Jussi Ekholm

Here in the western world we have slightly limited amount of exposure to Jūyō level stuff for many of us. Of course those who collect high end stuff could be in different position but for many of us getting to handle Jūyō items is a rare feat. I think we might have some misconceptions and false beliefs about Jūyō shinsa etc because we just lack information about them. I've been doing lots of reading on Jūyō swords last year & this year, unfortunately my reading has been bit selective. I was really amazed today as I found out the numbers of items sent to shinsa sessions, and they were out in plain sight all these years for me but I've skipped over that information for multiple years. Granted some years ago I didn't have the interest and curiosity for Jūyō that I currently have. But here are the numbers of items sent to Jūyō and TJ shinsa and passes from c.1996 to 2018, these are provided by the NBTHK so no mysticism or speculation, just pure data. I do have bunch of older info as well but I chose those years as that is continuous timeline of most recent shinsa backwards. Jūyō 42 Swords 1174 (not sure about this) submissions – 115 passes (95 Kotō, 20 Shintō) Jūyō 43 Swords 837 submissions – 144 passes (120 Kotō, 24 Shintō) Jūyō 44 Swords 805 submissions – 147 passes (113 Kotō, 34 Shintō) Jūyō 45 Swords 938 submissions – 155 passes (114 Kotō, 41 Shintō) Jūyō 46 Swords 911 submissions – 200 passes (152 Kotō, 48 Shintō) Jūyō 47 Swords 994 submissions – 189 passes (149 Kotō, 40 Shintō) Jūyō 48 Swords 1011 submissions – 186 passes (140 Kotō, 46 Shintō) Jūyō 49 Swords 1020 submissions – 226 passes (181 Kotō, 45 Shintō) Jūyō 50 Swords 1073 submissions – 185 passes (145 Kotō, 40 Shintō) Jūyō 51 Swords 1106 submissions – 203 passes (164 Kotō, 39 Shintō) Jūyō 52 Swords 1001 submissions – 114 passes (97 Kotō, 17 Shintō) Jūyō 53 Swords 992 submissions – 155 passes (135 Kotō, 20 Shintō) Jūyō 54 Swords 979 submissions – 88 passes (83 Kotō, 5 Shintō) Jūyō 55 Swords 703 submissions – 107 passes (93 Kotō, 14 Shintō) Jūyō 56 Swords 724 submissions – 53 passes (47 Kotō, 6 Shintō) Jūyō 57 Swords 552 submissions – 31 passes (26 Kotō, 9 Shintō) Jūyō 58 Swords 356 submissions – 47 passes (38 Kotō, 9 Shintō) Jūyō 59 Swords 467 submissions – 105 passes (80 Kotō, 25 Shintō) Jūyō 60 Swords ?? submissions – 127 passes (98 Kotō, 29 Shintō) Jūyō 61 Swords 829 submissions – 165 passes (136 Kotō, 29 Shintō) Jūyō 62 Swords 875 submissions – 149 passes (135 Kotō, 14 Shintō) Jūyō 63 Swords 760 submissions – 140 passes (119 Kotō, 21 Shintō) Jūyō 64 Swords 923 submissions – 135 passes (118 Kotō, 17 Shintō) Tokubetsu Jūyō TJ 15 Swords 239 submissions – 34 passes TJ 16 Swords 260 submissions – 51 passes TJ 17 Swords 289 submissions – 62 passes TJ 18 Swords 328 submissions – 76 passes TJ 19 Swords 348 submissions – 52 passes TJ 20 Swords 268 submissions – 33 passes TJ 21 Swords 286 submissions – 33 passes TJ 22 Swords 205 submissions – 20 passes TJ 23 Swords 224 submissions – 40 passes TJ 24 Swords 330 submissions – 71 passes TJ 25 Swords 343 submissions – 70 passes I hope this might be interesting info, I haven't seen anyone listing this before. Hopefully this might spark some discussion.

I have very little knowledge of Samurai history in general, so someone like Markus could most likely offer insight on the status of these ronin before losing their master, their approximate wage levels, importance etc. That could be important in determing what swords they might have had. As I think something like Awataguchi or high quality Rai would have been priced above basic men and mostly owned by high ranking and rich individuals. I've been just researching so much top tier swords in books over the last 6 months that I tend to now automatically go for top tier smiths when seeing famous names... The Asano retainers were under Asano Naganori in Akō domain, that was in Harima province. Bizen was of course major sword supplier during the old times, don't know if the border next to province had any meaningful influnce in old swords, there were just so many Bizen swords available. Settsu being also a neighbouring province and a major hub (Ōsaka) it might have had an influence as possibly many swords by Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke are in the list and possibly some other Settsu smiths as well. Etchū province where Uda school is located is geographically bit further away. I think apart from the few famous makers Uda school might have been thought as workhorse swords even back in the day? I would need to see the Japanese signatures / the kanji of them to make any further educated guesses about the smiths. As some of the signatures would most likely have more than just 2 characters it would make identifying particular smiths bit easier.

