Jussi Ekholm

Franco is correct that there are probably many swords that are saiha that we are not aware of. After the process they would fulfill their purpose as weapons again. There are also some famous swords that have been reforged as fired caused damage in period Japan. However for more basic weaponry it would not be documented that well. I have seen some great saiha blades, and I would not have the knowledge to tell they have been reforged. Nikkō Tōshōgū has had modern smiths reforge some of their burned blades and the end result looks very good. They had a rotation of 3 tachi per turn and all of the 3 that I saw this year and 3 that I saw last year were all reforged in 1980's.

Wonderful Arnaud! Will have to do better reading with time and some of the info is too advanced for me to grasp. Great article!

I understood Hamfish and I agree with you. I was just curious if someone knows if Compton had this type of sayagaki for some of his items. There have been several of them in Yahoo Japan, and I would guess they got at least the idea from somewhere. Unfortunately I haven't got books about Compton collection, and so much time has gone by since his passing. I do know that he was extremely well regarded in Japan and I feel there would be a prestige having an item that was once in his collection.

Definately very unknown smith. There is a Mototsuna smith who signed - 伯耆国汗入郡岡村住元綱 and he is listed working around 元治 (1864-1865). Unfortunately I cannot provide any signature of item references for this smith.

I am liking Jan's thought of it being a named sword.

Thanks Steve that is extremely valuable info and I have thought incorrectly before.

I do not know if WA Compton had items with English sayagaki, but there was one Kiyomaro on Yahoo JP with similar sayagaki a while back. Of course these items surfacing at Yahoo JP instead of higher profile dealers could be a question mark.

My guess is it is a hira-zukuri wakizashi that is original length.

Thank you Eric and Thomas. The ōdachi of Mori Ranmaru, is 105 cm blade length and is believed to be made by Kanabō school. It is remarkable sword and perfectly in the usable range. Unfortunately I haven't yet got this sword featured in any of my books and haven't yet seen that personally. It is amazing that the sword also has the koshirae, so amazing complete package. I am an ōdachi fanatic and so far I have info on 100+ swords, I have been lucky and focused in my travels that so far I have seen 26 ōdachi in Japan. I will definately plan a visit to Honnō-ji to see the Mori Ranmaru ōdachi in the future. The ōdachi that Jacques posted is actually made by Miya Masayoshi in 1843, and it is Prefecture Bunkazai of Yahiko-jinja. It is super large sword (not usable) it has blade length of 224 cm and nakago is 93 cm. Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit Yahiko-jinja yet, as they house 2 super big ōdachi in their collection. https://www.e-yahiko.../old/bunkazai/17.htm Huge thanks for the pictures of the sayagaki of this Rai Kunitoshi tachi. I have never encountered that before in any references and it seems like a very important sword. Also with c.80 cm length it is the longest Rai Kunitoshi tachi I know apart from the missing ōdachi.

On the Tokyo National Museum display problem, they have so many amazing items that they will need to circulate items. I have fairly recently checked in the Bunkachō database and I believe TNM houses 18 Kokuhō swords and 56 Jūyō Bunkazai swords (number for JB can be bit higher as I didn't check Late Muromachi or Edo period stuff), along with hundreds of other amazing swords. It would be amazing if they could display huge amount of swords at once, like Tōken World in Nagoya. However the National Museum needs to display a wide variety of Japanese history and art/culture.

My guess was based on the length and shape alone, and reason for my guess is that Saburō Kunimune has relatively high number of 75cm+ tachi remaining. To me the sword looks to be a good bit longer than others that I would guess being c. 65-70 cm in length. Would be very interesting to know the measurements and more information of that Rai Kunitoshi tachi, as I was not aware of that sword and it could be the longest tachi by Rai Kunitoshi remaining, as the ōdachi (蛍丸) Hotarumaru is missing. Also the provenance on it is remarkable Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Tokugawa Family - Maeda Family. For the Muramasa the signature can be seen in your pictures, however based on the blade I would not have guessed Muramasa. Without your original listing of names I don't think I would have gotten any correctly. I would be very grateful on info about that particular Rai Kunitoshi tachi if anyone has it, or even more than that the ōdachi that was featured in Daihouden exhibition. I believe this might have been the ōdachi as I believe this is in the collection of the temple? Picture is from Twitter. https://x.com/honnou...495691476992/photo/1

While I do not know the fine inner workings of NBTHK, I would not think specifics of hi in general would stop swords. There are actual cases where the sword has been altered between Jūyō and Tokubetsu Jūyō shinsa and the sword has passed Tokubetsu Jūyō. Of course for that specific sword it might have been that something particular on that hi threw off the judging panel. NBTHK sometimes seems to be flexible on their standards and sometimes very strict. For examples some saiha (rehardened) blades have passed Jūyō. Latest example that is have good info on is the named sword Hachiman Masamune 八幡正宗 in session 68. However the sword has huge background info and provenance. That historical provenance is something I am just now starting to get into and it is super fascinating. I actually spent 14 hours last weekend researching background of some shrine & museum swords. The famous Kōsetsu Samonji has been in Japanese experts opinion shortened c. 10 cm from original length. It is very famous sword I just checked I have it featured in 24 different reference books/magazines. I believe the Catawiki sword would be in original length. To me it looks like the tachi mei it had has been removed. NBTHK passed it as Kōdai Hōju - Later Hōju (後代宝寿). While Hōju can be seen as Kamakura - Nanbokuchō work, when NBTHK puts 後代宝寿 in brackets they put it towards Muromachi period work. So it would most likely not be the Kamakura period sword that was advertised. Still I am bit puzzled why NBTHK did not pass it as mumei tachi but went for mumei katana.

