raynor

So Masamune was finally mentioned - why is he regarded as the best Japanese swordsmith ever? The answer should be relevant to this thread. I've never seen his work, not yet even near the level where I would be able to appreciate it if I did but it is all on the bucket list. I dont think it was for the same reasons some say Prada or Versace is the best, that he became a buzzword among the social elite what with daimyos all wanting at least a tanto by his hand. I've read that his work was unique visually but also for practical reasons - he tempered steel successfully at temperatures never before done, and I believe perfected lamination? In short his swords were better in form and function at cutting then those before and after, and it appears the why is yet to be answered.

Thanks Guido, that's all very interesting, and inspiring. Completely agree on overly flashy mountings, tho I might myself at the moment be overly enamoured with the dark side as shakudo, black lacquered same, saya, even indigo or brown tsukamaki and purple sageo etc. currently seem appealing. In my head quality doesn't (shouldnt) need flashy colors, rather the opposite. With risk to aggravate your health, have you seen they offer colored blades now too? How about acid etched saw toothed red blade with neon green same to proudly display. What you pointed out are things I noticed with my old ailing saya, the slenderness, elegance and slight egg shape. I am slightly bummed that it is falling apart, but it is preserved enough that I can ask for the woodwork to be copied if I have a new koshirae put together.

Interesting. How come you think the first one is higher quality? I'm a greenhorn at this so any input is appreciated. Personally I find the first one a bit cluttery versus the Hotei one, although I enjoy it too. Maybe it's the not stellar photos versus for example this better photographed one, showing among other things the blue hue of shakudo much clearer.

This comes to mind from a post in the menuki section of the for sale board. Match made in heaven?

What about subtlety and control, for example some swords have notare hamon where the waves are synchronized on both sides of the blade, even the nie too sometimes. I love a big active hamon resembling an active fire, crashing waves or twirling clouds, but I am more impressed when there is a subtle hamon displaying the smith choosing to excersice control with things like synched clean lines both sides of the ha, maybe with a little happy accident somewhere.

Not to take words out of anyone's mouth, but lets say a sword as a functional cutting tool is what he means. Then one would look for function over beauty, tho with Nihonto they both go hand in hand with a good sword. So no flashy kiku hamons, clear boshi on the kissaki, good well forged hada etc. but from personal experience you also need to hold a sword to tell if it is well made - balance and so forth.

Hi Stephen, what are the dimensions of your tsubas? They very much look similar to one I have, also likely mid or late hammered Edo work, with the inlay gold rubbed or over cleaned previously.

Onwards to fuchi, again its hard to find very good photos in the biggest catalogue out there, Ebay. Am I correct that the first example here is cast, maybe carved? I do not see any inlay marks nor on the inside marks to bump the section consisting of the branches and flowers upwards to be worked. Then there is this piece, which I am pretty sure is inlays and carving, and appears to be of a higher quality then the former?

Sorry for the late bump and not really contributing to the issue, but there is justice happening sometimes. Here is an example of a hero countering an attempted laptop scam. This starts off a little slow but it is well worth the whole read. Mild profanity and much laughter ahead. Scamming the scammers

Great photos, nothing really beats sunlight and good angles for seeing details. I do hope I am mistaken when I say it looks like it is lying flat on a hard rough surface

Those are indeed masterpieces. Very good attention to details. Not into dropping more then triple digits on fittings tho, I reserve that for actual blades or my wife would have my head.. never mind her yearly shoe and hairdresser budgets.. could have a kokuho by now.

Will it not be exceedingly simple to copy and/or fake these and print them by the wheelbarrow when not attached to their designated items? And sell them with wallhanger swords on ebay.. someone out there probably doing it right now. Then again some people do need protection from themselves sometimes. One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that.

Well currently I am playing with ideas. I do have a blade in very good polish, done some ~4 years ago in shirasaya. It has its original antique Kaga style copper habaki that still fit like a glove and its original saya. The saya shows it is well over a century old, cracking along its seam with koiguchi missing and overall in a clear state of decay. It will have to be replaced if making a new koshirae. The blade also came with a fine tsunagi so I have a decent starting point but no rush, I need to learn more before committing to the expenses involved and ending up with something tasteful. I started today by measuring habaki, nakago and saya opening so I can start look for a fitting fuchi. As I understand even with measurements one is not locked to a certain number but rather have some leeway around the measurements to work with. Enjoying the process so far. I read that the fuchi should line up with the habaki when blade unsheathed but that does not make sense to me as of now, my logic says as you have kindly pointed out that saya opening is a better place to start or the tsuka and I assume saya will be minuscule and weakened. Even tho for display I would want a mount made with intent in mind not just looks. A rough idea of what I at the moment plan on ending up with if I go ahead in the future would be say a black gloss saya with purple sageo, hammered iron/shakudo tsuba with a subtle plant or leaf inlay, shakudo fuchi kashira again with a subtle plant or tree motif and black same under indigo leather tsukamaki. For anything remotely flashy the menuki is probably where I will do that, if any. Maybe gold.

