Lewis B

That's interesting. I guess you figured out why my negotiations failed then. I don't think the consigner wanted to sell to a non Japanese unless it was for a ridiculous price, given the current state and status. I had to employ a local to negotiate on my behalf. Taken in the round the price was good enough to have a punt. I doubt I'll come across another affordable Kunimitsu tanto so decided to roll the dice and take a chance. The old romantic in me sees this sword in 1308 possibly being in the same vicinity as some of the greatest sword makers of all time, namely Norishige, Yukimitsu and Masamune. They may even have handled it The next couple of years will be fascinating. And who doesn't love a project.

Thats great Jussi. Hopefully you can find the papers for the 1306 Kunimitsu which is the closest in sugata and dated only 2 years earlier. The forging of these 2 blades should be very similar and might have been produced even closer in time. Tanobe states that Kunimitsu was in his prime from between the years 1303-1308. This is what he wrote for one sayagaki. I would expect the polished blade to show some evidence for this.... “Work of the smith from around Kagen (嘉元, 1303–1306) and Tokuji (徳治, 1306–1308). It shows the typical hoso-suguha of that time, it is fine and excellently forged, and the jiba is in nie-deki, which results in a very attractive and fascinating blade. Both the deki and its condition are excellent. It is a great and very precious masterwork."