Thank you for very throughout reply Tumi. It was very enjoyable to read and gave us a lot of background information. Was also nice to read the article the Lewis B mentioned, to get to know you bit better. I think one "free" thing to add might be an activity corner of some kind. Of course having never been into your museum I do not know the layout, just looking at the pictures online it seems your sword displays are top notch. I think some kind of activity area might appeal to general people, for example at Atsuta-Jingū you could try to lift up the replicas of their famous ōdachi, Tarōtachi and Jirōtachi, and average katana in comparison. In the new Nagoya Tōken World there is also section for holding a sword & gun. Perhaps you could feel different tsukamaki types/bare rayskin handle etc. As I believe you have craftsmen working in the premises, there might be lot of things you could do, that might appeal to general public. I am far too deep in this hobby to really understand what general public wants to see and learn.

My guess for N.6 would have been Bizen Saburō Kunimune but I know that is wrong answer, now that I know what the sword actually is.

I got the book last year that features this sword. If I read correctly NBTHK just states that there is bo-hi & soe-hi carved on both sides. Now one thing to consider that as the sword is judged as ō-suriage and no ana in the lower portion of the tang, I feel that would indicate that it would have been at least 15+ cm longer originally. As the sword is now 69,3 cm katana with 17,8 cm nakago it would in my assumption have been 85+ cm tachi. For me it is often difficult trying to grasp the original shape of shortened items. I believe the Jūyō Bunkazai Norishige I posted above has been shortened c. 13 cm which would made it around 85 cm tachi originally as the current length is 71,5 cm. The longest ubu Norishige tachi I have found is mumei attributed to Norishige and it is 79,1 cm.

My thoughts might be bit all over the place but I am super happy you are looking for feedback from international members. Unfortunately I have not yet visited Bizen Osafune Sword Museum but I will in the future. My biggest wish to all museums, shrines etc. in Japan would be that they would list all the items in their collection on their website. Of course that is a huge task but I feel even us not able to visit the museum could enjoy the items. I would be perfectly happy with all Japanese short listings and basic picture of item. Of course this is just my own personal preference as I am addicted in researching items. I feel that way people could enjoy the items. I can take an example of Bizen Osafune Sword Museum, unfortunately so far I only have info of 3 of your swords, 山鳥毛, 78,9 cm Kanemitsu 兼光, and 69,1 cm Yoshioka Ichimonji tachi SukeX 一備□吉岡住助. You have amazing current exhibition going on: https://www.city.set...site/token/1315.html I would want info on items 16-29 and 38 & 36-2 37-2. However unfortunately I only have info on 18, 24, 36-2, 37-2 so far. Also I appreciate greatly that you have info on old exhibitions available https://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/site/token/list7-251.html Would it be possible to include the listings of items similarily to the current exhibition? I am very happy you have the Morimitsu ōnaginata on loan for the latter part of the exhibition. I love ōdachi and ōnaginata and I hope museums could display them if possible. Of course they do take up a lot of space and I suppose majority would rather see something else as they are not that popular. Personally I don't care about the descriptions that much, just to be able to view the amazing items is my goal. Some shrines for example have sometimes extremely limited info on items, descriptions put to wrong item etc. However they house some amazing items that you cannot see anywhere else. Of course I admit I fall into fanatic category and I feel what I enjoy is not enjoyable to general public. I feel other members have given excellent advice above.

I hope you can get better pictures of the sword. I think it could possibly be fairly nice late Muromachi period blade.

It is a nice sword. I will PM you info on the sword when it was listed in Japan 10 years ago. You are right that koshirae has been made/fitted to the sword more recently.

My condolences to family & friends.

1st pick would be N.3 - as I just appreciate big blades. 4th pick would be N.1 - to me it could pass as average size Edo period katana by shape and size on first glance.

That is very interesting research you are doing. Here are the 5 dated Norishige pieces that I have in my references so far. 1314: NBTHK - Jūyō 31, Tokubetsu Jūyō 9 1319: NBTHK - Jūyō 33, Tokubetsu Jūyō 24 1320: NBTHK - Jūyō 31 1325: Naginata of Ōyamazumi-jinja 1326-28: NBTHK - Jūyō 68 (This was featured in the huge Masamune and his disciples exhibition this spring)

So far I have found 6 tachi by Norishige and only 1 of them has hi. This is Jūyō Bunkazai that is owned by Agency for Cultural Affairs. Then for comparison so far I have documented 74 suriage katana that are attributed to Norishige and 43 of them have hi. Unfortunately I cannot dig deep into the reasons why it is like this as it is beyond my expertise. However data on items would suggest that hi on Norishige tachi is quite rare thing, while it is actually quite common on suriage katana attributed towards Norishige.

35, feels crazy that after being in the hobby for ages I am still in "youngish" group.

That Morisuke is an amazing sword Thomas I am happy it is in good hands. It will be amazing opportunity for people to see it in San Fran show.

Brano is amazing seller, I can recommend him. It is quite rare to find Jūyō books in Europe.