I'd guess Kanekiyo 包清

It would be nice to know where Yamanaka? got this information. Here are the Kanji that were taken from Rich Steins site where the article states the names are referenced to the kanji tables on the site. I do think there might be some incorrect ones as typing errors etc. Norinaga 則永, Even though I would think this might be Shikkake Norinaga (則長) and c. 85cm tachi 1x daitō, 1x shōtō Shimada 1x daitō Hiromitsu 広光, I'd think Sōshū Hiromitsu but there are other possibilities too 1x daitō, 1x shōtō Hirokuni 広国, Can't guess which one this is 1x daitō Kunisuke 国助, Probably Kawachi no Kami 2x daitō, 4x shōtō Kunimitsu 国光, Lots of possibilities for 80cm+ tachi, Awataguchi, Rai, Shintōgo, Uda etc... 1x daitō Michitaka 道高, Can't find smith working pre 1700 signing this mei. 1x daitō Yoshitsuna 義綱, Most likely a Shimada smith 1x shōtō Michinaga 道永, There is only 1 Mino smith pre 1700 in Sesko 2x daitō, 1x shōtō Teruhiro 輝弘, This is most likely a smith of famous Teruhiro (輝広) lineage 1x shōtō Mitsumori 光盛, 1 Bizen & 1 Etchū smiths listed in Sesko 1x daitō Kunimune 国宗, So many possibilities 1x shōtō Mitsuyoshi 三吉, Can't find anyone signing like this 1x daitō Tomokuni 共国, Can't find anyone signing like this, I believe it might be 倫国, long tachi by Rai smith? 3x daitō, 1x shōtō Mitsushige 光重, Many possibilities 1x shōtō Kunihisa 国久, Many possibilities I think Uda might be strong one 1x daitō, 1x shōtō Kunitaka 国高, Higo,Uda,Settsu? 1x daitō Hiroshige 広重, Many possibilities 1x shōtō Kanekuni 包国, Yamato 1x daitō Nagakuni 長国, Ōshū 1x daitō Norimitsu 則光, Bizen comes first in mind of course but also Kaga 2x daitō, 1x shōtō Yasutaka 康高, Only one Bizen smith in Sesko 1x daitō, 1x shōtō Tomohisa 共久, Most likely candidate is Uda Tomohisa (友久) 2x daitō Masakuni 政国, Heianjō? 1x shōtō Mizuta 1x daitō, 2x shōtō Hirokuni 寛国, Can't find any smiths 2x daitō Kuninaga 国長, Many possibilities, Rai, Mino, Uda etc. 1x daitō Samuhiro ?? 1x shōtō Of course lots of guesswork in that above list and saying anything of real value is difficult.

This is very interesting question and as I have never papered anything I haven't even thought about the change in prices during time. Here are some numbers I was able to get that I think are correct. Unfortunately I have not have any numbers for early sessions or old papers. They are lot before my time so it's difficult to research them. These are the NBTHK prices roughly for sword shinsa (for members) in the 2000's, those that have actually sent items can actually verify if that pricing is correct. 2019 prices (I think this pricing started in 2013?) Hozon 25,000 Tokubetsu Hozon 35,000 [60,000 from without papers] Jūyō 220,000 [280,000 from without papers] Tokubetsu Jūyō 340,000 [660,000 from without papers] 2000-2012 Hozon 25,000 Tokubetsu Hozon 52,000 [77,000 from without papers] Jūyō 125,000 (Shinsa fee 21,000 + Donation 105,000 on passing) [202,000 from without papers] Tokubetsu Jūyō 240,000 (Shinsa fee 31,500 + Donation 210,000 on passing) [442,000 from without papers] Seems like the financial gap between Tokubetsu Hozon & Jūyō got lot bigger at last price change as Tokubetsu Hozon got lowered in price and Jūyō got more expensive.

Just based on the fact it has tachi mei Bishū Osafune I'd lean towards early Muromachi or Nanbokuchō. Would be nice to see more of the blade. Unfortunately I am not a military sword guy so I don't really care about the mountings.

Yes, I believe that book should have all the 110 swords and 12 koshirae that are National Treasures if I've understood correctly.

