Jussi Ekholm

Thanks for looking it up, unfortunately I made an error in the index that I now corrected. The item in session 46 is actually a tantō. Unfortunately I don't yet have the book for 65 session but indeed there seems to be a second tantō with earlier 1398 date but I don't yet have good info about it. I believe both would be works of the 2nd generation if the historical timeline would be correct. For working times of the smiths Seskos index gives Eiwa (永和, 1375-1379) and Nihontō Meikan gives Shōhei (正平, 1346-1370) for the first generation. And both give Ōei for 2nd generation.

I believe Enju Kunifusa in general is a quite new attribution that NBTHK uses for mumei items. So far this is the only sword I have seen feature it. I needed to check the background of Enju Kunifusa as I was not that aware of him. It seems there were 2 generations. I only have 1 single signed item on record, a tantō dated 1418. So the smith is extremely rare.

I think what Jacques and Hamfish said above is fitting to traditional Japanese appreciation. It is much too complex for me to really understand and as I personally am not oriented on quality (and I cannot fully see and understand it) but items that personally speak to me. I actually wrote a post to this yesterday but ended up scrapping it as it is really punching above my weight class. In overall I think books tend to be focused on the highly appreciated schools so reading common references will give more and more exposure to high ranked schools. Aoe school has many very highly ranked smiths, and it does span for a long time from late Heian period into Muromachi. In general I do think Aoe is very highly respected in overall but I think the very late Aoe smiths of early Muromachi get pretty much no respect in sword appreciation. I do think sometimes following rankings might leave some amazing smiths and swords unchecked. Futarasan-jinja has for example amazing tachi by Aoe smith Yukitsugu (行次), amazing 87,2 cm ubu tachi from early Kamakura in great polish. Yet the sword is "only" prefecture Bunkazai, not national level. Also I think my favorite sword I saw at Tokyo National Museum was 86,0 cm tachi by Moritsugu (守次) that is dated 1356. The sword is Jūyō Bunkazai (of course extremely high rank) but I much preferred it over the 2 National treasures they had on display. I just cannot yet understand either the Yukimitsu Kokuhō tantō nor the Kikkō Sadamune Kokuhō. I saw several Sadamune that I preferred personally over the Kikkō Sadamune, still it is just my lack of understanding the fine details. Likewise I absolutely loved the unranked Ōmiya Morikage naginata that Tokyo National Museum had on display this year, I was so thrilled to see it as it has been very difficult to dig info of it. Crazy to say but I would prefer it over National treasures too... Awataguchi school has produced some amazing items and it is held in super high regard. I still remember seeing the Nakigitsune wakizashi by Awataguchi Kuniyoshi many years ago as it is super item. However now I've seen the Awataguchi Kuniyasu JūBi tachi of NBTHK two years in a row, and the worksmanship of it is to my eye not what usually is expected from Awataguchi. Similarily I remember seeing another signed Awataguchi that did not feature the super fine quality usually associated with the school. However as my memory is slightly fuzzy on this as years have passed I cannot say confidently which tantō it was. For Yamato tradition Taima is also often very highly valued. However with Taima the lack of signed items is to be noted. However there are many very fine mumei swords attributed as Taima. Personally I like Bizen a lot as there are so many schools within the tradition and so many of the items are signed making studying the works much easier than many others. However has Bizen is such a huge amount of items remaining you will have to slice it to much smaller pieces as there are just so many branches within. This summer I saw several amazing signed works by "lower ranked" Bizen smiths that without signature I believe would be attributed to much higher ranking smiths. That is for me exactly why I value the signatures so much as they give us reference points for the smith. I do agree with some of the things what I wrote 7 years ago to that thread but on some things my view on things has evolved a bit, perhaps I could say I know more stuff now than I did in 2017 and I think that is a good thing. Still I think I have 0 interest on the financial side of things as I cannot ever collect at that level, and I want to focus on the swords not the money.

There is a Kanagu set for Sekijoken Motozane, item 121 in Jūyō session 54. It features tsuba, kozuka and fuchi & kashira. I don't think there is a single item by Ishiyama Mototada that has passed Jūyō evaluation.

Amazing work Dale

Glen Cordner did a great compilation for tsuba in here: You can see this list up until session 66 I shared few years ago in here. So you can search all the items you want. Unfortunately like always with so massive amount of data gathered over a long period of time there are always some errors. I have been correcting them every year when I find them, most of them have been minor mistakes but still irritating me a lot when I find them. Hopefully after the next session when we get to 70 I will have corrected most of previous mistakes and I can update the info with a current up to date file. Fittings are not my thing so there could be mistakes in names, that is why I write the Japanese characters, so they will be correct.

Very nice work John!

Sent you a PM and also what Andreas said above. I think pretty much all groups would be really happy to get new enthusiasts and potentially members as this is such a minor hobby.

Thanks for the pictures Thomas, looks like there were many interesting items in those pics.

I would think similarily to Kirill that late Muromachi Shimada would a direction worth looking into. Impossible to say anything from those pictures but that would be what I would look over Nanbokuchō Sōshū.

