Sutraken

Dear members, as requested in the for sale section, I would be pleased to get a translation of the particular page of the book „100 years of gendaito“ which states that Kazuyuki is a former mei of Tsukamoto Okimasa. All the best Stefan

In my opinion, this sword was originally made as a regular size nanbokucho tachi, which was later shortened to its actual length as a wakizashi. Perhaps there were some battle damages making a shortage to this length below katana standards necessary.

Well, after seeing this nakago I have to change my guess to the nanbokucho sa school. This grade of patina makes shinshinto very unlikely.

Although the sugata appears to be typical for a nanbokucho period sword, I would guess the wakizashi was made by the shinshinto master Sa Yukihide.

There is a great misunderstanding about art being usually regarded as useless objects. Utility does not define the opposite of beauty, especially considering the known phrase: beauty is truth and truth is beauty. Art is not necessarily a way to make objects more decorative. Sometimes it only means to give a functional object more individual traits without reducing its initial utility.

Hello Oli, thank you for the kind words. I am pleased you like the Yoshimune. All the best Stefan

Sold

Is no one willing to make me an offer for this beautiful katana ?

3800€ is the new asking price.

Bump fuchi and kashira are also of exquisite quality.

Hi Stephen, thank you for mentioning Yoshimune‘s lineage. All the best Stefan

Thank you for the kind words, Peter.

I offer for sale a premium gendaito made by the famous gendai smith Takahashi Yoshimune. This katana comes in very fine samurai mounts. The total condition of blade and koshirae is near mint. The sword has a well grained and tight ko-itame hada and at times also a burl of ko-mokume hada. The hamon is a soshu style notare, made of dense ko-nie and a deep nioi guchi. In the monouchi the hamon is entirely ko-nie. The katana has a maru boshi. There are activities like nijuba, uchinoke and nie hoture in and around the hamon. The nakago has the mei: Sekishin Houkoku Minamoto Yoshimune Saku dated: Koki Nisen Roku Hyaku Ni Nen San Gatsu Hi ( a lucky day in March 1942 ) Yoshimune is ranked as a saijo saku smith and is rated as a high to superior grade gendaito smith, according to Slough‘s Modern Japanese Swordsmiths ( page 198 and 199 ). In addition Yoshimune is known for his patriotism and his swords sometimes have patriotic sayings. On this sword the saying ‚Sekishin Houkoku‘ can be translated as ‚serving the country with the utmost sincerity‘. The tsuka of the mentioned koshirae is silk-cord wrapped and contains custom menuki. The iron sukashi tsuba was probably made in the mid edo period. Besides there are two seppas made of copper. The blade measurements are: Nagasa: 66cm Sori: 1,5cm Motohaba: 3,0cm Sakihaba: 2,0cm Kissaki Nagasa: 3,0cm Nakago Nagasa: 20,8cm Kasane: 0,7cm My asking price is 4400€. I am open to reasonable offers, but I am not interested in trading. The sword is in Germany. I ship worldwide with DHL premium international. Payment should be done with paypal. The shipping costs are included. Kind regards Stefan

Hi Bazza, the person who sold me my Sukehiro, a professional dealer, gave me the image I posted yesterday. I don’t know where he found the portrait picture. I didn’t ask him. Regards Stefan

Hello Brandon, thank you for sharing images of your Sukehiro with us. Stefan

Hello Brandon, the nagasa is 62,8cm. It is a great sword. Kind regards Stefan

The wakizashi arrived today. It is a beautiful blade. Steve, I thank you for the kind communication and for the nice waki. Kind regards Stefan

A special order Tomita Sukehiro made in 1944 for Mr. Nishisaka Takashi in shirasaya and shingunto mounts.

My book I purchased from Adam arrived today. A very recommendable seller.

I take the Military Swords of Japan book, if it is still available. I send you a PM. Stefan

Yes, I know this particular sword. There are a few more shinsakuto made by Okimasa in this particular era before the sword boom in 1960. I saw another example recently on rice cracker with bo hi but without horimono for around 12k. It has a nagasa above 70cm. Anyway as I wrote before, the main part of Tsukamoto Okimasa‘s work was done during WW2. Stefan

I would like to mention an exception for the rule that gendaito are more appreciated then shinsakuto, even made by the same smith: Tsukamoto Okimasa. His few post WW2 blades are regard with highest admiration and are considered as his best output in terms of quality. On the other hand, the majority of his swords are gendaito, which is one reason why he is mentioned mostly as WW2 smith in discussions here. Prices begin for his shinsakuto in prestine condition with blade lengths above 70cm and horimono around 10k. This is not extraordinary more than the sums you have to pay for his best gendaito in comparable condition of preservation, but compared with other gendai smiths of this era I find it remarkable. That’s why I write this comment on prices for nihonto. Stefan

Nambokucho Soshu Sa school O Sa

Thank you very much for the kind words, Barry, Brian and Uwe !

Dear members of the board, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Stefan, I am 30 years old and live in Northern Germany. My interest in nihonto began 10 years ago, as I bought the informative book about sword forging written by Leon Kapp and Yoshindo Yoshihara. I bought my first real nihonto last year from Aoi Art. It is a papered Den Naoe Shizu katana with a great blackish jigane. At the moment I own four blades. In the meantime I dealt with Brano and Lei-Ray here on the board. They are very recommendable. My main goal is to improve my knowledge in nihonto and to share my experiences. I hope to have a great time here. Kind regards Stefan