sabiji

Sandai Tadayoshi :-)

Hi Mauro and Curran, thanks for the interesting links!

@Bruno, thank you very much! @ Dale, yes, that is exactly the Kozuka. I bought it from Alan in 2016. It was an impulse buy because I liked it - although I am not a Kinko collector. I was hoping, if available, for more detailed info.

Would be happy if anyone has information in their records or books about an artist named Suzuki Ichirin (period of activity, affiliation with a school). I would also be grateful for pictures of his works. Best regards, Thomas.

I think the shape was deliberately made this way and not accidentally as a result of post-hardening. Also, Ara-Nie, of all things, are not a prime example of Saiha, and Saiha hardening does not start so far behind Ha-Machi as in this example. Basically, though, I can't rule out it being Saiha either, certainly not from the pictures. How to make blades look nice and old in later times, here is a nice example: http://www.kanshoan.com/english/swords/h41_kanetora.html

Just turn the tables and ask yourself, who would have done such a thing in the Kamakura? I can't think of anyone. If you look closer, you can see an almost straight monouchi. That's more like a heian-sugata. This sugata was also picked up again in the Oei, Sue Koto and Shinshinto. The hamon lacks the "self-evidence" and "lightness" of early koto, and even late koto. I would expect more sparkling and loosely sprinkled ko-nie. The hard Ara-Nie seen here belongs more to Shinshinto. It all seems very intentional, and here and there the concept of hamon seems to slip away. Then there's the boshi, the crowning glory of any good blade. This boshi is midarekomi, but - please excuse me - clumsy and unimaginative. Everything really screams for a very late blade.

I am waiting for a sea freight which left Japan on January 30. And I think it will take a while. When my daughter was in Japan for 1 year, she sent heavy packages by ship twice. They usually took 3 months to reach Germany. It was not possible to track the shipment. That being said, I recently waited two and a half months for a small package by air from the US. Despite tracking - hadn't been much use - you could only wonder why it was criss-crossing the USA and lying around at airports for ages before it went across the ocean.

Hi Markus, yes, it was a long time ago indeed. I hope to see you sometime, somewhere again. I am all the more pleased about your help. I had already flirted with the Kanji "Sho", but I just couldn't explain Kanji 2 anymore. Does this unusual "wa" mean the same as the "simple form"? Thank you very much, Markus!

Hi Mark, yes Kinoe Inu in the 9th year of the era ??. The dating can't be that old, and most of the younger Nengo are less than 9 years. And if it does, the kanji don't match. It doesn't make sense to me.

Usually this is my "favorite sport". But this time I gave up. Maybe someone has more experience ... I cannot assign the first two Kanji to any Nengo I know. Then comes the 9th (year), then Kinoe Inu, then the Kanji for year, then?, Month ?? Thank you in advance!

I would like to learn. I'm sure I'm wrong, but to me the insert does not look nunome, but very flat hirazogan. At the edges to the mon, the material of the tsuba seems slightly raised. In Tony's enlarged pictures (thanks for that), you can see a fine groove even on the left Mon at the missing part at 12 o'clock. And why shouldn't stencils have been used earlier for efficient work? Such tsuba were certainly not unique, but were produced in small series. For me, the tsuba seems quite normal as a work from the Bakumatsu or early Meiji.

This special version of the Uchigatana would be the Katate-Uchigatana.

...or, what I rather believe, they were removed on purpose. On the Omote it would have been outside, more visible Mon. Probably it was also no Aoi Mon, what was removed...

I don't think you should be too meticulous about many terms to pigeonhole them. An Uchigatana stands for me historically seen for a companion sword/secondary sword, which is at least longer than a classical Tanto, in order to correspond to the Kanji "Uchi". This would make our classic katana just as much an uchigatana as the wakizashi - completely independent of the quality of the blade or the rank of the wearer.

There is also good news from my side. Yesterday I finally held my shipment in my hands after two and a half months. The package looked pretty battered, but the contents had remained intact. What never worked for me in the past, this time the tracking of the US Postal Service was reliable. Quite the opposite of DHL. A little over 2 months the shipment needed until obviously an airport was found, from where the package could go to Germany. Dear guys in the States: You really have good and interesting stuff. But I am now really afraid to buy something from you. From Japan it has (so far) always worked without problems.

