Kozuka blade and their price

[Christophe]

I was invited last Friday to a private auction sale dedicated only to kozuka and their blades (46 kozuka and 82 signed blades). I have been amazed at what price some signed blade left (price between ¥ 18,000 and ¥ 76,000 for the most expensive).

Did smiths such as Sukesada, Fujiwara ....... or their students forged Kozuka blade or are they had been maked by the craftsman who made kozuka? I did a search on the internet but I did not find anything conclusive. Does anyone'll have an idea or information about this topic?

Thank you in advance

 

Christophe

[John A Stuart]

For the most part signatures found on kogatana are spurious. We can think of them as testimonial. There are kogatana signed legitimately by their makers and these have prices accordingly. The prices you quote are not high and some of the higher end ones may be legitimate, but, if shoshin mei kogatana are sold made by reknown smiths these prices can be much higher. John

[nagamaki - Franco]

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3504&p=26234

 

Not all that long ago there was a Kogatana by either Kotetsu or Kiyomaru, memory fails, but I'm almost certain it was on Ginza Seikodo for ~ $21K or $22K.

[b.hennick]

I have a kogatana made by Yoshindo Yoshihara. It was offered at $2500 now he is selling them for $3500.

[Brian]

Christophe,

You get 2 types of kogatana (the blade part)

Many (most maybe?) are not forged/folded and quenched. They may be completely hardened, but lack hamon, hada and activities. However I am sure they were still made by smiths, even if mass produced.

Then you get the ones that are made just like swords are, and you will see that they have nie, hamon and hada too if polished (only one side is ever polished)

Not sure what percentage are handmade vs mass produced, but seems like many we find do have a hamon.

I doubt if any were made by the people who made the kozuka.

 

Brian

[cabowen]

I saw one at a flea market in Tokyo by Yoshihara Shoji (Kuniie III). I asked the young guy working the booth the price-he said $200. Sold..... As soon as the money changed hands, the owner came over slapped the help (his son) for selling it at 1/10 the true price....I offered to return it, but the owner just threw his hands up and walked away....I'll bet the son got more than a slap at home....

[John A Stuart]

Yes, you can be lucky at times. I got an exhibited kogatana made by mukansa Kamibayashi Tsunehira with a special saya and tsuka in a custom silk katanabukuro that came with an oshigata mounted on a weighted scroll for $300 out of the UK. Go figure!! John

[raiden]

Kogatan, although often looked upon as not a big deal, are collected by many big dealers and collectors in Japan. I know several people that have both numerous and high quality Kozuka and kogatana in their collections such as Kiyomaro, Natsuo and Kotetsu. Here is a batch from my collection that have yet to be polished. There is a great book of a super large kogatana collection in Japanese.

Kiyonaga - rare naginata zukuri

Ichige Tokurin with rare date

Satsuma Masayuki

Kashu Kiyomitsu - I actually just got a great sword in by him that has proof it was from ther Maeda clan with testcut

Kiyonaga

Late Yasutsugu - was mounted in a mitokoromono by wada isshin

 

As far as I have seen, they range anywhere from $100 - $100,000 (Kotetsu with the handle as one piece with horimono, I think there are only 6-7 of these, but you can check the Kotetsu Taikan for accuracy)

[jamesicus]

Christophe,

You get 2 types of kogatana (the blade part)

Many (most maybe?) are not forged/folded and quenched. They may be completely hardened, but lack hamon, hada and activities. However I am sure they were still made by smiths, even if mass produced.

Then you get the ones that are made just like swords are, and you will see that they have nie, hamon and hada too if polished (only one side is ever polished)

Not sure what percentage are handmade vs mass produced, but seems like many we find do have a hamon.

I doubt if any were made by the people who made the kozuka.

 

Brian

Yes, Brian, that is what I believe. Here are some images of a recent acquisition:

 

 

The kôgatana is inscribed on the omote Tango No Kami Kanemichi (Shotô Mishina smith)

 

 

Although scuffed and worn from use, the ura is in polish with a wavy (gunome midare) hamon.

 

Close-up of hamon - I do not discern any obvious jihada.

 

I hope I have got this right - I welcome corrections. Please excuse the photo quality - I still have trouble with polish glare.

 

James

[jason_mazzy]

Ive always been curious because I have a couple, how do you determine if its worth paying to have polished?

[raiden]

Many tosho that were famous made both the kozuka and the ko gatana blade. Kotetsu is a top example as the example in the Sano museum catalog. I have an unsigned piece all one piece handle and kogatana, and I know that Yoshindo has made such pieces as well.

[Jean]

Somewhere I have posted the kogatana I was collecting. Very characteristic long mei, they were done by Mino smiths circa 1680 who specialized in kogatana forging, one has a masame hada.

 

Here is the description of one of them (they are all in shirasaya).

KOGATANA description.doc

[Ron STL]

John Yumoto used to say buying kogatana was like buying a pocket knife; you went to the shop and picked "the name" you wanted on the blade and that was it. Today, we are aware that swordsmiths did indeed make their own kogatana. I'm sure John was aware of this years ago but was speaking in general about kogatana, not the truly forged kogatana. I have saved a number of these by noted smiths and when polished, a beautiful hamon with ko-nie hataraka and fine jihada can be enjoyed! A fancier of Jirotaro Naokatsu, in Japan a few years ago I was offered an fine example for something like $1,200 or so, but declined because of the price compared to my interest level.

 

There is an illustrated book written on kogatna showing authentic mei, but the name escapes me at the moment. I do use it and it is useful to determine "authentic" mei by known smiths. I'll dig out the title to the book unless someone else knows it.

 

Ron STL

[nagamaki - Franco]

Primarily nioi hamon with fine ko nie and yo.

 

 

[Christophe]

Thank you all for your information its opens new horizons so to speak.

In searching the net, I found a book on this subject: Nihonto Kogatana Zuikan by Shibata. I will try to found it. There's another sale in Japan (see photos) but unfortunately too expensive for me right now.

thank you again

Christophe

[Eric H]

Some pics

 

Kiyomaro

Naotane

Yoshindo

Hirokuni

Munetsugu from my collection

 

Eric