Bizen Katana

[pcfarrar]

I have a katana in gunto mounts that is suriage and has a gimei Sukehiro inscription. It has a wide choji nie based hamon with crab claws, the jigane is a tight ko-itame with lots of ji-nie. It also has muneyaki that runs down about 50% of the blade. Given the shape I wondered if it might be a Shinto Sukesada or something like that?

 

Sorry for the poor photos but the state of the polish makes it quite difficult. The blade is 26.5".

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[pcfarrar]

Photo of the crabs claws:

[Geraint]

Hi Peter.

 

Whatever it is I like it. As it seems to be suriage how long do you think it was originally? Also what about the boshi? The two things that piqued my curiosity were the pronounced muneyaki and the strong ji nie, neither of which I would associate with Shinto Bizen, though of course, everything is possible. Did a search and guess what came up?

I think its Shinto like you say, and the sue bizen style hamon is typical of Bungo Takada work. Not much information about on Bungo swords really, which is odd considering they seem to survive in a quantity greater than anything else

An earlier message board reply from some guy

called Peter. I do not suggest that as an attribution, merely a rethink. What do you reckon?

 

All the best.

[pcfarrar]

Hi Geraint,

 

I think originally it would have been around 28" nagasa. The boshi is hard to photo, I've attached a picture in which you can just about see it, its wide.

 

I did consider Bungo, but most of the Bungo choji I've seen have been nioi and not nie based like this hamon.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[David Flynn]

What is the pattern of the Boshi? This is a good indication. Bizen, usually follows the pattern of the Hamon, whilst Bungo , are more Maru.

[pcfarrar]

It's a sugu boshi with ko-maru.

[runagmc]

A lot of times you will see yakidashi in Shinto and later choji, in Bungo, Ishido and some of the Osaka smiths. From what I have seen, yakidashi wasn't as common in Shinto Bizen, though. Can you tell if your sword shows any signs of yakidashi going into the nakago?

[pcfarrar]

No sign of a yakidashi, the hamon going into the nakago is the same width all the way down the first mekugi-ana.

[pcfarrar]

Mizuta Kunishige seems a possibility although I can't find any examples with this style of hamon. The fine ko-itame jigane, and nie on this sword just don't seem to fit for Bungo.