I've been planning to get the whole 15 book set but as the shipping for that is super expensive I've put that on hold. And since mostly the Vol 8 on swords is the one I've been interested in, and I have all the National treasures covered in other references at the moment. You can find that whole 15 book set for very cheap prices in Japan. The problem will be expensive shipping... https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x614542614 https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x620368089

Yes I believe so about the price. But I do think this might be regarded as the best work by Motoshige. I know that several of his swords have reached Bunkazai & Bijutsuhin status but this particular sword is often featured on top class publications. For example this sword has been featured in both Shōwa Daimeito Zufu and Meihin Katanaezu Shusei. You can see the sword at the bottom of this page: http://www.sho-shin.com/motoshig.htm I tried to fix the link in the opening post, seems like there was a spacebar at the end of link which made it 404.

I got inspired at lot by this post and decided to spend good time with my books. Here are the earliest longish ones (almost 2x the width) I found and then first true o-kissaki swords that are attributed to late Kamakura. Jūyō Bunkazai tachi by Moriie - sakihaba 2,2 cm - kissaki 3,9 cm (Mid Kamakura) Kokuhō tachi by Bizen Saburō Kunimune - sakihaba 2,1 cm - kissaki 3,8 cm (Mid Kamakura) Tokubetsu Jūyō katana by Yoshioka Ichimonji - sakihaba 2,3 cm - kissaki 5,4 cm (Late Kamakura) Tokubetsu Jūyō katana by Norishige - sakihaba 2,4 cm - kissaki 5,7 cm (Late Kamakura) Tokubetsu Jūyō katana by Masamune - sakihaba 2,6 cm - kissaki 5,4 cm (Late Kamakura) Jūyō Bunkazai katana by Masamune (Ikeda Masamune) - sakihaba 2,5 cm - kissaki 5,2 cm (Late Kamakura) Of course when Nanbokuchō kicks in the really big ones are starting to appear but these should all be from Kamakura.

It is not a NBTHK paper but a paper issued by Toen-sha that was fronted by Murakami Kosuke. The mei for the Wakizashi is Harumitsu 春光 and the attribution is to Mito (水戸). The date in paper is Shōwa 51 which is 1976.

As I consider myself as a book collector I think I might be a wrong person to answer. I thought you have a good price on the Fujishiros One major problem is the availability of the books. It is a rare occasion to find books that I am after in Europe. I think I've purchased about 50 books from mostly Japan & US within the last 12 months and the shipping costs are really high but there is no way around that as pretty much just sellers in Japan & Grey have the books I am after. I treat some of the rare books bit like Jūyō items I suppose. It is a bit special occasion for me if I go to them. Then basic books I can just grab whenever I feel like it and search through them. However now that I think about it the more specific books I've gotten the less I've been using some great general reference works. I don't think I've popped my Connoisseurs open in few years, same for Facts & Fundamentals and I guess my Book version of Sesko Smith Index has been unopened for few years too, yet I use the e-book almost daily basis. Now that I've gotten more and more books I've understood that my need for various Meikan has been reduced a lot. I have thousands of different swords in various books and I can fairly easily find what I am looking for. I still have the Meikan trio from Markus which are great books but my book collection has outgrown them. I think all collectors should have some from of reference books for mei, something like Fujishiro set, Meikan set by Markus etc.

Well I was doing some research at Cultural Heritage Database and Agency for Cultural Affairs websites. Then I stumbled what I suppose are yearly realized purchases by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. As they are a government body they might be required to list the info out in the open for all to see? There was data for 10 years Heisei 20 to Heisei 29. I hope I am understanding it right, if not please correct me. You can find the information behind this link: http://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/kokuyuzaisan/bunkazai/ there are PDF files for each year below the listing that feature some info about the items & bad quality picture. 2009 Jūyō Bunkazai - Kagemitsu Tachi (dated 1322) - 70M Yen - This sword passed Tokubetsu Jūyō in session 2 (1973) and I believe this was appointed as Bunkazai in 1979. Jūyō Bijutsuhin - Ko-Bizen Tomonari Tachi - 30M Yen 2010 Jūyō Bunkazai - Tegai Kanenaga Tachi - 57M Yen Jūyō Bunkazai - Hoki Yasutsuna Tachi - 74M Yen 2013 Jūyō Bunkazai - Aoe Moritsugu Tachi & Koshirae - 56M Yen - This sword was by the information from Nihontō Kōza in Uesugi family and had the name Hannya no Tachi. 2014 Jūyō Bunkazai - Norishige Tachi - 66M Yen 2015 Jūyō Bunkazai - Hankei Katana - 53M Yen 2016 Jūyō Bunkazai - Masatsune Tachi - 81M Yen Jūyō Bunkazai - Kanro Toshinaga Ken (dated 1360) - 32M Yen Jūyō Bunkazai - Nanki Shigekuni Katana - 67M Yen Jūyō Bunkazai - Awataguchi Yoshimitsu Tanto - 83M Yen - Meito Hakata Tōshirō 2017 Jūyō Bunkazai - Moriie Tachi (dated 1279) - 68M Yen Jūyō Bunkazai - Motoshige Wakizashi - 40M Yen

