Jussi Ekholm

That boshi makes the difference in attribution between schools?

Pretty amazing collection, both the swords & armor.

Perhaps you could post a better picture of the signature? From the latest pics I am guessing 播磨大掾藤原 / 越前住 - Harima no Daijō Fujiwara / Echizen jū Granted really the only smith that the mei would fit is Shigetaka but it is missing the last 2 characters. As the picture does not show mei well it is very difficult to say anything but I think the signatures on both sides look different based on that one picture. As you are in Sweden I think you could also contact Scandinavian NBTHK branch for some help. I know they'd be happy to help you with all the questions you have. And of course we will help here at NMB as much as we can too.

Like the ad said it is signed 豊州高田住忠行 - Tadayuki lineage comes from Bungo province, they span roughly from 1700 to 1860. I just looked at the Bungo Taikan, and the mei on the sword for sale looks very different in style of the Tadayuki examples in the book. I don't think I have any examples of lesser known Tadayuki generations though. But I would be cautious with the signature.

Well I went with the Japan route, I've been buying way too much books and magazines from Japan... I thought I'd try my luck as I am just missing few years that are important for me. I've gotten more picky with my magazine search and I'd rather buy just full 12 issue year. I think I'll offer a generous 50€ per year + the postage. It's much more than they go for in Japan but I'm hoping to get some from Europe. Hoping to complete my current collecting goal for these magazines. Sure these years will eventually pop up for sale in Japan too but maybe I'll get them sooner this way and fellow NMB member gets some cash. 1991 - Issues 408 to 419 1986 - Issues 348 to 359 1985 - Issues 336 to 347 1984 - Issues 324 to 335 So 50€ per year for those 4 years.

Nuri-saya in general means lacquered saya. Usually the type of lacquer used is applied before the term.

By looking at the sayagaki quickly I think it has Bunroku/Keicho as the approximate age. You've chosen well with Markus as he can easily provide the full & correct translation to you

I think Fred means this set: http://www.legacyswords.com/namban-futokoro.html

For Bungo the appreciation is generally for Sadahide & Yukihira being the absolute top tier for Bungo. Tomoyuki the Takada school founder comes behind them. Unfortunately after Tomoyuki there is a huge gap in traditional Japanese appreciation as Nanbokuchō / Muromachi gap is considered being so large. I think Taira Nagamori is one of the few Taira-Takada smiths that fills a bit of the Japanese appreciation criters. I do have the Bungo Taikan book and it features few other bit more famous Taira-Takada smiths but they are generally not too highly regarded. The book has a lineage of Taira-Takada smiths. You can also find shorter version of Takada lineage in Seskos book that has lineages of schools. I believe NBTHK has various types of attributions they can give to mumei Takada. I'd consider highest being attribution to Takada Tomoyuki, which would point the sword towards Nanbokuchō and skilled maker. I have documented few other NBTHK attributions to mumei Nanbokuchō more unknown Takada smiths but they are really rare. As my personal intrest starts to fade after early part of Muromachi I haven't documented the Muromachi Takada swords too closely. I know there are at least attributions (Takada), (Taira-Takada) and for Shintō there is (Fujiwara-Takada) for mumei blades.

They are quite rare but so far I have documented 11 of them. I know there are more of them but I currently lack the data of them in form I want it.

Did the Ko-Senjuin tachi have illegible signature (fumei)?

Had great time at the Expo last year and I'll be there next year too. I've said it on few occasions that I think broadening the scope a bit is a great idea and hopefully will bring in lots of interested folks. Got myself registered, any idea if 3-day pass like last year might be available for next year too?

I was doing nightly browsing of the Tokubetsu Jūyō books I have and there are some incredible swords passing some of which feature koshirae. Here are few interesting ones. Sorry about bad pics but it is the middle of night in here. Yep we have midnight sun in Finland during summer but still bit darkish at my apartment. I chose few that I found interesting. Long tachi from Heian almost 77cm, Hoki Sanekage and tachi koshirae Signed Hōshō tachi by Sadaoki and koshirae it has Meito tachi Mutsu Shintōgo Kunimitsu and koshirae Katana attribution den Masamune and I believe this papered together with the tachi koshirae it has It is rare occasion that sword papers together with the koshirae for Jūyō or Tokubetsu Jūyō but it happens sometimes. Of the above 4 I think the den Masamune sword is only one to pass with koshirae in paper while the koshirae are just mentioned for others in the entry. Latest to sword to pass Jūyō with koshirae seems to be mumei Rai Kunitoshi tanto in session 50. Sword & koshirae passing together was definately more common in early shinsa yet it was still rare even back then. The Yoshimune set Michael posted earlier is just incredible, it was on display at Samurai Art Expo, stunning.

I think it's a preference thing. For me the Sue-Sa on Nihontocraft wins hands down. I think it is great sword, too bad it's about 10 years too early for me to think of a sword at that level... Like you I've been checking that page probably few times every month. While other swords are nice too, I cannot compare them without bias as I like that Sue-Sa so much. Sa school swords often are wide in profile which I like a lot. This one is very attracting to me and I think it is better in quality than some Sa school swords that have passed Jūyō. Sue-Sa generally means broader attribution to late Nanbokuchō Sa school and they don't attribute to a specific smith. There are plenty of Sue-Sa blades that have passed Jūyō.

