn't have a textbook kurijiri in mind when finishing the tip of the tang] It is unclear if the tang was finished with a plane or a file. [Lit. "As for the yasurime, it is unclear if they were done with a plane or a file."] I would also rather translate the part 細かく as "itame is fine" (instead of "thin"). As for the other parts, the nioiguchi is rather subdued and at the last sentence, the very end refers to the part that comes before. So: The blade has a wide mihaba, a rather shallow sori, a wide shinogi with the shinogi-ji at about the center of the blade, and deep machi, thus we can see very well the characteristic features of an early Nihonto. BTW: Idea is not crazy. Its the best way to do it, IMHO.

@Peter, Jean: Will talk to my client as we did this project kind of together. Let you know but I am pretty sure I will make an eBook version available soon.

Let me allow to annouce a little project that is a follow-up of a compilation I did for a client of mine last year. It's quasi a catalog to a fictional, ideal exhibition on swords from that era. It features several works (about 100) of the then, well-known masters (35 in total) like Umetada Myoju, Horikawa Kunihiro, Horikawa Kuniyasu, Osumi no Jo Masahiro, Dewa no Daijo Kunimichi, Etchu no Kami Masatoshi, Kinmichi, Kashu Kanewaka, Hizen Tadayoshi, Hankei, Nanki Shigekuni, Sagami no Kami Masatsune, Echizen Yasutsugu, Owari Nobutaka, Harima Teruhiro, Hida no Kami Ujifusa and so on. Details can be found on my site: http://markussesko.com/2015/09/16/masters-of-keicho-shinto/ Thanks for your attention.

Me for my part, my bid on Kanenaga was made up as follows: First of all, ths combination of shape, i.e. time of production, and interpretation speaks straightforward for Soden-Bizen. Nice to see that so many went outright for Soden-Bizen. Hats off! I was then stuck by the boshi, the Masamune-esque boshi with no kaeri and strong tendency to shimaba. Thus I thought smith must be nearer to the initial Soden-Bizen guys and I thought for a second of Nagashige but the hamon is a bit too wide for a Nagashige, especially towards the bottom of the blade. Also Chogi came to mind but the elements of the hamon feel just too small dimensioned and densely arranged for him. And from a Kanemitsu, I would have expected a hint more slant and a hint more pronounced, formulated gunome. So I ended up at either Morikage or Kanenaga what brought me back to the boshi. I just associate a more different boshi than rest of the ha with Kanenaga and a more continuous running of the hamon into the boshi with Morikage. And in the end, the slight approach to mimigata towards the base made me stay with Kanenaga as he was a student of Chogi.

The signature aims at an early work of Masahide. I say "aims" because it is a gimei. I am adding a picture with an authentic mei for comparison that dates two years (i.e. Tenmei four, 1784) later than the blade in question (which is dated Tenmei two BTW, 1782). Also look at the link below to a blade that is designated as juyo-bunkazai of Gifu Prefecture (and which I added to the pic). Please note the differences in how certain characters are executed (e.g. "moto" in "Akimoto" and the family name "Kawabe") and the fluidity and "crispness" of the mei. http://www.manabi.pref.gunma.jp/bunkazai/02603.htm

I tend towards Osafune Kanenaga (aka Kencho)...

I think it is "nigaru" (焠), a rather uncommon term for "harening." So "hardened by..." Not sure about the name but the first character also reads "Omi" or "Tomi" as Japanese family name. So maybe "Omi/Tomi Tadao kore o niragu".

Yes, the character for "katana" is read in this context as "horu", i.e. "carved (by)".

Hi Klaus, The info comes from the catalog to a 2010 Ise Shrine exhibition that is titled: Gendaito no 100-nen: Fukkô to Keishû - Chôkokan Kaikan 100-shûnen Kinenten: Zuroku (100 Years of Gendaitô: Renaissance and Succession - Commemoration Exhibition to the 100th Anniversary of the Opening of the Chôkokan) 現代刀の100年 復興と継承 徴古館開館100周年記念展 図録 Don't have a copy though but found a reference to Okimasa's earlier name online. Also that he signed with Kazunori (和則) for a while. As for the authenticity, well, my gut feeling tells me that this might be the real thing. Don't know if it would make sense to forge such a rare signature variant of Okimasa (and not a Okimasa mei right away). But you never know these days...

Hi Klaus, The mei reads "Oshû Iwashiro-jûnin Tsukamoto Kazuyuki saku" (奥州岩代住人塚本和行作) and the left part "Tôyama Mitsuru'ô no teinai ni oite" (於頭山満翁邸内, "made on the grounds of Tôyama Mitsuru"). It is this Tôyama Mitsuru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dyama_Mitsuru "Kazuyuki" was a name Tsukamoto Okimasa had used for a while. I have to add that info to my Gendai project.

Seems that my last announcement made wider rounds as more material keeps coming these days, what is really great! Just don't want that people approach me after the book is out and say that they could have contributed many important references. As Brian said: If you have a great or promising gendaito, give me the chance to published it and save so information for future generations of collectors.

I have only seen less than a handful over the years and would consider them as rarity. Maybe because the blade was just shortened something was arranged with Hon'ami so that the older paper can stay.

Hi Dirk, The missing parts are: 少 - In the part after shoshin, so "a little bit suriage ニ - Particle ni in the part after Kyôwa three. 承認 - as "confirmation" atop of Kôitsu.