Question about Polishing

[hxv]

I was perusing Aoi-Art and came across a wakizashi with the following description (excerpt from Aoi-Art):

 

Special feature : According to Honami Koson’s sayagaki, the blade was judged as Enjyu school.

But NBTHK issued the paper as Kouda school.

The founder of the Kouda was Nyudo kunimitsu and many students like Kunifusa, Kunimune and Kunitsaugu.

Generally old Kouda make suguha hamon with sosyu den school.

This sword is suguha but sosyu den added with kinsuji work and a lot of Chikei.

The blade was judged as Enjyu by Honami Koson sensei but I think the blade was polshed and disappear Utsuri on the ji.

So NBTHK judged as Kouda school.

I think the polisher polished the blade more active jigane and hamon.

So the Utsuri disappear from the Jigane.

Anyway the blade was made around late Kamakura period fantastic jigane and hamon.

 

I have read about polishing changing the appearance of a blade significantly (polisher-dependent), but didn't know that important features such as utsuri can disappear, too. This is too unsettling. Comments, please?

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Brian]

Hoanh,

What's to comment on? Utsuri is generally one of the harder things to bring out with a polish. Not hard to imagine that changing the polish slightly would obscure the utsuri. Hard to pick out utsuri at the best of times unless very prominent.

Polishing can change the colour of the steel, hide activities, draw in a fake yakiba....just about anything. Any wonder why we advocate the best polishing possible?

 

Brian

[hxv]

Brian,

 

I have always bought into the ethics of using Japanese-trained polishers with good reputations in the Nihonto collectors' circle, but even then, I will think twice & thrice about having a sword polished. This is definitely something to chew on.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[mdiddy]

I have read about polishing changing the appearance of a blade significantly (polisher-dependent), but didn't know that important features such as utsuri can disappear, too. This is too unsettling.

 

It is the nature of swords as art instead of weapon. Modern togishi are in the 'image enhancement' business. I have heard anecdotally that some can indeed be miracle workers and breath life into tired blades, that hada can change from masame to muji, that certain attributes can be enhanced to change and improve average Shinsa results.

 

Frankly, I see no problem with this. Sword appraisal is not an exact science and we are all operating on incomplete information. If the difference between an 'Enju' appraisal and a 'Ko-Uda' appraisal is a skilled togishi then so be it. My own first-hand experience with properly trained togishi are that they are highly skilled craftsmen that significantly enhance and bring out those aspects of nihonto that we appreciate. It is up to them to decide their methods.

 

Enju vs. Ko-Uda may influence price, but from an appreciation standpoint, the important takeaway from Tsuruta-san's write-up was this:

 

Anyway the blade was made around late Kamakura period fantastic jigane and hamon.

[cabowen]

A polisher's job these days is to make a sword look as attractive as possible. Think of them as make-up artists. The best can work wonders but sometimes when the booze wears off and the sun comes up, that princess can turn out to be a witch.....

[hxv]

 

Hoanh

[Jiro49]

nihonto goggles?

[sanjuro]

I'm no expert on polishing by any means. However, I think it is an unfortunately sad fact that today's collectors of so called 'art swords' (Whatever your perception of the term might be) are to blame for the artificiality of some polishing jobs. There seems to be this desire on the part of many modern collectors to peer into every aspect of the steel's nature, every nuance of its structure. This is all well and good, but in an effort to provide this window into the steel as it were, the togishi treads a fine line between showing the sword to its best advantage on the one hand and totally misrepresenting the ha and hada on the other.

 

I am not a fan of hadori polish on a koto blade. Come to think of it, based on the bad examples one sees, I'm actually not a fan of a modern version of a hadori polish at all. Too much that is simply not there can be 'painted' on, and subtle hada can be masked or made overt to the point of ugliness. :D

 

To borrow a previous analogy, an old whore can look good in the right light with the right makeup. Equally, many a subtle beauty can be ruined by the same makeup in the clearer light of day.

[Jiro49]

I also prefer sashikomi, at times hadori does seem like too much make up on a pretty woman. Although I don't prefer hadori I understand that a happy medium does do wonders for some blades.

[cabowen]

There are two main reasons why a lot of people don't like a kesho polish:

 

1. They have never seen a good one

2. They don't know how to look at a sword

 

If you have a quality kesho polish and you know how to properly view a sword, you can see all of the activity in the hamon, as you would with a sashi-komi polish, plus, the activity in the ji, which is not as clear in a sashi-komi polish, in almost all cases.

 

Of course, there may be people who have seen quality kesho polishes and know how to view a sword and still prefer a sashi komi polish, but I haven't met many.

[Jiro49]

I might have symptoms of both 1 & 2. But aren't there certain types of hamon that in your opinion a kesho finish would not work well with? I've seen a fair share of shinshinto with a big wild choji midare and the like in sashikomi.

 

Regards,

[sanjuro]

Chris.

 

Personal opinion here:

I own swords in both kinds of polish. I am fairly confident in knowing how to look at a sword. However, I tend to be more accepting of a kesho polish on swords of later vintage. Shinto and Shin shinto blades seem to be improved by the kesho finish.

Koto blades on the other hand to me always look better in sashikomi. Both the ha and hada being seen 'in period' as it were.

Perhaps this is an idiosyncracy of my own, - I am a traditionalist after all.

[Clive Sinclaire]

1. They have never seen a good one

They don't know how to look at a sword

 

As always, Chris is quite on the money with his comments. Also, sashikomi is recommended with nioi-deki hamon and hadori in nie-deki. Also I believe that Muji-hada in shinshinto may be the result of less skilled polishing as all swords have a jihada but only the best polishers might be skilled enough to show the tight jihada in some shinshinto swords.

