Leatherdog

Chris, Thanks very much for your work facilitating this event; unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, but Mike Vinehout, who brought my blades up, reports that it was excellent.

Shinsa says...

NTHK bounced; shinshinto copy attributed to Dotanuki Munehiro...any opinions as to whether it would be worth it to have the ko-mei removed and re-submit? I like this one well enough just because of the WW2 history - WW2 Pacific campaign study is how I got sucked into Nihonto to begin with...

Thanks John. That's a great collection of oshigata. Can anyone point out noteworthy differences in the strokes between the oshigata supplied and my photos? I'm pretty new to evaluating mei, so would appreciate others' perspectives.

...and also to learn something if what I am seeing is wrong.

Well James, I can't argue with your assessment! :D However, I don't believe I'll have the opportunity to travel to a sword show or shinsa before my next "extended vacation", and don't really want to send it through someone else. Just looking for opinions here regarding the mei.

Hello all; Sorry for my absence, but I've been away "enjoying an extended Mesopotamian vacation" and now I'm back and still scratching my head about this wakizashi. Pg 110, vol III of the Koza states that there are "special traits" in the third and fourth stroke of the ji for MOTO. I have been staring at my blade and all of the oshigata I can find, and it seems to match for the Nidai Kanemoto/shodai "Magoroku". What I need at this point is a few sets of fresh eyes to evaluate the mei, since I am afraid of falling into the familiar trap of seeing what I want to see. "Digital Kantei" is difficult, as everyone knows, especially when the photographer's skills are lacking (as mine are), AND the blade is in relatively poor polish (which mine is). What I think we can do adequately with photos, however, is evaluate mei, so that is what I hope to do.

...so, probably not a very "good" kogatana? I really like the rest of the koshirae, though. Thanks for the assistance everyone!

...the rest of it.

Thank you as well, Moriyama-san. What does this indicate about the period of manufacture? I'm assuming the kogatana blade really tells us nothing about the rest of the koshirae, as a blade from any period could be inserted into a new kozuka...unfortunately none of the other pieces are signed. It's a nice set with a sakura theme; matching kozuka, fuchi/kashira, tsuba, and menuki. Is it common for kozuka to have ware, or is the one in mine indicative of a "tired" or poorly made blade?

Thank you Reinhard. So you are saying that it is a bit unusual that this one is signed, or that the signature shouldn't be taken seriously? 5th generation Kanemoto would place this in the 1st half of the 1600s, correct?

More pics

Hi all, Just received a nicely mounted mumei wakizashi I purchased, and am hoping someone can find the time to translate the kogatana for me. All help, as always, is much appreciated!

Thanks to everyone for the input. When I purchased this sword, I bought it for the fact that it was a reasonably priced, signed, and healthy wakizashi...I've not yet bought an unpapered blade based on the mei. That said, I still think this one has a shot at being the nidai...the boshi is spot-on for the one Kanemoto is most well known for, the hada seems right, the mei is at least close (any additional comment being welcome) and the hamon is also at least close. It is my understanding that Magoroku's sanbon-sugi evolved during his career, but is generally irregular, and the "points" of the hamon are generally more rounded than later generations. I would expect to see, on a late generation kanemoto sanbon-sugi, a "regular 'two short and one tall' hamon"...this one is pretty well controlled, but does seem to fit the bill as irregular in that, in the large part of the hamon, there doesn't seem to be a strict adherence to this pattern. I'll see if I can take another pic or two to show some of the more "irregular" areas of the hamon and post them tonight... Thanks again for all of the input, and I hope for more. In the end, as is so often stated here, "Only shinsa will decide".

Also, what are we looking for in terms of yasuri-mei and hada? Here are a few more photos...sorry they're not higher quality. If anyone has requests for particular views that might help in making an educated guess as to which kanemoto (if not Magaroku, then which generation...?) let me know and I'll try to get them.