Ted Tenold

David, Enjoy!

Sorry to have to be blunt, but this is a reproduction/fake and not of Japanese origin. Click on the "Fake Swords" link at the top of our forum page and have a look. Also, per the forum rules, please sign your posts with your real name.

Ray, If you ever have the opportunity, put your Enjyu and a Rai blade such as a Kunitoshi side by side and have a look. (Maybe in Florida next February, eh? ) The association with Rai is important and evident as it's quite common for Enjyu to be mistaken for Rai swords during kantei, and one of the major differences is, as has already been pointed out, in the boshi shape. However the forging is also very slightly different and more in line with many Kyushu based works in that the pattern tends to be a bit nagare (stream) while Rai does not. Also, Enjyu jigane is a bit whiter in contrast, or will have whitish areas or layers in it. Byron Shimizu had a gorgeous Enjyu katana a couple years ago and i was struck with the whitish layering that faintly streamed the length of the blade. In Japan I examined an Enjyu Kunitoki Tanto (Jubi if I remember correctly) that had this in streaming ji-nie which is a product of the forging it follows. So lovely. Enjyu swords also often display "Enjyu Boshi" which has a layer(s) of nie just behind the hamon along the edge of the kissaki mirroring the curvature, more or less like the nijuba you mentioned. Hope that makes sense... :|

Hi All, In August the American Branch of the NBTHK started a monthly Shijo Kantei on it's website. http://www.nbthk-ab.org/ I haven't announced it until now because it's been under modest testing for the past couple months and now going to venture forth. It's free, no membership required, and everybody is welcome to participate. There are fields to submit your bids which will be evaluated and the result emailed back to you. There's no scoring (yet) so you can re-submit bids as many times as you like. September is still active for the moment, but we have a new one posting in a day or two. I had to transcribe, scan, and draft the materials for posting. Partake and enjoy if you so desire! Cheers, Ted

Hi Ray, You might have to wait for one of the more fluent members such as Moriyama-san to help you or send an image of it to someone like Markus Sesko or Harry Watson for a comprehensive translation. Tanobe-san often writes descriptions in Kanbun style verse and it can be difficult. I do see at the end of the description that he wrote "chin chin cho cho", which is akin to "precious and rare" repeated for emphasis. He doesn't put that on everything. One of our colleagues asking him the significance of this statement some years back. Tanobe-san's reply was, "If the house is on fire, and you can save only one of your swords, this is the sword you save". It's also interesting to note that the verb "chincho suru" means "to cherish as a rarity". *edit* I see Moriyama-san was concurrently working on it. :lol:

Whole bunch of familiar faces there! As usual, Guido has the most bottles and Tokuri in front of him. :lol: I'm glad you all had (and are having) a good time! Although I could not be there this year, I am happy that even as an absentee, I could make good on my promises to buy you and the others a drink and prolong the fun for the evening, and the subsequent recovery the following morning. :D In the spirit of comraderie I sat with a tumbler of my own, and lacking any indiginous Japanese spirits to fill it, I settled for a very nice single malt scotch. Cheers All! Mina-sama ni douzo yoroshiku!!!

Mark, What about the image is demonstrating there is high nickle content?

It's unusually granular in appearance. Reminds me of this.

Dave, Here's an image of a sword that is osuriage, and had it's notches further moved forward without heating the edge to remove the hardening. Heating the edge to soften it prior to filing the edge down not only facilitates easier work, but it also meant less chance for causing a deep chip in the hardened area should the tool or stone grab or catch. The skill and care of the person performing the process in either case was the most important factor in determing how well it was done. Some are just plain dreadful, having been done in a sloppy or hurried manner. As for heating it to remove a bend; this is really not necessary. Bends and twists are generally removable at room temperature, provided your room isn't in the Arctic circle. :lol: Gentle heat is applied to swords in other processes, but I would qualify "gentle" as a heat well below that which would cause any molecular changes. That heat would be measured by being only so much that would make it mildly uncomforatble to hold against bare skin, and that is far below the gradient of altering the structure of the steel.