To be honest if I look at the swords just by measurements assuming they are shortened I would immidiately think Nanbokuchō for both the Tokka & Aoi offerings. The shape & size are fitting for shortened blade from that period, I have documented measurements of a good bunch of them now. I am not experienced enough to make conclusions about just the details on the blade but something like Enju or Rai that Ray & Paul mentioned earlier might be plausible guesses. I think the interesting question would be if it is typical enough as a Tadayoshi sword that it would get Shodai Tadayoshi attribution again on the new try at shinsa, or would the attribution change to an older one?

They are different variations of the same character 正. I'm linking a picture that might be of assistance. Unfortunately I don't know anything about new smiths so I can't help in regards of the smith in question. Here are few links for Hattori Masahiro swords with same mei style as yours: You'll probably find more if you search with 服部正廣 even though simplified characters are often used in indexes etc. Sometimes it is still good to search with old format. https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/e185566540/ http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26628-translation-identification-assistance-please/

Here are the old naoshi with elaborate horimono that I have in my books. Unfortunately I don't have documented yet any old naginata with elaborate horimono. 1st Meibutsu Honebami Tōshirō 2nd Nobukuni from Jūyō 12 3rd Chikakage from Jūyō 17 4th Tanshū Kunimitsu from Jūyō 19 5th picture is Senjuin mei 千手院 from Jūyō 16. As Ray said earlier it is very rare. So far I have documented just 6 swords that bear the 3 character Senjuin mei.

I think Wake and Nitta are quite interesting and schools that have very limited information on them. Shigenori and Shigesuke are the only Wake smiths I've encountered yet but there are few other Wake smiths listed in indexes so far I have not yet seen a signed (or even unsigned attributed) sword from other than the 2 famous smiths.

I have been following this topic with great interest. Lots of valuable advice have been given by board members. What intrigues me most is the fact that Darcy and Ray posted before the sword that passed Jūyō 18 session. Now that I got home and could check the page from 18 book, I must say they are really close. And would be dated relatively close to each other. Of course I haven't studied enough Masayuki mei to say anything definitive but like has been said before me the shape is promising in my mind. Would it be possible that you would measure the sword? From the bump where the blade starts a straight line to the tip, and from the same point straight line towards the bottom of the tang. And if you could measure the width of the sword at the base of the blade in front of habaki from cutting edge to the backside. It is great that you have decided to contact NBTHK-EU. I am sure our members can assist you further with this sword and give you other assistance as well.

Are you perhaps thinking about Junkei ( 順慶 )?

I do agree that it most likely is Keichō but that predates this smith by c. 250 years. So it really doesn't make sense to me even if gimei...

I might be stepping into ants nest with this one, and I am not qualified to recommend anyone. Like was suggested above contacting NBTHK-EU is a good way to go and they can be of assistance. However could it be possible to create of a list of craftsmen in various fields who have had traditional training (from whom), awards from Japan (from which organization), etc.? I know for polishing training & awards Andrew Ickeringill (AUS) - Completed traditional training (and a member in here) Massimo Rossi (ITA) - Has gotten multiple Nyusen awards from NBTHK Anthony Norman (UK) - Has gotten Nyusen from NBSK

I think like Kirill with regards to sayagaki, that previous owner might have hoped for more favourable attribution. So far I have documented 5 signed swords for Echizen Nobunaga. Unfortunately I have skipped over the mumei Asago-Taima swords.

I do think it was this tachi by Moromitsu that sparked the original post. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Bizen_Moromitsu_Tachi.htmlThis was the one I thought immidiately when reading the OP and there are not too many signed & dated tachi at that price with NTHK papers for sale at the moment. There is of course lots of theoretical and hypothetical discussion but I was referring to this particular sword.

I'd put my guess of the year to 慶応元年 (1865). I haven't seen enough mei examples by this smith to know if that is how he always writes that era. However that would fit in the range of his known working period.

Nick do you have pictures of the whole sword?