sabiji

I would like to take another brief look at the Kantei. I deliberately mentioned Tsuda Sukehiro because of Alex A, BECAUSE I fell flat on my face with a Kantei with a blade by Nidai Sukehiro with Choji and UTSURI, because I typed Heki Mitsuhira. Many people don't know Bizen-Den blades by Tsuda Sukehiro, but they do exist because he did something like this, albeit rarely. Such blades are of course real Kantei killers, but you should always keep the possibility in mind. And seek and ye shall find: here is a Tsuda Sukehiro with choji and clearly visible midare utsuri: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/9142/as21174-脇差：津田越前守助広二代/ Incidentally, one should also not forget the Chikuzen-Nobukuni Shinto representatives. They can also do utsuri. However, the nioiguchi is not as strongly compressed as that of the important Ishido people. However, the pronounced Osaka yakidashi made me bring in Yasuhiro.

Of course it's possible! Heki Mitsuhira and co. in particular have managed to create some gaudy Midare Utsuri. Only very few Ishido people could do anything with a yakidashi. The yakidashi is short and steep, typical for Osaka. Ko-Itame, compact Nioi-Deki...I would have nothing against Bitchu kami Yasuhiro. But here it comes! I'm staying in Osaka, and I think Alex A is alluding to Tsuda Sukehiro. The swordsmith who is famous for his Nie-Deki Toran, or Suguha created with deep Nioiguchi: I have seen a blade from Tsuda Sukehiro that would have easily put Heki Mitsuhiro in his pocket! Compact nioideki, choji in the best Ishido style and a fierce midare utsuri. Sukehiro could do much more than what he is known for. So absolutely possible.

But take a look at the Sugata! Certainly, apart from the fact that the shape is completely messed up as it is now, it looks completely unbalanced. MyanN himself writes that the mihaba is identical at the base and just before the fukura. Even the shinogiji does not narrow towards the kissaki, it even looks slightly wider. I can't recognise any fumbari, the thing has a pronounced sakizori and the fukura isn't right at all... You won't find such effects on a simple, ground-down shobu. Naoshi, pretty sure. But that doesn't make this blade any better...

There are mentions of the name Sho A from the years 1489, 1540 and 1571. From the mention in 1540 and 1571, the job title Gin-Saiku emerges. The 1540 mention also states that the Sho A have been in the service of the Ashikaga for generations. This is consistent with the fact that artistic advisors and curators (doboshu) with their origins in the Jishu sect of Jodo Buddhism traditionally use the syllable Ami or just a. Gin Saiku, i.e. silversmith, leaves the range of activities of the early Shoami completely open. It can concern everything from decorations on building elements, religious-cult objects, jewelry, but also sword mounts. I personally believe that there were very few workshops specializing exclusively in sword ornamentation at that time. I can imagine that it was economically better to have a wide range of production. But this flexibility automatically extended to manufacturing techniques and technologies. Which is also an advantage. It is also completely open whether people such as the gin-saiku Sho a Uemonsaburo mentioned in 1540, in his function as doboshu, instructed craftsmen in design or commissioned “collections” of different objects accordingly. This is why there is no typical shoami style for tsuba, as they are not limited to ji-sukashi. As a doboshu, it makes sense to have its location at least near the Ashikaga and the Hana no Gosho. Yes, the first shoami master to sign was Masanori. In a dated work from 1645, he describes himself as a pupil of Umetada Shigeyoshi and a resident of Nishijin. It is also said of Horikawa Kunihiro that the workshop of his master Umetada Myoju was located about 2 kilometers north of the sword forging district of Kaji-Cho on Horikawa. And so we end up back in the middle of Nishijin near Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Jurakudai castle. If we take the late 1580s as a benchmark, Nishijin was the creative quarter for a clientele of rich and powerful people who resided nearby. Everything from the “fashion industry”, Kano artists, Raku masters, tea masters, to the Goto, the Umetada and obviously also the Shoami could be found here. This concentration and proximity of many artists from different visual arts also explains the stylistic proximity of their works and their influence on each other. However, the Momoyama period under Toyotomi Hideyoshi was also a time when class barriers were cemented. The shoami were not aristocrats like the goto. Accordingly, there are few records. They must also have inevitably lost their patrons (the Ashikaga) and thus their doboshu function with the dissolution of the shogunate, and one can only assume that the shoami thus underwent a major social change. Since the Umetada were in Hideyoshi's favor, hierarchies will also have adapted to the changed political situation. And despite all this, the Shoami managed to form regional workshops in almost all of Japan from the early Edo period onwards and had a great influence on other schools, more than any other “tradition”. Yes, I know what's coming: it's all just guesswork and fantasy! But in my opinion, the Shoami certainly have a long history. How the whole thing actually happened back then, just because there are hardly any or no records today, is really not the fault of the poor Shoami.