This is not an uncommon thing to see on swords that were altered for military mounts. Old swords lost a large part of their percieved value and artistic appreciation after the Hatorei so they weren't altered with the same level of craftsmanship or consideration. Combine this with a shop that is basically an "outfitter" for Officer's military sidearms, and many *many* Japanese officers who themselves likely knew little or nothing about old swords, and you end up with something like this. I have a Rai sword here that was shortened during the war, and although (thankfully) it was not heated to anneal the yakiba, it was shortened none the less and the polished part of the sword extends far past the habaki area because it was also never repatinated. Very unusual yet intriquing to see this.

Hi Gents, John doesn't list his number on his site, so lets keep that in the pm section just in case he'd rather it not be publicly broadcasted.

Joe, I truely do hope it's genuine. I'd be thrilled for you. I'd also be the first to tell you to get a variety of opinions. We don't have omnipotent skills here and offer advice with the best of intentions. Accordingly, we charge what they're worth. You may have to wait a while to submit to a shinsa here in the States. They're not a regular occurrance and the last one was in Chicago about two years ago. Like you said though, you didn't even know who it was before you bought it so authenticating the mei is a bit like "ready, Fire, aim!". Enjoy it for the reasons you bought it. By the way, in fairness to Eric, *I* said it was dodgy looking.

Overly profuse amounts of thick hard looking chikei are also a characteristic of retempering. Abunai!!!! (watch out!)

Joe, With consideration to the new image you posted of the nakago it looks dodgy by comparison. The size and execution look off, and the yasurime also don't seem consistant.

I also have the same problem as Carlo and Guido with the scrolling while writing. Whats more, is that it jumps after typing after the visible amounts. So I do the same thing; type it in word then C&P it to the field. Makes editing a royal bitch though.

I'd agree that it resembles the Nidai signature more than Shodai, but it's just too difficult tell much more about its accuracy from the image. A good oshigata would be better than the photo. The outline of what can be seen in the yakiba of your sword looks consistant with respect to profile, but like Grey pointed out it needs to be in hand to see the work. The polish is good enough for shinsa. Send it through.

Eric, Perhaps we should ask; "Where *can* it go?" Over those hundreds of years the sword has evolved, for better and for worse, the dominant context was creating a weapon. Smiths training and working in this tradition today seem tethered to expresssions of the past. Warfare, social, political, and economic changes drove the evolution of the sword to it's variety of styles as a weapon and symbol of status and/or social rank, but always as a weapon first and foremost. Today's world reorganizes the sword's priority to art over weapon, instead of the feudal priority of weapon over art. Today's world cannot influence a change in a weapon that has no real place in everyday society, so logically the function of this art (so to speak) is deminished to nearly zero. Arguably, smiths want to create excellent weapons that exhibit beauty, but again, hindered by any real demand to go in another direction, their approaches to their craft are somewhat limited to being held in the light of their forebears. Perhaps this is the very direction it will continue to go for a very long time. What some might call perpetuation, others might call stagnation. Personally, I think maintaining tradition and innovating techniques and styles are both important as long as the former is never sacrificed for the latter.

Jacques, I disagree with your view on music and Nihonto, but despite that, you have missed the fact that I was not making direct comparison of sword to music. I did not say that one can hear Bach by looking at Yoshihiro. I was comparing the changes and development of a particular traditional artisitic medium that propogated a broader acceptance and encouraged it's continued cultural survival. Of course your Grandmother would also never dispute the changes in music over the centuries. By the way, the score you posted is meaningless to someone who does not read and understand music. However, a trained musician, conductor, or composer will immediately understand the gravity of the piece, it's message, and the emotion it imparts without a single note played on an instrument. It's not the sheet that is the music. The sheet is a tool. It's the manner in which the tool serves it's purpose and how the message is delivered, and that is closer to the message here about Nihonto and what we're actually talking about. So with all due respect to your Grandmother, perhaps she never saw a Nihonto worth listening to.

If there is an abundance of loose rust or crud shedding from the sword, you can use an adhesive lint roller for clothing. Rolling it over the surfaces of the sword picks off a lot of stuff if the blade is dry. If it's been oiled aready, this won't work well, but dry it's fairly effective. The adhesive is quite mild and will pick up lots of the shedding material without damage to the sword. The rollers have layers of fresh tape so once it's filled with debris, strip the layer and continue. It's also quite a bit safer for hands and keeps the stuff off the desk or floor.