It is very interesting item. NBTHK has attributed that sword to Ko-Bizen Hidezane, and Tanobe has written sayagaki for it. Nihontō Meikan lists him as c. Middle Kamakura period smith. This is actually the only sword that I have seen from Ko-Bizen Hidezane anywhere. Hidezane is extremely rare signature in old swords. I know 1 signed tachi of Senjuin Hidezane and the smith I haven't seen mentioned in any smith references. I think he would also be a Kamakura period smith.

Congratulations Manuel!

I might be way above my head here but I do think it is interesting signature. I wanted to get home first before trying to tackle it as I have all my available references in here. However unfortunately I cannot find a clue towards this smith. I would see the signature potentially as 出雲国住中村金左衛門X - Izumo no kuni jū Nakamura Kinzaemon X (X could be potentially be a form of Kuni?) In this I would think Nakamura Kinzaemon would be the personal name of the smith. However unfortunately I cannot find such smith anywhere and Kinzaemon seems to be extremely rare in swordsmith names, and for family names Nakamura seems to be pretty much family lineage in Satsuma province. However there are few later Izumo smiths who seem to have signatures in style Izumo (place name) jū (personal name).

Thank you for the recommendation Peter. Have to keep an eye out for this.

Might be the pictures or my limited understanding but I dont find that blade very appealing to me. When I look at it I just keep looking at the horimono. While I dont have deep knowledge of the school, I have seen many Masashige works with what I feel is much higher quality. For me the size of this is a definate big + and combined with horimono it is nice combination. Still I feel I personally might rather enjoy shorter blades of what I see as better quality of Masashige more than this long one.

Looking at the pictures at airport. Identifying fine details is not my strong point but I would think the general direction people are thinking is plausible. However for me the differences between schools sometimes feel very tiny. One thing to note that the sword could have been shortened quite a bit as it is now only 51 cm. I think the lower hole might not be the original either. If it is the sword would be c. 60 cm in blade length. With shortened blades it is often bit tricky trying to imagine the possible original shape for the item.

Nice looking koshirae. I personally like doeskin.

Yes you are correct on hira-zukuri. Most often katana in this form are little bit over 60,6 cm in length. Occasionally you see long ones of 70cm+ but yours is very long. My opinion doesn't really give any weight compared to professionals but I would agree with them. For what little I can see Uda Kunimune of late Muromachi is perfectly good judgement.

Ah now I understand. In general I personally have 0 trust towards auction houses. I dislike their business model in general. For example the description of Norimitsu is completely wrong. Of course I am limited to phone but I zoomed images and it seems to be ubu mumei with 1 hole. Description says 2 holes ubu signed Norimitsu. And blade is not papered only koshirae. I think the Daido package is the best of the bunch but none of these items are interesting for me personally. I would skip the items but I am not really a buyer in general. So others will be able to give more "real life" perspective.

I do not think "Art sword" is a really good word to describe good swords. I would rather just use good sword, and also if the sword is famous then it can be famous sword. Historical provenance etc. Also plays a big role. Also I have now understood what my heart wants and what is right for me personally. It is not traditionally "correct" sword appreciation but it hits me. I have seen so many top items of Japanese designations on this trip. Now this might sound crazy but several of the Kokuhō or Jūyō Bunkazai items did not evoke any feelings in me. Sure they were of excellent craftsmanship... but show me a rusty ōdachi or a big naginata with battle damage and I am bursting with joy. I am not an Art sword connoisseur, I like what I like and my feelings just get stronger every year. Now I do feel it is very important to study the best possible items and get understanding of what that work is like. I admit my eyes are not nearly trained enough to understand the fine points of sword appreciation, maybe I never will fully understand quality.

Oh I did not understand that you could buy these, I thought they were sold at auction? So you could make an offer to the person who bought them? I see a price or more but I didn't get that someone just bought an item and would immidiately flip it. For me it shows: Sold on Jun 10, 2024 for: Sign-in or Join (free & quick) The Norimitsu does not show any buy price. As I would look into that item. Notice also wrong information in the descriptions. For daishō the text says about Wakizashi that it has ubu nakago with signature Kanesada, while in reality it is mumei blade with Fujishiro attribution Sue-Seki.

The Hasebe Kuninobu tachi was absolutely stunning. I was very lucky to view this in hand. I have also seen 2 other Hasebe Kuninobu blades now in Japan but them through the glass. Now I might be very biased on what I like as I am not a huge fan of tantō... I do think this tachi might be my favorite out of all 3. Followed by Jūyō Bunkazai tantō of Atsuta Jingū. The Jūyō wakizashi that NBTHK has currently on display does not even come close to these 2. Personally I am starting to like more and more wild Hasebe wakizashi with good Nanbokuchō sugata. Unfortunately for me both Kashū Sanekage and Sekishū Sadatsuna blades felt "normal". They seemed to have average sugata and most likely characteristics of typical workmanship, however for me personally they didn't evoke too much feelings. However I overheard discussion that Sanekage caught interest from experienced pair of eyes. So definately much to enjoy with better eye and knowledge for details.

I would agree with Jacques that I don't think it is utsuri. However I cannot explain what it is or what creates an effect like this. However it is nice looking sword in overall. 😊

Very long hira-zukuri katana. Rare to see them in this length.

I agree with Doug I feel it could be Morimitsu. And there could be potential. I should have few reference katana of Morimitsu that are around this length. I can dig them up next week when I am back home.