I am not a metallurgist, or a swordsmith, but I do not believe that Sai-Ha leads to such pronounced re-curvature. If I were to harden this blade again, would I have a half-circle? As long as an edge is hard, the martensitic structure will occupy the appropriate space. It is a tensional structure. This structure dissolves when the blade is exposed to high heat again. Accordingly, the bend should relax again - at least to a certain degree. In addition, I think that a swordsmith would correct the shape before rehardening, if necessary, to obtain an appropriate sori of the finished blade.

No, it is "only" a tsuba. The tracking does not move. As the recipient, I cannot make an inquiry request. The sender is absolutely trustworthy and does what is in his power. In addition, the US Postal Service, as well as DHL, says that due to the tense situation and longer shipping times, you should refrain from requesting an investigation.

I wanted to ask about your experiences regarding the duration of shipments abroad lately. I have been waiting for a shipment from the USA to me in Germany for 8 weeks. Shipments from Japan have also reached me within a week in December 2020. I did some research and read that the US postal service was extremely overloaded in December. Is that still the case? I know due to the pandemic you have to expect longer shipping times. But 8 weeks (air freight) is extreme. I actually don't think the shipment will reach me anymore. However, a small package from Italy reached my daughter this week, which was mailed on December 30. There is not even a customs clearance between Germany and Italy.

I think the shape fits perfectly for a Katateuchi of the Muromachi. But what is it exactly? I see too little for that. Seems to have masame in the Shinogiji. Could be Sue Bizen, Could also be Odawara-Soshu, possibly also direction Wakasa- Soshu -> Fuyuhiro.

Pffffhhh, I don't know. From the feeling I would tend to the late Shinshinto, so in the Bakumatsu. Well, and from what I can see it looks Soshu-esque. Since the Soshu style came late in the Bizen influenced Shinshinto period through the Naotane and Kiyomaro schools, I would guess the sword to be in that environment.

Why? It looks like a duck, it walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, why then necessarily confirm that it is a duck. Better invest the money in the next piece.

I think Sandai or Yondai

You have my fullest agreement, Christian. Many here have obviously also already been born as experts. No one started small and had to trust what the seller told him. Even if hardly anyone here can imagine it, there are definitely people who do not know Japanese and English, who do not trust themselves to make a purchase on the other side of the world, who do not know how to get the purchase through customs. When I started in 1990 there was no internet, literature mainly in Japanese. If you could not see swords in person, you had to rely on photos and descriptions. My first purchase in Japan had to be made via postal money order. The postal worker had no idea how to do it. It took a week for the payment to arrive in Japan. Today, many things are so much better. There is plenty of literature, the Internet, forums, and any housewife with a credit card can buy anything in the world with one click. And although so much knowledge is so readily available, many are too lazy to study it. Whether here in the forum or on Facebook, there are constantly new topics like "please information ..." and bad photos to go with it. It is also so much easier this way than to do research yourself. I am convinced that the buyer was not an expert. Perhaps a martial artist who wanted to fulfill the dream of a historical original and has long saved up for it. Clearly, from your point of view, the dealer did everything right if he made such a profit. But personally, I would never buy anything from this dealer again.

No, every sword is at best what you get in the market if you have to sell it again! @Kirill: a sword that originally cost 70K, and later increased in sales value, must have had a certain quality and level. People who spend that money on a blade like this should know what they are doing. Collectors who are currently bidding up for the Muramasa from 1.45 million yen to 2.0 million yen at Aoi must also know what they are doing. Even if I cannot understand that, because a name and not quality is offered here. But if someone pays 15K for an unsigned, suriage Shinto Takada, I'm convinced they don't know what they did. And that's what this scene suffers from. How many times have I seen someone proudly present a sword for which they paid insane money. And then you don't know how to gently teach him that he was basically betrayed. That the sword is nowhere near the market value. And then there is bad blood, hardened fronts and certain people to be avoided ...