Jean, Very true, and I understand what you say. Some Mukansa works are priced higher than nice Juyo, and that also is a barrier, because I have heard this objection personally; "Why would I pay $65,000.00 for a copy of an Ichimonji when I could by an Ichimonji?" It's as much a problem with collectors and patrons as it is the craft itself. If a sword with unique characteristics and features is shown, perhaps it is too hard to place in the "catagories" that collectors are trained to see and seek by preference. I don't have the answer. What I can say is that any smith that seeks to work in individuality, in a craft that resists radical change, and in a culture that seeks social cohesion over the independant nature, has a great challenge and must find a very big sweet spot to accomodate a greater acceptance (and thus authentication and validation) of their work. As an example, I listen to the Yoshida Brothers quite a bit. Some may recognize their Shamisen music from the Wii video game commercial (a piece called "Kodo (inside the sun remix) ). They are quite adept at the traditional pieces normally associated with Shamisen, yet opened a new generation of followers to the instrument by incorporating new music gendre with Shamisen to develop a radical approach to the instrument, while also regenerating faith that old ways can be carried on by new generations. Their concerts draw young and old alike and their music accepted by both, *and* other cultures as well. Twenty or more years ago, if someone were to say that Shamisen would be conbined with Blues, Rock, or Folk music compositions, eyes would roll. Yet, it was done in a manner of virtuosity. Radical, risky, and brave on the part of the brothers. Anyways, I don't want to lead the topic astray from swords to music, but it is the nearest comparison I can come up with.

I agree with you on this subject Reinhard, and Mike, Jean, and John, all make good points as well. It's a difficult subject to address. By straying from the very pathways of what is considered "tradition", the craft does change and evolve. However, when one examines past evolutions, we might see a forecast of opinions that will be expressed if modern swordsmiths migrate toward (given the creative license) more contemporaneity in their works and start to emigrate out of the box. As mentioned by Mike, Sukehiro's toranba is considered to be mastery, but arguably there are still those that advocate Koto over Shinto. A smith today that attempts evolutionary individualism in a sword can be viewed with a furrowed brow. By example, The Craft of the Japanese Sword documents Yoshindo Yoshihara's so called "Pink Panther" horimono was a stray from traditional expression that drew some negetivity as it was not a design associated with swords. This was just a small step away in decorative design. Imagine what scrutiny might arise against unique forging or heat treating. While smiths do have the ability to experiment and research, it seems limited to the spirit and pursuit of lost knowledge, rather than discovery of new. Also, when put to the test as weapons, often the "new" and "new new" swords didn't stand up to the task, so the gain of new expression in craft could be seen as a loss in the function of the tool. Function vs. aesthetics was lost to a greater extent during the shinto and shinshinto periods because fashion did play so much part in the crafts. Old masters sought certain features that were testimony to the weapon's durability, and then strived to recreate them. Connoisseurs were then taught to seek these visible features as they comprised the elements of a good sword. Function, with notable exceptions in works such those by Kotetsu, Tadayoshi, Kaga smiths, etc., fell by the wayside with fashionable and individual expressions. I think the apprehension in fostering more contemporary…shall we say “deviation”…is predicated on this both position of function and traditional maintainance. As far as collectors and connoisseurs are concerned, personal preference certainly is the major influence. I believe we could better define collectors and/or connoisseurs into catagories of "traditionalists" or "patrons". Traditionalists want expressions of the ancient to continue, and rightfully so because who would want to see yet another extinction of a craft? Patrons in general, want what the artist is not only capable of, but want what that artist wants to create, and be damned with everything else. Artists such as Ichijo and Natsuo could only come to full bloom with the support of such patrons that desired their inspired works that were enthusiastically created. Afterall, there was no shortage of makers willing to copy other old styles and masters. Well in short, martial artists do. As a person that wears “two hats” in this craft, I must say that martial artists overwhelmingly are most concerned with the weapons function and durability rather than its aesthetic qualities. There’s an attitude of “It’s pretty, but can it cut??” and this attitude is present inside as well as outside Japan. Collectors place far less emphasis on function and more on beauty, but if it’s rated as as “very sharp” or has a saidanmei then that’s an added bonus. :D The context of performance is where modern swords made outside Japan and traditional crafts have a distinct advantage. They are not held to rigid doctrine and conversely, are a product of modern materials and science that provide proformance characteristics that traditional crafts are incapable of providing. BUT, at a price, and this is where the rubber meets the road; they therefore sacrifice not only a major part (if not nearly all) of tradition, but also influence the tradition they aid to keep, i.e. the martial art of the swordsman. A sword that will not bend, and breaks under only extreme (in some, more than could be deemed “reasonable”) duress, changes the way the swordsman wields the weapon and by alleviating concerns ancient swordsman must always have connsidered. As a result, the modern swordsman may implement the weapon either conciously or unconciously, in a manner inconsistent with feudal practitioners. So the implementation of a change, imparts subsequent change(s), intended or not. Good?? Yes. Bad?? Yes. It’s change, meaning it’s give *and* take. But change for what? More beautiful things? Better weapons?? Both?? I can empathize with all sides. I love to see Shinsakuto recreations of fantastic works from the old masters, and have seen some absolutely brilliant achievements. I also like to see some individual expression on the part of any craftsman or artist and what inspires and drives them. Also, I enjoy watching the swordsman practice his or her art and do so with a durable and safe weapon that they can rely on for a lifetime, without compromising the old swords we all so hold dear that no longer should be a part of action, and have earned their retirement. Striving for all these things might be a bold endeavor, but that, in my opinon, is a change worth pursuing.

