Utopianarian

Recently acquired blade on eBay. Blade 27.25 inches cut down blade. Apparently it was sadly buffed down by someone in an amateur attempt to clean blade. The shape appears intriguing to me maybe late kamakura/Nanbokucho. The auction seemed to have a lot of interest for a blade in such condition being 18 bidders trying to obtain this blade. I paid $920 plus shipping and tax to win auction which I don’t know yet if that was a smart move or not. It comes with nice two piece Habaki. Hard to see hamon in photos. What are your thoughts based on limited pics. Thank you

Yurie, I would like to thank you as well. I know that there are many other silent followers such as myself that find your information very helpful in learning such as myself which I frequently find myself referencing your helpful info. I also think how great it must have been with such a great father growing up with such a great man with such knowledge and history and seeing such masterworks and experiencing that with him. I definitely would cherish those memories forever. Sincerely, George

Kanesada?

Thank you for that Jacques. You guys have an amazing amount of reference material that one cannot easily find online along with much knowledge to interpret what you are looking at. I don’t have a lot of confidence in this blade but none the less worth studying and has some interesting characteristics. The part that seems odd is the placement of where the date is signed is odd which was discussed

Yes its a tough one. At least there is some of the hamon left to look at and study more

Ok.. so any Wild guesses. Mino? Or possibly Muromachi era? I know it’s a tough one.

Thank you Paul for the information. Yes I now understand that is a complex and variable subject and more specific to the smith and particular characteristics of their different working styles than the broad generalization of the school as a whole. Respectfully, George

Just wanted to know Generally if utsuri was found in Soshu works. I understand that the forging temperatures have a determining effect with heavy nie formation with Soshu and Soden Bizen being able to achieve a light utsuri effect. I guess what I am asking with my limited knowledge is can you use utsuri to to generally distinguish or Rule out one school from the other.

I still have yet to have it looked at. I am sure whom ever had the blade before me there was a reason they stopped after only polishing one side and did not pursue any more restoration. I’m sure this avenue was pursued many times throughout the years. Only if by a small chance it’s a late Heian Tomonari or something along those lines would I pursue an expensive restoration venture such as umegane/polish if it’s even possible. I got this blade for close to nothing so for me might be worth it after an expert looks at it in hand. I do believe the age of the blade to be late Heian to early Kamakura for what it’s worth. It’s amazing to me that these blades as old as they are still exist and didn’t completely decompose back into the earth that they were forged from.

Sadly I’ve been hanging out on the study piece side 😞

Yes I keep going back and forth about that. One thing to note is the other side of this blade is bad condition. Somebody in the past before I acquired this blade looked like they just restored one side. I posted this sword on the forum a few years ago about it. Not so good pics tho. Here is a pic of what we’re looking at on the other side…. I see it one of two ways Jimmy Hayashi to work a miracle or study piece. What do y’all think. It’s been a few years and still can’t decide

You may be right. I could not find utsuri on this blade. Good point

It has an ichimonji sort of influence almost

Here is an interesting comparison is kissaki size also boshi

Definitely interesting but sori looks really exaggerated curved. I am not sure if it was intended to be that way or fire damaged. I think it is a very early blade in spite of that

Yes I agree, lol whore of a blade. I tilted the angle in bright direct sunlight and yes hadori looks overpowering. Too much makeup

I don’t think this sword is much but definitely not kazu-uchimono.

The forging doesn’t appear like a bundle sword. I have one and it’s roughly forged

I agree on the inscription definitely wishful thinking on that

If that’s the case then the smith probably got fired for wasting way too much time on this blade

The only school I can come up with is Bizen Yoshii. I have limited knowledge but still trying to find out more about it or even if it is or isn’t Yoshii. I didn’t look much into Shinto era smiths so maybe Shinto or edo?