I think one thing that we might have skipped over is the historical value of item instead of artistic quality. Finding Kamakura - Nanbokuchō - Early Muromachi koshirae is incredibly rare and they have significant historical importance regardless of their quality. At least to me they easily top even the best much later koshirae just because of their age. When you visit Tokyo National Museum (or another Japanese museum with great display) and get to see some of the most treasured complete koshirae that remain to this day, I think that has certain prestige that you cannot take away just because koshirae might be plain etc. Then of course there are late Muromachi - Early Edo koshirae that have provenance to famous people, which should carry extra prestige too. There are also the rare occasions that a sword and koshirae have passed Jūyō together. They are very few in number. My own personal taste is toward very plain and utilitarian koshirae I really like plain old tachi koshirae compared against more elaborate ones, and same thing with katana koshirae. I dislike too fancy koshirae and would not really want to invest money on that. Of course I wouldn't break a ready set but high level of koshirae would most likely make it a pass for me.

Well good thing about being with obsessive with tracking down swords is you'll often encounter lots of things that can leave you puzzled. At the end of May Meirin Sangyo got a Nobukuni wakizashi as a new addition to their inventory. I was positive I had seen that same sword quite recently and as I keep track of things, this was sold by Aoi Art. Now there is nothing funny about that as swords get passed between dealers a lot. However when this was sold by Aoi this had Hozon papered koshirae along with it and now little bit later it has different koshirae. There is nothing special in here as stuff like this probably happens a lot. I just thought I'd post this as it is important to keep your eyes open when shopping around. Here is a link to the current listing and Aois old listing http://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords5/WK328445.htm https://www.aoijapan.net/wakizashi-nobukuni-saemonjo/

Pictures would be needed, 綱家?

The Kuniyuki is signed tachi mei and if the signature is genuine it is a kodachi. I think the Kuniyuki is interesting piece, well worth further study. Kaneyoshi is Mino like Robert said earlier.

Here in Finland you can get "the good stuff" from pharmacy too. You have to ask the staff (as it is not publically available in here) and they'll ask the purpose for it, she was bit puzzled when I told it was for swords.

Here are the results for koshirae & tōsōgu. At first the submissions were grouped up but from 61 onwards there seems to be specific numbers sent in. For making things easier I will just use S for submissions then after the - numbers will be passes K will be koshirae and T will be tōsōgu. 42. 304 S - 21 K / 24 T 43. 247 S - 23 K / 31 T 44. 218 S - 22 K / 45 T 45. 198 S - 21 K / 49 T 46. 284 S - 28 K / 66 T 47. 368 S - 31 K / 64 T 48. 383 S - 25 K / 74 T 49. 414 S - 17 K / 71 T 50. 379 S - 13 K / 60 T 51. 344 S - 16 K / 65 T 52. 361 S - 13 K / 46 T 53. 367 S - 16 K / 63 T 54. 357 S - 11 K / 36 T 55. 309 S - 12 K / 38 T 56. 318 S - 9 K / 26 T 57. 244 S - 9 K / 18 T 58. 226 S - 12 K / 31 T 59. 236 S - 6 K / 19 T 60. ? S - 12 K / 39 T 61. 49 K / 277 T - 11 K / 37 T 62. 54 K / 274 T - 9 K / 29 T 63. 35 K / 284 T - 8 K / 36 T 64. 64 K / 300 T - 8 K / 25 T

Well I am not a new sword guy but as I was going through Jūyō session 63, I noticed an interesting thing. It didn't occur to me at the moment but bit later as I was tackling more difficult Naotane mei and searched help for it. I found out that it is said that Naotane died 79 years old in 1857 5th month. In session 63 there was a Naotane sword that featured the following mei 荘司美濃介直胤作 八十翁 / 安政丁巳春吉日 which hints that he was 80 when he made it in 1857. Seems to me like he was born early in the year and was 80 when he died at least according to this sword. And this might have been among some of the last swords he made in his life. Unfortunately I do not own Zufu 63 so I thought I couldn't provide any info about that sword but as I googled I found out it is being sold by Aoi Art right now So here is that particular sword. https://www.aoijapan.com/katana80-okina-soshi-mino-suke-fujiwara-naotane-kao/

The Tokubetsu Jūyō shinsa is every two years and the 25th was in 2018 and 15th was in 1998. Give me few years and I should be able to come up with few sweet things if things go like I've planned. There is interesting stuff as Jūyō session 29 was the first one I've seen using the current format of submissions/passes. The older sessions have even more interesting layout of submissions. Unfortunately at the moment I am lacking the Tōken Bijutsu magazines pre-1979 so Jūyō 26 is the first session I have in magazines and pass rates for. The interesting thing in these old sessions is that they sort even the submissions for old swords / new swords. Jūyō 26 Kotō 366 submissions – 282 passes / Shintō 211 subs – 88 passes Jūyō 27 Kotō 491 submissions – 168 passes / Shintō 141 subs – 61 passes Jūyō 28 Kotō 245 submissions – 122 passes / Shintō 152 subs – 53 passes Unfortunately I do not have any easy way of telling the percentage on signed vs. mumei old swords that passed than counting by myself. Note that non-mumei include all forms of lacquer or gold signatures, faded signatures, etc. Session 63 - 119 old swords of which 82 are mumei swords Session 64 - 118 old swords of which 81 are mumei swords You can compare to the first 5 sessions for example Session 1 - 20 old swords of which 3 are mumei Session 2 - 28 old swords of which 10 are mumei Session 3 - 38 old swords of which 8 are mumei Session 4 - 40 old swords of which 14 are mumei Session 5 - 47 old swords of which 20 are mumei

Thanks for very interesting report Piers.

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.