Joe, I would never tell you to take my opinion as gospel. Absolutely get some other opinions, and looking at swords in hand certainly is better than on a computer monitor. So we're all at a disadvantage here already. However, when I view images and see things I don't like, I take them at face value. Unfortunately I don't have photo editing software, so I can't illustrate what I'm seeing to you on the pictures. The diffuse nature I'm talking about appears to begin about the monouchi, and extend into the boshi with the appearance that the heat treating in this area is particularly chalky or muddy looking without distinction in pattern. Perhaps it's nie fukai or nie kuzure, but from the images it looks almost as if the hamon sort of blows up. From the shape of the sword and the nakago in particular, this sword appears to be Osuriage, but the width of the yakiba becomes suddenly and drastically narrower as it reaches the hamachi instead of maintaining the width through the togi damari (polish in the habaki area) and continuing into the nakago. The munemachi also looks angled and offset from the hamachi which documents alteration. The color of the yakiba looks dull and opaque, rather than bright. Also the ji looks gray and chalky. Again, computer images don't always do these things justice, but for the exercise this is what I'm seeing.

Joe, I don't have a good impression of this blade. What you see as Hitatsura, looks hajimi throughout to me. Even in hitatsura there are distinctive habuchi and patterning that define and deliniate hardened regions. The hamon on this sword looks cloudy, dead looking, and unnatural. The jigane also looks loose and lackluster. I suspect this blade has been retempered or yakemi.

Peter, are the other dents in the same general position? I'd find it difficult to believe that bullets or shrapnel would be consistently placed. Also, I've seen two different swords with arms damage; one bullet, the other shrapnel. Neither was so neatly impacted. The metal was displaced in such a way the the glancing points were raised to burrs and there was severe smearing/deformation of the metal in the impact area from friction. The shrapnel damaged one was even more severe with deeper texturing in the impact area. Also if the blade is not bent in the impact regions, perhaps it was straightened, so look for "shinae" (sometimes called "mukade" or "centipedes") in the surfaces in the region of the damage. The look like stacks, or layers of wrinkles in the surface and are caused by the surface material having been stretched across the out radious of the bend, then buckeled when straightened again. They may also be on both sides because for the blade to be straightened the "set" has to be removed by bending the sword in the opposed direction to the more or less the same degree. Not sure any of this gets you closer to know the "why" and "how".

Before you click on that "bid now" button; what are we *really* talking about here? Even if it's not yakemi (fire damaged), what is it in the end? An unpolished gendaito.....and a risky one at that because although Nagamitsu works can be nice, I've seen some originals that were pretty lackluster in their original condition. So who wants to pony up for the polish and shirasaya on it at $2000+ dollars to find out it is hajimi, nioigiri, or worse?? This is one of those smiths folks get all whipped up into a frenzy over the mei (i.e. the maker, even though the record is sketchy about *who* really made them anyways :| ) but don't have enough exposure to many of his works to understand that there are clearly some really crappy ones among the decent ones. I'm not saying it's undoubtedly damaged, but I am saying it's undoubtedly a gamble that someone will either end up with a fatally damaged wall hanger, or a project that will require yet another (and more significant) infusion of cash, or worse yet....both. If you must spend, spend wisely.