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Everything posted by Ray Singer
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A gassaku by Sadayoshi and Tatsuyoshi Http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-gassan-a ... ssaku-kore - Ray
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Not a Tatsuyoshi, but thought I would mention that there is currently a sword for sale by his father Sadayoshi. http://tsuruginoya.com/mn1_3/a00286.html
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Thanks again John, I finally got home and had a chance to put in a bit of legwork on this. Found similar references in Fujishiro and Nagayama to his/their work work in hitatsura and following the Soshu-den. I would have to agree that the mei is not a favourable match to most examples in my library, however appears (to my eyes) a closer match to the Compton Kunishige yari (volume 2, item 241, c. Keicho). - Ray
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Yes, so I've heard. It's all fun and games, until they start dating. Thanks everyone for the kind words, and pls don't forget to look over the Kunishige mei. I believe that this would be the yondai Kunishige, rated jo-saku, if the mei is good. Best, Ray
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A papa to-be twice over. Nara Singer is due in July. Missed seeing everyone, will get back on the show schedule next year for certain.
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Thank you both. I took a self-imposed, three year hiatus on all collecting, while we purchased our first house and after the birth of our daughter. She recently saw the pained expression while I was window shopping online and decided something had to be done. Yes, very lucky and appreciative
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Hi all, recently my wife and best friend (also a collector) conspired to get me a wakizashi for my anniversary. Beautiful piece done in soshu-den. Slightly suriage, but the mei is intact. I would love the group's opinion on this mei. Bitchu (no) Kuni Azai ju ōtsuki Saburōbeijō Kunishige Saku Keichō San Nen hachi Gatsu (1599) Thank you, Ray
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Can anyone provide some advice on a Minamoto Moriyoshi blade
Ray Singer replied to Jamie321's topic in Nihonto
Hi Jamie, I would recommend the following book which includes a chapter dedicated to his son Enju Nobutsugu and contains remembrances of Moriyoshi. Moriyoshi was among the better smiths who were pursuing Kiyomaro and I have always found his work to be consistently excellent. Like Chris and Ted, I think this sword is very well priced for his work. I primarily collect koto, but if I owned just one shinsakuto it would be a Moriyoshi. http://www.amazon.com/New-Generation-Ja ... wordsmiths - Ray -
Thank you Kunitaro-san, I greatly appreciate your following up with Tanobe-san on my sword. This is the first I have heard this regarding the Ko-Bizen group being an inspiration for Norishige and Masamune. It is wonderful to have this insight from him. Most often I have heard that they were pursuing a revival of Ko-Hoki. I can see similarities in the hamon of this sword and a Ko-Aoe I own (which itself resembles Ko-Bizen) so I can understand what Tanobe-san is expressing with this comment. Best regards, Ray
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Thank you Curran, there are a few tiny, older hakobore but I could not see having the sword repolished and the mihaba reduced for the sake of a few minor issues (which did not seem to bother the shinsa team). It's much better to see the sword with more of its original width preserved. I will definitely be bringing this one and a few others share in Tampa... - Ray
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I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos. The Norishige was submitted in it's original polish, and it's been a challenge to show the quality in photos. If someone has the most recent Juyo Token Nado Zufu, and would not mind posting a scan of the oshigata, it would be much more revealing.
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Thank you both! Curran, like you I caught Ko-Bizen but was hard-pressed to imagine how that would relate to a Soshu blade. Yes, this is a new sayagaki from Tanobe-san, but there are some stylistic differences with the calligraphy from others he has done for me in the past. I had also heard that he was no longer adding Chin-Cho or Chin-Chin Cho-Cho to his recent sayagaki, but that is obviously not the case. When I return home I will take photos of the complete sayagaki and upload here... - Ray
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Hi all, I just received a sword back from shinsa and would greatly appreciate assistance translating the sayagaki attached below... Many thanks, Ray
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Robert Cole has also had a sword listed on his site for quite some time which has a extension that slides over the existing, ubu nakago. Link below... http://www.sho-shin.com/yasusada.htm
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Your top 3 Smiths for dream steel??