Last October I posted a thread about a Kamakura era tantō I found in Japan, signed Kunimitsu and dated 1308. The deal fell through at that time but in the interim months I kept thinking about it. Spurred on by the dealer stating he planned to have the Mei removed and blade polished before resubmitting to the NBTHK, I decided to redouble my efforts to acquire it. I just couldn’t let that fate befall it, especially as the NBTHK issued Horyu papers in 2018, so I found a way to complete the transaction and it's now in the possession of an intermediate. Fortunately the dealer hadn’t started the work. It was thanks to an investment in Markus’ Kotozen-HC that really spurred on my attention on this blade. I have no idea how this project will pan out but I think I’ve done enough groundwork to at least give it a chance. Here’s my story and a request for assistance. The Hunt Years ago while I was scouring the websites of Japanese retailers I came across a fairly obscure dealer. He has quite a large inventory but mostly lower to mid quality pieces often in poor state of preservation. Buried deep in tantō section was a blade that caught my attention. I made a mental note to revisit the listing later but forgot about it after a redundancy in 2021 and relocation to a different Continent. Then back in October last year I stumbled on the retailers webpage again and to my surprise the tantō was still listed. I should add this was also a consignment piece which the owner had inherited from his deceased father. The son was not a collector nor familiar with the swordsmith. In 2018 the dealer submitted the blade to the NBTHK but they couldn't come to a consensus and returned it with Horyu papers, and a request that further work was needed to authenticate the Mei. 2018/2019 Juyo Shinsa were a couple of those strange years at the NBTHK and I wonder if this contributed to the result for this blade. The dealer was unable to find the evidence that would advance its progress through Shinsa, so the blade remained in the shops inventory almost forgotten, and pushed further down the page. Horyu papers are quite unusual as the NBTHK gets no monetary return when these are issued. The good news though is that getting Horyu is not terminal, in that the Shinsa committee is not saying its gimei, just that there are differences to the usual Kunimitsu nijimei, to warrant additional research. Kunimitsu’s style of Mei is very unique and from what I can tell, consistent throughout his career. The Inconsistency The main 'problem' is the Kuni kanji. Instead of a vertical central line it's curved left to right although the reversal of the mirrored S and 3 parallel lines is consistent. How can this be explained? Fortunately this blade is dated 1308. At this stage the historical texts say Kunimitsu was at the end of his career and is believed to have died around 1312/13. His successor was his 2nd son Kunihiro. It was common practice for smiths of the period, at this stage of their careers, to focus on forging and give the honour of carving of horimono and signing the nakago (daimei) to the best apprentice, or in this case, the defacto successor, Kunihiro. As an aside Yukimitsu was likely the best candidate to take over the forge but he was not blood related and therefore ineligible. Markus states in his Swordsmiths list that all Kunimitsu's sons signed Kunimitsu after his death and that examples of daisaku exist. I have scoured the web looking for examples of Kunihiro's style when signing Kunimitsu and indeed have found several that slant in the normal way. There is no chronology for these signatures so his signing style around 1308 is unconfirmed. Kunihiro as well as Kunishige signed Kunimitsu in a couple of different ways, from 1317 on. Daimei-daisaku was not uncommon during this time and Darcy wrote an excellent essay comparing the 6 styles of signature for the early Rai school smiths. https://onihonto.com/archived-nihonto-ca-yuhindo-com-rai-kunitoshi/ There is a suggestion that the Midare-Kunimitsu, his only extant blade in the Soshu style, was in fact forged by Yukimitsu One of the main points I get from the article is that when an apprentice signed daimei the aim was not to precisely emulate the masters signature style, but to introduce slight variances to differentiate the author of the Mei. In this case Kunihiro added a normal slanted centre line in contrast to the master’s atypical vertical line, but maintained the unusual style of the mirrored S to the left and used a more standard style on the mitsu kanji, without the turn back stroke. The dealmaker If this was all I had to gone on I might have passed on the blade, but I fortuitously invested in Markus' kotozen publication and on pages 456-458 is what is best described as a dead ringer for my blade. The nagasa is almost identical, as is the motohaba, the style and positioning of the boshi is likewise similar. Shape of the nakago is the biggest difference but is consistent with other blades like the Aizu Kunimitsu. Another interesting feature is the characteristic Kunimitsu single sided Koshi-bi. Both blades have an almost identical Koshi-bi on the omote. I have measured the carvings using the munemachi as a reference point and they are almost identical in length. Fortunately the tantō in the book is also signed and dated by the Master himself, but 2 years earlier in 1306. Dated Kunimitsu blades are extremely rare and I only know of 4 including the one I found. It's conceivable that Kunihiro was designated heir-apparent within those 2 intervening years. A couple of blades are dated to the early 1320’s so likely Kunihiro signed Kunimitsu Mei as head of the workshop. One in particular has similar Shintogo jiba, is a shorter length so more characteristic of the father and shows yakikomi (perhaps a carryover blade from before Shintogo died?) What little of the hada that can be seen through the layers of oxidation look promising and that by itself makes it worth going through the various steps. It also has another kantei feature for Kunimitsu namely Yakikomi (absent in the 1306 blade and sometime only on one side) and is considered a sign of superior heat treatment executed by a Mastersmith, with the hardening extending into the nakago. This is something that Shintōgo Kunimitsu excelled at. It also has mitsumune another feature of early Soshuden and seemingly omnipresent on Shintōgo Kunimitsu tantō. Some style of Kuni kanji carved by Kunimitsu's apprentices/heirs A little more digging and I found a short video of the tantō from 1306, taken during an exhibition at the NBTHK last year: https://www.facebook.com/reel/416844547828291 Whats next and a request First thing I want to do is have Tanobe take a look at get his impressions, probably after a window has been opened. Then with a fresh, sympathetic polish I will have the blade resubmitted to the NBTHK. I have exhausted my references and online searches of styles of Kunimitsu Mei, but would be better to find more examples of daimei, daisaku Kunimitsu as mentioned by Markus. If anyone has examples shown in other references that would add support for a daimei attribution I would love to see them. All this information will be passed along for the Shinsa Committee to review to help them come to an informed conclusion. Is there any other supporting evidence I may have overlooked that would bolster the resubmission? Ultimately I think the quality of the jiba has to meet Shintogo Kunimitsu standard for it to be accepted. Did the 1306 blade appear after 2018? Any idea when it passed Shinsa and what papers it got? Goal I’m realistic that the tantō is not in the best shape having been subjected to many polishes over the years. But I will choose the most appropriate togishi to preserve what is left. My main goal is to have the blade attributed to Kunimitsu with daimei signature. If confirmed then this blade has important historical significance. It needs a tsuka, shirasaya and Tanobe sayagaki. There is also a page from an old book stuck to the saya which I would like to have translated. It mentions Masamune, Norishige and Kunimitsu but I’m unsure if there is a specific reference to this particular blade. The sun/moon habaki seems quite unusual too I'm looking forward to seeing where this leads and hope my gut feeling about this blade is justified. If anyone can provide any additional references I would be very grateful.

