French nihonto

The solution would be to make a new shirasaya. Sometimes an old shirasaya can be quite healthy, but sometimes it's not. Uchigo powder, blocked humidity, wood that is staining.

I think there are many techniques, many of them very good. I had an experience with a rust stain on one of my blades that had been in customs too long. The stain was much bigger than yours. I inhibited one of my microdear with clove oil and rubbed it gently for just over an hour. Using my fingertip to be as precise as possible, after just over an hour and quite a bit of pain in the arm and hand (I understand the physical difficulty for a polisher who does this sort of thing all day), the rust stain turned into a clove oil stain, and I rubbed gently for at least an hour. The rust stain turned into a small light white stain and the steel was healthy again. And the polish around the stain remained perfect. Very archaic but it worked for me

That's for sure, atypical Shirasaya. I'm posting the link to the site. There is some information. https://camp-fire.jp/projects/711428/view

Hello. An interesting video worth watching. For those who missed it, I'd like to share it with you. Max.

Interesting topic. For the past 1 or 2 years, I have seen a change, to give an example, on eBay there are many more blades for sale of varying quality, but also quality blades, for huge prices. Something that was less common before. Everyone with a little money can find a beautiful blade. For conservation, which is our main concern, the first subject to address in my opinion, are beginner collectors, who can be poorly informed, and poorly trained. We all had our first blade one day but how many times do I still see nihonto owners, often young collectors, scratching the tip when putting the blade back in the Saya. Who speak in front of the blade, who take the blade out of the Saya by rubbing the Shinogi and not on the Mune. And no need to go far for that, just look on YouTube, I recently saw a man explaining how he oils his nihonto. It shows a man in his garden, spraying an old quality blade with a WD40 type spray, without removing the tsuka and the Habaki, and spraying the blade, the Habaki, and probably a little bit of the tsuka too. The excess is removed from the blade and the Habaki with an old T-shirt. The blade is put back in the Saya with a Habaki probably still oiled. This is dangerous for him and for the blade because the Habaki holds the blade in the Saya and must remain completely dry, in addition to the fact that the oil on the Habaki will eventually damage the wood of the Saya. All this shows who has a problem with training and knowledge. In our respective professions, when we have to use a new software, a new mechanical tool, a new vehicle, when we want to keep a weapon at home. We have to follow a training. We spend our lives training. But to own an 800 year old historical blade, which is also an object that can be dangerous to oneself, no training is necessary? Why not set up a training course, at the end of which a certificate would be issued, which would be necessary to purchase a blade. The training would be provided by experienced collectors in person or by online training on a site developed for this purpose. with a historical part, a part on the do's and don'ts, how to properly maintain the blade, how to store it properly, etc. with videos and explanations. This would allow a collector or a merchant to ask for the training certificate to be sure that the buyer is well trained to take care of a nihonto. For some dealers who sell high value blades, this certificate could be mandatory to place an order, etc. For experienced collectors it will be easy and quick, and for beginners it will encourage them to learn more and not buy a blade impulsively. This is just one idea among others, but there are many things we could implement in the future.

Yes, that's certainly the case. I'd be curious to know if there are any archives, studies or indexes written in the Meiji period about the previous period. Not yet fully studied.

Thank you for your reply. We agree, it is a bit unusual, my first thought was "a blacksmith absent from the indexes" but modern indexes are now very complete, or a blacksmith who has changed his name. What I don't understand, and which piqued my curiosity, is that in Markus Sesko's index, which we know to be of high quality, Soshu Hirofusa is listed as a pupil of Hizen/Soshu Hirotsugu, but Hirofusa lived nearly 100 years before his master, so you have to admit that it's not easy to take lessons from him or am I missing a piece of the puzzle? It's an obsession, I like to understand the blacksmith's line clearly. Does anyone have any information or examples of work on these two blacksmiths?

Thank you for your reply François. I saw well it is 4 Hirofusa. The only Hirofusa linked to Hizen is Soshu Hirofusa. But the dates don't fit. What's more, the patina and the several Mekugi Ana of the Nakago don't really make me think of late Edo. Or maybe it's a blacksmith who isn't in any of the Indexes? I've never had to deal with that.

even if the subject is not the blade as such but the blacksmith, and the polishing is old, lack of visibility, I send you some photos. Some nie over the whole length of the blade, quite nice. thanks you gentleman. max

Hello gentlemen. A few years ago I was looking for a blade from the Hizen school to study, I bought a hozon katana signed Hirofusa in Japan, very old polishing, very sound blade and still thick but Suriage unfortunately, the seller told me that Hirofusa was linked to Soshu, I didn't pay too much attention to it at the time. I thought maybe one day I'd send it off to be polished. It's really a study blade. I'd put it aside and just taken it out for the usual maintenance, thinking that one day I'd study it. Now that I'm slowing down my collection, I'm taking the study blades out to study them a bit. The hozon paper says "katana hirofusa shintô école Hizen", so I went to look at the indexes. And little surprise, the only Hirofusa that could match is soshu hirofusa, (1532-1555) but from the end of the koto period, so not shinto and not from the Hizen school. Another thing I don't understand is that he was a pupil of Soshu Hirotsugu (1688-1704), obviously the pupil can't have lived before the master, so something doesn't add up. However, what is interesting is that Soshu Hirotsugu is linked to the Hizen school, so we find the Hizen school. I haven't found any other Hirofusa linked to Hizen in any index. I need help to sort out this mess.

As Mr Thomas said, you don't lay a blade on a hard surface, there are pillow for that purpose. There are very few photos of the blade to examine, but I wouldn't worry too much about the signature on the blade, it looks fine. if you want to expose the blade without Saya for a long time, beware of humidity, rust can quickly occur, it's easy to get caught out. The blade has no Habaki? Otherwise, the blade looks nice. -Max

It does look like the cut mark on my Saya

Markus Sesko : Hiroshige (N), 1 Gene Bunroku (CP 1592-1596), Musashi -. "Bushu Shitahara Hiroshige-ju", "Bushu-ju Hiroshige, "real name" Yamamoto Shinshichiro "he was the fourth son of the 1st Gen. Shitahara Terushige (WN) and opened his own branch of Shitahara family, he lived in Ongatamura (XYZ) in Musashi's Hachioji, Suguha mixed with Gunome-ashi in ko-nie-deki with a rather suppressed nioiguchi, chu-saku Hiroshige (N), 1 . Gene Kan'ei (1624-1644), Musashi - "Bushu Shitahara Hiroshige-ju", "Bushu Hiroshige-ju", "Sagami no Kami Fujiwara Hiroshige", "Bushu Tasai Hachioji-gun Yokoyama no junin Seishu Kuwana ni saku oite Shitahara Hiroshige, "" made out of Shitahara Hiroshige Yokoyama at the Hachioji District Tasai Musashi in Ises Kuwana "), real name" Yamamoto Shinbei, "he later changed his first name to "Shin'emon", the third son of the 1st Gen. Shinshichiro Hiroshige, he opened the twelfth year Kan'ei (1635) has its own branch of Shitahara family, he died in the second year Kanbun (1662) at the age of 88 years Looks like a good blade. Unfortunately Gimei for me. I really like the Habaki, Chrysanthemum Imperial is divine wind I think.

4 first. 2 last. The gentle shrinkage to kissaki catches my eye.

It is located more in the middle. I'm sure it's not a door edge. They are quite common and look more like a bump. In my case, it was clearly cut by a sharp object. The cut is clearly visible.With a fine cutting edge. I'll never be what unfortunately. Unfortunately not, Alex. Sometimes I try to make the blades speak. But they rarely respond.