I see that too, but does not make much sense nor look like proper kanji?

Jean, Thanks for the sound input. Naturally a real reconstruction needs to involve a trained craftsman or two, with the blade itself at the heart. I am curious as to how one hypotetically could go about putting dimensions together if the whole puzzle was not present so to speak. That's why I was wondering if say habaki or koiguchi could be a reference point for fuchi size, visually koiguchi makes sense since they line up in a good mount, but things are not always that easy.. wich makes it interesting. A rough idea of what I at the moment plan on ending up with if I go ahead in the future would be say a black gloss saya with purple sageo, hammered iron/shakudo tsuba with a subtle plant or leaf inlay, shakudo fuchi kashira again with a subtle plant or tree motif and black same under indigo leather tsukamaki. For anything remotely flashy the menuki is probably where I will do that, if any.

Hi George, No worries, I know better (largely thanks to this very forum) then to purchase the piece shown even tho I like the motif. If I were to purchase something in the realm of Nihonto I would never use ebay, where the photos are from. So far I find the shopping experience on this very board to be much safer and rewarding when it comes to item quality. Thanks for the tip tho, one day I will probably look for some menuki as there really is no substitute to seeing things in hand to learn.

Greetings all, I have a question regarding re imagining a blade's koshirae dimensions. Say you have the blade itself, the habaki, tsuba and saya, nothing else. Now to find what dimensions one need for fuchi to fit the koshirae I assume the best starting point would be the koiguchi? or pherhaps the habaki? For a new tsuka the nakago size, tsuba and fuchi thickness naturally has to be considered, and then kashira fitted accordingly. Are there any rules of thumb to this? Mainly interested in how to determine a new fuchi's dimensions. Have a great weekend!

Good call, but the photo available is quite blurry. I cannot yet with my beginner mind tell much from it, but I'm sure others can.

Thanks John, made me look closer and gilding makes sense as there's no paint smudges in any tiny chisel marks, just clean metal changing color.

Hi all, I've been looking online at items and came across a pair of ~38mm menuki described as cast copper with inlay. I cannot see any inlay, the gold appears painted on but I do see chisel marks so it is probably not a cast piece or am I missing something? Also does the dark patina if copper mean shakudo here or something else? Regardless I enjoy the amount of personality given to the tiny metal man's face. Looking to learn.

Also do not clean the tang part of the blade if you remove the tsuka (handle), the area below the polished sharp part is the one part you do touch. Welcome to the house of fun.

I second the Vagabond manga. I'm happy there is stuff like that out there so that I can still enjoy "comics" as an adult.. although for this work the term graphical novel fits better then a comic, the art is pleasing as well.

Chinese fakes are one thing, but dont forget the Chinese have been making swords for millennia. Good ones. The Chinese high end sword market is however tiny outside of mainland China, except I believe some bleed into wealthy Russian collectors. The market is hard to get into for us foreigners as they are seemingly not as exposed, accessible nor as willing to open it as the Japanese. Nihonto and samurai stuff being immensely more well known in the west then Chinese culture counts towards this too I am sure. They have master smiths in China who almost exclusively produce for the Chinese market and museums swords that rival nihonto in workmanship, but have neither the fame or the marketability outside China. I would not be surprised if some lower end smiths are more commonly now branching out by making the higher quality fakes popping up. The top Chinese smiths would off course not be caught making cheap copies of Japanese blades I've seen some jians and even dadaos that sell on Chinese market for the equivalent to thousands of dollars that look like humans could hardly made them, what with the Chinese fittings being quite a bit more elaborate then the elegant simplicity found in Nihonto, which I prefer.

I'm no expert and cant tell one from another but I know there are micro organisms that live off oxidizing iron and that they can leave a spiderweb like pattern.

Just sprinkle Dutch tulips when no more pelts.