Which blade(s) are showa-to? ANSWERS HERE NOW

[cabowen]

Ok, here you go:

 

All are star stamped WWII blades, except for number 9, which is an oil quenched, Seki stamped Showa-to from WWII, and number 11, which is by Miyamoto Kanenori with Tokubetsu Hozon kanteisho, from Meiji.

 

If you see nie here and there, it is not oil quenched. Nie is clearly visible in 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 11. Those were the easy ones.

 

If you can see hada, fine ji-nie, hataraki, etc., it isn't a Showa-to. 3 has a clear hada. 5 and 8 are taken at an oblique angle that makes hada and hamon details difficult to see, but the diffuse nature of the hada is a tip off. Showa-to steel, not being forged, is bright, shiny, and hard.

 

Number 10, again due to the photo, is maybe the most difficult. It has lots of activity in the hamon: sunagashi, nioi-ashi, hato-me, etc. Generally not seen in a Showa-to.

 

Number 9 shows the rather consistent, uniform, tight nioi-guchi seem in oil quenched blades. The photo makes seeing the hada difficult but again it is featureless and flat.

 

Many of these are in poor WWII polish. Numbers 3 and 4 are in polish and show the well forged steel typical of these star stamped gendaito.

 

Modern smiths using modern quenchants, with time to perfect their technique, can get western steels to show nie. Smiths working during the war, with war era technology, limited time and training, were not trying to produce nie with their oil quenches. The also didn't have the time to waste on trying to producing complex hamon. Therefore, the signs to look for in Showa-to, besides the sho or seki stamp, are lack of nie, thin, tight, nioi-guchi, featureless hamon, and hard, shiny, ji with a lack of hada.

 

Rikugun Jumei Tosho were trained, traditional smiths. When using tamahagane, blades are quenched in water. They will show nie as well as other activities common to tamahagane made, forged blades. They will show a softer, diffuse habuchi in general, often times in complex patterns. The ji will show hada, often times there will be ji-nie. The hada lacks the hard, mirror-like quality of the showa-to and has depth to it.... These were blades meant for officers and quality was paramount.

 

Thanks to all who played along....we will have to do something like this again....

[drjoe]

Thanks to all who played along....we will have to do something like this again....

 

good one. most of us made it much more difficult that we had to, though some pictures (e.g. 5) were pretty tricky.

 

i'd like to see a quiz like "spot the juyo token..." (without the mei) that explores the subjectivity of nbthk ratings...

[hxv]

Thank you Chris, for both taking the time to post the pictures and for the detailed explanation. It helps me calibrate my understanding of nihonto.

 

Hoanh

[george trotter]

Thanks Chris,

Very educational and lots of fun.

Regards

[chrisf]

Ditto,many thanks for the time,effort,instruction and entertainment Chris,we are fortunate to have you on this site.

[runagmc]

I thought I had it with 9 & 10... I'm surprised that 10 is star stamped and traditional since the hamon had that "oil quenched look" from what I could see, and there didn't appear to be any evidence of hand forging. Oh well, I'll blame it on the picture... :D Thanks for the post Chris.

 

After looking back through the thread, I think Eric T was the only one to guess #9 only, so good eye Eric...

[Baka Gaijin]

Excellent

 

 

Cheers

[Toryu2020]

Great Fun!

[Brian]

Thanks Chris, accepting the limitation of kantei-by-pictures, and also acknowledging that it is just a bit of educational fun...that was a great exercise. I think we definitely need more of these...spot the Juyo...spot the retempered...etc etc.

Perhaps draw more in by telling how many we are looking for out of the listed ones.

 

Brian

[kunitaro]

Chris san,

Thank you very much for your effort.

I think we all enjoyed.

 

btw, could you tell us what all blades were ?

I am curious.

[David Flynn]

Fun.

[cisco-san]

Many thanks Chris

I learned a lot

[almeister]

"Truly A Great Exercise ! "

Thanks Chris !

As the other guys say , this is a Great Way to help broaden the horizon & look forward to seeing any more such posts to develop one's learning !

Cheers , AlanK :-)

[cabowen]

Chris san,

Thank you very much for your effort.

I think we all enjoyed.

 

btw, could you tell us what all blades were ?

I am curious.

 

 

Glad to hear you and everyone else enjoyed this...

 

Here is a list of tosho for the blades pictured:

 

1,Seki Kanetomo

2, Katsukiyo

3,Nakata Kanehide

4, Miura Kunimitsu

5, Baba Tsugukiyo

6. Semimaru Masahiro

7. Seiunshi Hisatsugu

8. Ihara Teruyoshi

9. Seki stamped blade (don't recall the maker)

10. Seishinshi Nagatoshi

11. Miyamoto Kanenori

[george trotter]

Thanks Chris.

I must say I did not pick #3 Nakata Kanehide for his work, even though I have had several of his Chojiba in hand. Now that I know, I can see his work....must be because the postwar hadori re-polish looks so different to the (usually) wartime sashi-komi polish.

You have a very nice lineup of gendaito there Chris...anyone would be lucky to have even one of them.

Regards,

[cabowen]

Thanks Chris.

I must say I did not pick #3 Nakata Kanehide for his work, even though I have had several of his Chojiba in hand. Now that I know, I can see his work....must be because the postwar hadori re-polish looks so different to the (usually) wartime sashi-komi polish.

You have a very nice lineup of gendaito there Chris...anyone would be lucky to have even one of them.

Regards,

 

 

Yes, the polish makes a huge difference....

 

Actually, I do not own any of these swords....Just for fun!

 

I own only a few star stamped blades at present....but I have owned many in the past.

[kunitaro]

Thank you very much.

I learn a lot.

[Stegel]

Hi Chris,

My hat off to you! We've not agreed in the past, but that was the most informative and educational thread i have yet seen on this site! Well done.

My picks were 5, 9, and 10.... 4 looked odd but i didn't go for it.

I did get confused reading the answers as the number and x.jpgs numbers got mixed at the end.

Thoroughly enjoyed going through the exercise and agree with others that more of these would benefit all members, especially the newbies.

Thanks and,

Cheers

Ernst