Florian, it's no different for me. I understand what you mean. It's true that there is a lack of reviewers to cope with the volume of submissions. But I'm afraid the problem is likely to get worse. Because the experienced people whose “wisdom” is basically being questioned here are becoming fewer and fewer. What new society, which has already been called for here, is supposed to improve this? With which experts? But I admit that I simply don't have the insider knowledge. Maybe I'm too pessimistic. I hope so...

Florian, but aren't we ourselves to blame? It used to be time-consuming and expensive to submit a tsuba for a hozon, for example. There was also no internet in the past, and in the early years there were only very few dealers with the corresponding goods and papers. But we want papers! We expect every dealer, whether in Japan or elsewhere, to offer his tsuba with papers if possible. And the dealers react and are happy to provide everything with Hozon because it sells much better. The market only reacts to us, the collectors! And now we are complaining about hozon inflation. We are responsible for this, not the NBTHK! The NBTHK has reacted! The mass of submissions was far too great. Now it is limited. It has become more difficult, or at least more time-consuming, to submit ornamental rates or blades.

It is mentioned that there are no contemporary depictions in Japanese painting (late Muromachi/Momoyama period) that show Ji-Sukashi Tsuba (apart from a few Kikka and Kurumagata). Are there corresponding depictions in Japanese painting from the same period that show the elaborately pierced vessels of European swords, which, as is speculated here, had an enormous influence on the time of origin of ji-sukashi tsuba? I often only see the normal rapier hilts of the period.

I had a sukashi kanayama with constrictions at 3 and 9 o'clock, not at 12 and 6 o'clock as is so often the case here. Officially, the papers said Ryo-Mokko-Gata, but an expert told me that at least my tsuba was based on the shape of the Kemari ball. That seemed very plausible in my case.

For the most part, yes!

As always, this kind of topic irritates me and I ask myself whether I am living in a parallel universe? I don't want to start again with the old stories about how the situation of a collector 30 years ago compares to the current situation. I still had to make decisions based solely on paper photos that I received in paper mail, taken with cameras that were universes different in their technical capabilities from a standard cell phone camera today. And of course, at certain sums you have to get off your ass to look at a sword in person. I wouldn't do it any differently today. So with all due respect, this frequent “the market is dead” whining is absurd. And it's not the poor Tsuruta-san's fault either! For many years, he was one of the few opportunities for the “average collector” to acquire a sword in Japan without having any special contacts there. And I have also seen a few blades bought from him recently, where I was honestly deeply impressed and enthusiastic, at prices I would not discuss at all. Of course, I know the buyer well. He has an excellent eye and knows exactly what he is doing. And that is why I would say that it has never been easier for collectors like him to fish out good and attractively priced pieces from the market. But that's just my opinion.

but instead sabi...

Ono

You and limited knowledge? Typical Japanese understatement from you...

Ko Shoami

Oh Florian, don't always blame everything on the poor Shoami. They can do it better and more elegantly. Maybe Kinai.

I'm planning to go to Japan again in 2025, in the fall of course, and of course this time to the DTI.

Oh, sorry. That's fine then.

Mmmmh, what were your intentions when you bought this blade? Was it a typical Mino work of the Muromachi? If so, in what style? I find it difficult to recognize typical Mino in this blade. Of course, it is difficult to judge from photos anyway. And I can only partially recognize the Yakiba, just like the Nioiguchi. Tsurete, i.e. a uniform coupling of fairly identical Gunome, is not an invention of the Mino and became more common at the end of the Kamakura and in the Nanbokucho. You can also find it in Osafune, or in the Kozori. A Sanbonsugi is a Togari Gunome with a very identical repeat. Repeat is used more often in Gunome than many people think. It brings a certain pleasant aesthetic when the repeat is varied. That is why a pure Tsurete Hamon, or a very identical Gunome repeat like Sanbonsugi, looks strict, even boring. (Even though such a perfect and flawless Hamon is of course quite demanding). I mean that only from an aesthetic point of view, not a technical one. But what are our roots here? It is not a Sanbonsugi, and I cannot see any Togari anywhere. The Yakigashira all look very round. But it is not a Kenbo-Midare either. I recognize a coupling of Gunome groups mainly in combinations of two and three. These are connected by round Tani. The sides are relatively steep, some a little flatter, which is somewhat reminiscent of Koshi no Hiraita. A Bizen invention, which was also copied and interpreted in Mino. But if we come anywhere close to the Koshi no Hiraita here, this Hamon seems far too stiff and "intentional" for a Muromachi/Momoyama work. And I certainly cannot detect any Yamato influence. That is just my opinion.