Clive S

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Hadori makes me think to this french song (not the best singer but with english subtitles). Sashikomi is like showing an already naked girl :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wTPb5-Lf40

[sanjuro]

............And kesho may be likened to showing an X-ray of a naked girl. :D Sometimes all the information is too much information.

What is worse, kesho is all too often a re-touched X-ray.

[cabowen]

............And kesho may be likened to showing an X-ray of a naked girl. :D Sometimes all the information is too much information.

What is worse, kesho is all too often a re-touched X-ray.

 

 

Well, to continue with your analogy, some girls, like some swords, are perhaps indeed best kept clothed.

 

Again, it is not possible to add things with kesho that aren't there- knowing how to look makes the hadori disappear.

 

Personally, I like being able to see the activity in the ji. Compare sanding wood versus planing. Sanding creates a fuzzy surface, planing a clean cut. Being able to see the ji-hada and ji-tetsu clearly allows a more accurate determination of the workmanship as well as permits greater appreciation.

 

But I can understand the desire to maintain an older tradition.

[cabowen]

 

Also, sashikomi is recommended with nioi-deki hamon and hadori in nie-deki. Also I believe that Muji-hada in shinshinto may be the result of less skilled polishing as all swords have a jihada but only the best polishers might be skilled enough to show the tight jihada in some shinshinto swords.

Clive S

 

Most WWII era blades were polished in sashikomi because hadori takes longer. Most remark that WWII era blades are muji and most criticized the work in WWII era blades. Once they started to give them a good polish, opinions started changing. As Clive notes, it takes a skilled polisher to bring out the tight hada in shinshinto- the same holds true for gendaito. I know I personally changed the opinion of a few polishers regarding WWII era blades and I know that Mishina Kenji san also had his opinion changed after polishing his first WWII era blade.

 

Clive has given the general theory on when to use sashi-komi versus kesho (hadori). These days it is very difficult to find a polisher capable of a traditional sashikomi polish and nearly all blades are done in kesho. The debate will never end...

[nagamaki - Franco]

knowing how to look makes the hadori disappear.

 

Images are marginal, but still make the point.

 

Koto, nioi deki ......

 

 

[sanjuro]

Chris.

 

Just picking up on a statement of yours, and I apologise for the partial quote.

 

These days it is very difficult to find a polisher capable of a traditional sashikomi polish

 

Would you care to expand on this a little and explain why this is so? Is it purely on the basis of demand or is there a technical reason?

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

 

 

Here the thought of a sword polisher (now passed away)

 

Shiage can be done two ways: Sashikomi and Habiboe or Hadori. Choosing of one of these two styles of finishes depends on the taste of the customer or the state of the blade. Some polishers combine the two styles. Shiage can be done several times without harming the blade. The interest of shiage is to make the sword both aesthetic and attractive. I think that it must show a reflection of the blade's history and that the choice of the style as well as the final result, depend on the age of the blade.

Westerners prefer Sashikomi whereas Hadori has been the rule in Japan since the Shôwa era. Western collectors seem to be moved by patina and the antique look of objects. They are accordingly, more indulgent than the Japanese towards accidents caused by the span of past time. Since the second world war, it seems that Japanese polishers have been looking for technical perfection. This taste for technical prowess can hardly be met in Sashikomi which, primarily, must show the forge work. Hadori enables the polisher to show his dexterity. This attitude appears somewhat conceited since the polisher's approach is restricted here to using the sword as a support to prove his own ability. It seems to me, that the polisher always remain somehow in the shadow of the sword and not consider it as a mean of showing off this crafts. One scould answer that in saying so i could just as well by trying to jusify my clumsiness. This could be possible, however, i do apply Hadori on very particular blades (Nioi-Deki hamon with diffuse habuchi), Shinshinto or Shinto Blades, Suguha or Notare hamon.

[sanjuro]

Jacques.

 

Thanks for posting this quote.

 

So.....Essentially its old style polish for old blades and new style polish (relative terminology) for more modern blades, except under the circumstances given. I cannot disagree with this philosophy nor the insight into Western versus Eastern tastes. Nor would I, given the source of these insights.

[John A Stuart]

It seems to me, by the quote, "do apply Hadori on very particular blades (Nioi-Deki hamon with diffuse habuchi), Shinshinto or Shinto Blades, Suguha or Notare hamon.", that it depends primarily on whether the sword is nioi or nie deki, as well as personal preference.

[cabowen]

Chris.

 

Just picking up on a statement of yours, and I apologise for the partial quote.

 

"These days it is very difficult to find a polisher capable of a traditional sashikomi polish "

 

Would you care to expand on this a little and explain why this is so? Is it purely on the basis of demand or is there a technical reason?

 

 

One leads to the other...There seems to be little demand for it and polishers, from what I have been told, no longer have the original technique. I have been told by many polishers that true sashi komi polish is close to, if not, a lost art.

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Keith,

 

The author of that insght was Laurent Milhau, the only one Japanese trained french sword polisher. He was a student of Kajihara and passed away in 1999.

[Jorgensen]

I consider the best polishes to be a combination of both... And lot of polishers do this, but of course only the best can do it best. To my knowledge it can be done in many ways, for example Hadori done either before or after Nugui stage etc... Using both techniques - and done well - on the same blade is compared to take the best part of 2 ingridients and mix together. But in my opinion this method can bring out the very best result on many blades. Except of course blades that for some reason are not suited for either one or another finish. However I am not a fan of over-using hadori.

 

A good Sashikomi finish is harder to master than Hadori finish.