Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini

Sorry for the possibly silly question but, has this topic been covered on NMB before ? I can't find anything with the search option.

Not depressed at new year's eve ...

Thanks for sharing Hugues.

Maybe as far as modern swords go IMHO. If talking of anything more antique than a couple centuries I tend to take Ohmura with a great pinch of salt...

Maybe the clouds were carved to cover forging defects...

The first is an absolute joke...

Maybe pumice stone. It was and is commonly used for this type of sharpening here in Italy, and Japan has at least as many volcanoes as us...

Paul, please, let updated also the people like me that are no more on Facebook.

Hi PAul. A4 hardcover for me too. Please let me know how and when pay for it.

Wonderful...

Nice!

Many,many years ago I was offered of two blades. A short Shinto Wakizashi by a Chusaku, Shoshin (Noshu no Seki Kanekado) but a little tired nothwithstanding was not so ancient., and a Shinshinto Tanto as Gimei as possible. This Tanto had a fantastic Horimono, the five poets on one side and a poetry in sosho on the other side. The blade was too shiny but quiet well forged with suguha and activities, ubuha. Both blades in Shirasaya. I decided for the tired but shoshin wakizashi. Now every time I read the good old Stephen's mantra "buy the blade, not the signature", I regret of my choice.

Nobody has no regrets ...

The link under my signature. It seems that the timeline is utsumi-yaki then hadaka yaki in Jokoto then present day yaki-ire in Wanto, with some Hadaka Yaki surviving in fully developed Nihonto for a while and in certain traditions.

Might be the difference in steels used and repeated polishing play a role in this feeling. As per Sugita Yoshiaki's excellent work certainly it is needed to watch very close and attently to get the difference between the two ways of hardening. Present days Togishi makes wonders. As per the genesis of hadaka yaki might be this have some interest to you : Quote: However, some blades seem to have experienced repeated re-tempering such as the Warabite-tô excavated in Negishi, Kurihara district, Miyagi Prefecture in the possession of Mr. Matsumori Meishin, City of Tsukidate in Miyagi Pre-fecture or the example excavated in Iwate Prefecture (exact place of excavation unknown), in Masakuni„s possession, or the so-called „Maigusa-tachi“ (nagasa 77,3 cm, sori 2,5 cm), Kanagawa Prefecture. In old documents on swords Masakuni found out that additional measures to increase the hardness of a cutting edge – that means not only by applying a yakiba – were applied to softer steels. This is described by the term “uzumi-yaki“ , which means to fire an ob-ject by inserting it completely in hot ash. This might suggest that with this additional measure, eventually warabiteto were heated by sinking them entirely in hot ashes of the cooled charcoal fire. It Seems to be the description of a re-hardening at lower temperatures, around 400° C. Six Form I warabite-tô from the Tôhoku area up to Hokkaidô were polished, and each of them was hardened with uzumi-yaki. Among such swords in uzumi-yaki, there are examples with an extremely soft hitatsura-like yakiba, and also pieces in which it seems that the kissaki area was re-tempered. All of these blades don´t show a hamon the way we know it, but rather a strong utsuri. All this might suggest the swords were hardened without (or with poor) clay cover, and that the difference in hardening between the mune and the ha is due only or mainly in the difference in cooling rate caused by the different thickness of the blade. It is possible that this process later evolved in the one that some present day Tosho suggest is at the origins of Kamakura Choji Hamon achieved without clay but with better steel, better smithing skilfullness and higher temperatures. Unquote.

Nice HI-res pics. Thanks for sharing. The short blade in particular reminds me of some ancient Tohoku blades hardened without clay.

Joe, you forget the attempts of Yoshihara Yoshindo. The technique was already present in some Tohoku blades of VIII century and after, till to the passage to Wanto and later supposedly maintained in certain traditions. However I'd not bet my life that Yamatorige was made the same way. Blade near Hamachi has been purposedly left softer for the reason we know, and I think it's hard to tell the vapor to not interfere in that area only, leaving a good hamon anyway. Same for the Boshi area. Maybe a skillfull use of very thin clay? Hereunder a WarabiteTo that presents a flamboyant section were insulation wasn't enough/well applied. AFAIK none of the blades made today with Hadakayaki, no matter how important the Smith, can be compared with the hamon of Yamatorige. So far Ono and clay come closer. IMHO.

Welcome :-)

Even Compton's collection passed under the hammer. We hope to leave something after our passage, but reality is tha life ain't fair and few if any of our collections will survive us. Maybe our sons save the one swords they love the most, but little more, I fear....

For when I'll pass away, I have left to my wife and sons adresses of people they can trust on. However my son now 20 y.o. seems very interested in mainteining them. Namu Amida Butsu...

Might be the angle the pic was take mislead me... Still seems a little "off" to me.

Might anybody confirm/deny my bad feeling about kissaki shape ? Lower mekugiana drilled not punched...

Great Topic. Might be a sticker ?

Hi Darcy. Were you at Museo Chiossone in Genoa ? I'd like to meet you next time you visit Italy.