Thats a beautiful blade with a price to match. The provenance is also exceptional if the history is important. Peter, the owner of MM has some wonderfully curated swords, so you can be sure you are getting some of the best examples available for sale in Europe from a retail source. The photos are well executed and the descriptions very informative. Sent you a PM. And welcome to the forum.

As title says, looking for a copy of this book. Condition not so important. Adrian S had talked about wanting to serialise it in 2011 but his website is inactive and he hasn't logged in here since last year.

A very attractive tsuba.

I agree. It all looks a little suspect (gut feeling based on a few photos)

Crazy. 60,000 yen PLUS 5%. Well that kills shipping from AOI.

You might want to consider joining us in Solingen for the bimonthly NBTHK-EB meeting. You are entitled to attend one meeting free of charge or membership requirements. Lots of knowledgeable eyes are usually present.

You're really not selling a possible return to Blighty. Probably explains why I've worked so hard to get permanent EU residency. Should only be a question of a few weeks/months now.

At the end of the day I see personal courier services from Japan to Europe being the only viable option. Have you checked to see if the sword you're interested in can be shipped to the local office and then transported in checked luggage. Adds cost and time but certainly possible.

Well there's always the Japan Art Fair. And then drive it back across the channel. But I agree it's a sorry state of affairs. I'm fairly late to game and the current and increasing restrictions are cause for concern. At least in Germany it's still fairly easy to import antique nihonto. But for how long......

Definitely, especially if there are examples of Shintogo Kunihiro's Mei

Yet repeated defensive strikes along the mune (kirikomi) do not necessarily result in a terminal damage.

Saw my first maru mune blade in person last month on a perfect Rai Kunimitsu. My last purchase has a mitsu mune. Very healthy Rai Kunimitsu

Appears unconnected to the boshi

Apologies for the resurrection but the link to Darcy's lineage is no longer active. Does anyone have a copy of the chronology and relationships for Soshuden discussed in this thread?

On my Mac I have Safari, Chrome and Firefox and use them all. My older 2012 Macbook Pro is beginning to hit issues, especially with Safari, so its useful to have the other browsers, with Firefox being the most useful as it appears to receive many more updates compared to Safari.

Not dissimilar to the 'cloudy' zone beneath the shinogi ji of this Yamato Shikkake. It runs the length of the blade both sides. https://www.instagram.com/p/C8SuBP_MVep/

This one https://sword-auction.com/en/product/27099/as24845-katana-mumeichiyozurunbthk-hozon-token/

I had the pleasure of meeting Tumi Markan at the Japan Art Fair last weekend. Interesting guy and a true asset to the Osafune Museum.

What are the measurements? At first glance it appears more Soshuden influenced than Yamato.

Ahh, so I was standing behind you when you were taking those photos. You were equally smitten by the Sa Kunihiro. The whole package was perfect. Tanobe sayagaki, recent Juyo papers, superior/elegant antique koshirae, solid gold habaki. Your photos truly show the beauty of the blade.

I think everyone was smitten by at least one blade in the show (probably several). For me the highlight was the Sa Kunihiro tanto, unfortunately sold prior to the show. Its koshirae was equally as impressive. Quality of the polish was next level. The Tametsugu was also a nice example of his work. However it was a little short at 66cm and the gawdy gold urushi tachi koshirae was not to my preference.

Another great event and certainly exceeded last years, both in terms of number of dealers (several new faces in the booths from Japan and Australia) and range of blades, with a little more emphasis on Koto. Many Juyo papered blades were available for sale too. There was a booth demonstrating urushi polishing and a separate room featuring the work of a calligrapher. Yes, I would agree a few more lectures covering a wider variety of Japanese culture would encourage greater attendance by the lay person. Maybe a tea ceremony demo would be a nice idea. Its a shame the event is poorly attended by the NBTHK-EB members. The more support it gets the more likely it is to continue. Europe sorely needs the Japan Art Fair. Congrats to Henk and Daisuke san for organizing this annual 3 day expo which seems to grow in strength with increasing years. I plan to be there next year too. Did anyone get their blade(s) shinsa'ed on the Sunday? How did that go?