Ray Singer replied to Bushido1200's topic in General Nihonto Related Discussion
Even though I mainly collect koto, I would love to own Yamadorige-utushimono by Ohno Yoshimitsu or a Ko-Bizen style tachi by Matsuda Tsuguyasu. I also think it would be interesting to see how a modern smith reinterprets another sword in my collection and to be able to enjoy the two swords side by side, like Compton did with his Nagamitsu kodachi (having Yoshinda Yoshihara do an utushimono of that sword). In this case, I would see who is currently the best at nie-deki work in the Soshu-den and have that smith forge a naginata following a Nobukuni I own, but showing how it would have appeared before it was modified into an o-suriage naginatanaoshi. - Ray -
Orlando Sword Show
Ray Singer replied to Ray Singer's topic in Sword Shows, Events, Community News and Legislation Issues
Does anyone have photos and details on the Orlando show? That was the weekend Tropical Storm Isaac (later Hurricane Isaac) passed through, and I didn't see any way I could have attended and driven back south to Miami Sunday night. Thanks, Ray -
Signed MINAMOTO KIYOMAR for sale on eBay.
Ray Singer replied to bmoore1322's topic in Auctions and Online Sales or Sellers
eBay is the worst, most dangerous place to use as your hunting ground until you have studied more. You're looking at an unauthenticated sword that is priced above the level of many fine Juyo token daito you can see online. -
EDO PERIOD WAKIZASHI KOSHIRAE
Ray Singer replied to bmoore1322's topic in General Nihonto Related Discussion
A couple of examples showing how gold patinates. It would be tragic to damage a patina like this to just to test something which you should be able to evaluate by sight with a bit of study. http://www.nihonto.us/ARAKI%20TOMEI%20M ... MENUKI.htm http://nihonto.com/11.1.09.html There are many wonderful tsuba which have brass inlay. This is nothing to look down at. -
EDO PERIOD WAKIZASHI KOSHIRAE
Ray Singer replied to bmoore1322's topic in General Nihonto Related Discussion
This is a good way to destroy the patina on a nice piece of kodogu. Whether a piece has gold inlay is not a determining factor for its value. The value has much more to do with the workmanship, importance of the kinko, etc. Scratching the inlay to acid test the metal underneath will remove the patina and it may be impossible to repair the damage. Regardless, you can often tell whether a piece has sections of gold inlay by the kinsabi (gold patina) which develops over time. It is a reddish color and is extremely beautiful. -
Edo Period Wakizashi in full Shirosaya I bought today.
Ray Singer replied to bmoore1322's topic in Nihonto
Hi Brian, After you have collected for a while you will see that mumei shinto and shinshinto swords are not generally considered desirable by more senior collectors. As a minimum standard, a sword from Shinto or later should be signed and preferably ubu (with one mekugi-ana). One like the example you have shown us here, what appears to be a tired, mumei Shinto blade with what looks like patches of shingane showing, has very little collectible value. There's an expression "bad swords hurt your eyes". As people have said several times in your previous postings it is your money and you can collect whatever you like, but IMHO you are doing yourself a disservice collecting swords like this which do not have a great deal to offer in terms of teaching you about quality. For less (perhaps far less) than the amount that you have spent recently you could have purchased a truly wonderful late Kamakura or Nambukucho period o-suriage mumei wakizashi, in polish with a quality habaki and likely already Tokubetsu Hozon. That sword would have served as good study material as you move forward and might be a sword that you never want to sell/could not be upgraded even when you have gained much more knowledge and experience. - Ray -
There was another osuriage mumei blade attributed to Kiyomaro, a wakizashi, which was auctioned not long ago by Christies. One could speculate that the mei was removed and the sword made osuriage to attempt to pass off as a Shizu, Naoe Shizu or other Nambokucho masterwork. Doing that obviously wouldn't make a lot of financial sense now, but the change could have been made a long time ago. - Ray
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If they felt that the work exceeded the quality of others in his mon, and was unusually good for Kiyomaro himself (displaying more hataraki, etc... than one would typically expect to find in an authentic work of Kiyomaro) then this may explain the attribution and the use of Den in this case. It's unfortunate that we don't have more (written) insight into why the shinsa team makes these judgements... - Ray