Ko Shoami, Blüte und Ginger

I see a dark future for Nihonto in other ways. There is the tightening of gun laws in many countries. More and more shipping service providers are refusing to ship swords. And another thing, the collector scene is not getting any younger. I really can't imagine a “sell-out” of swords in Japan.

Georg, we had to thank you! Your Masayuki/Kiyomaro is an impressive sword with an excellent polish! In addition to the master, we were able to study two of his students: 2x Saito Kiyondo and 1x Minamoto (Suzuki) Masao. There is also a sword from the Hamabe school, the school where Kiyomaro was trained at the beginning of his career. Enclosed a bad photo of the table only (so as not to show any people...).

At the risk of being burned as a heretic, I see some pretty rough welds in the circles... ...fine chains of black Nie I think I see scattered all over the blade.

I agree with Rokujuro, Satsuma-age would not explain the course of the Shinogi.

Robert, do you mean the “black dots”? They are Nie.

@Jussi Ekholm, your Tadahiro comparison is certainly interesting, precisely because we have a noticeable price difference here from one and the same swordsmith. You base your choice on the fact that price is not important. But it would be interesting not to do so, precisely in the spirit of the topic. Your choice is understandable. The blade is relatively well preserved, it has Horimono and it has a Koshirae. These are all factors that make such a sword very attractive to collectors on the general market. But it is priced exactly in the middle. So why isn't the most expensive Tadahiro in your comparison with such high market potential? Is it just because of the cut test of a well-known representative with a good, fairly early date? The appearance of the sword is marred by the fact that it has already lost some material. In some places the thin Hizen-Kawagane appears to have been polished through. In addition, the blade is machiokuri and the original Nakago-Jiri was cut off. Nevertheless, I think that this sword is the best of the trio in terms of quality. Although my opinion is irrelevant, I would go so far as to say: if this blade were in the best condition and Ubu, with the cutting test as a bonus - this sword would be a Juyo candidate! (Jussi, you know more about this, but I seem to remember that Nidai Tadahiro is the Shinto smith with the highest number of Juyo). But since this is not the case, it requires a collector who is willing to pay the price and is willing to accept the "problems". However, in the price range you have presented, Tadahiro katana with TH are very common. Collectors who are specifically looking for a Tadahiro have a choice and can set certain parameters, such as the time the blade was created, the shape and length, the characteristics of its signature and ultimately its style, which also includes gunome and choji. Your Tadahiro example in particular shows that the topic of prices and swords is not so simple and that you often have to look at each individual case. If the old guard continues to disappear, an era is certainly over. I don't have enough insight into the scene, especially in Japan. But I have the feeling that a certain elitist and hierarchical thinking was not beneficial in past decades. It is so important that students surpass their masters. Only then has the master done everything right. And only then will new, strong generations emerge. I emphasize again that I have too little background knowledge on the subject and I can only rely on my gut feeling. Old names are disappearing. Submitting kodogu and blades to a Shinsa of the NBTHK has become more difficult due to limitations and tight registration windows. The last Juyo sessions were the strictest in history. The positive thing, however, is that it counteracts the previous paper inflation. Yes, more young people in Japan seem to be developing an interest in Nihonto, also triggered by various anime and manga. At the same time, more and more museums in Japan are experiencing financial problems. The number of registered swordsmiths is also decreasing. There are discussions in Japan about whether the traditional training of apprentices in the swordsmith's home is still appropriate... Internationally, too, one must not forget that certain political activism and tightening of national gun laws are making it increasingly difficult for collectors in some countries to pursue their hobby. I would really like to be optimistic, but to be honest, I am anything but sure in which direction things will go in the future...