trygve Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 I was wondering about the criteria for a sword to be tired! To make a judgement to when a sword is "tired" is a difficult thing when it comes to sword that was made with "shirake utsuri", open grain. A Japanese polisher said that utsuri, ware and open grian have nothing to do with steel qualitet and the quality of the steel i judge by the colour of the steel and hamon. Overpolished sword often get the description "tired". I understad this refers to blades that have had their sugata changed and core steele, ware show up and hamon is weak because of to many trips to the stones. But how "tired" can an koto piece be, before it would be non-acceptable? Would, for example, a "tired" koto piece most likely paper to Hozon, if the the are "no fatal flaw" and made by a jo-saku smith. Have any of you had "tired" sword that got papers - or is "tired" seen like a "fatal flaw" I know that many "juo token" sword get high papers even with no "ha-machi" and little steel left because of their historical importens and that sometimes "fatal flaw" are aceptable on heian and kamakuran sword. I understand that "papers" mens importen before quality. will a medim sword from a medium smith automatically mean that the sword must be "healthy" to paper to hozon. And the the higher the smith rates - the sword can be less healty? Any thoughts?? trygve Quote
AndreasU Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 Hi trygve, I just have exactly a sword you are describing. I bought it two weeks ago from a very nice gentlemen. This sword is having NTHK Kanteisho papers. I received it and was wondering about the rating. You can see pictures at http://www.a-unterbusch.de/nihonto This is just a quick done page without deep information. Just for watching this wakizashi. Unfortunately it was damaged on transport (Tip bended on the first 2mm) due to transport failure. But the owner was very generous and did a price reduction. So as I said I am also wondering how a blade in this condition can get NTHK Kanteisho with 73 point at least and until today could not find anyone who can give me a propriate answer to this. In my eyes its a dead nail. It is in old polish and I doubt it will survive a touchup polish to bring out the hamon. If anyone is interested I will sell it as a bargain and restoring project. The Tip is repaired already and just needs a polish with uchigomori and fingerstones. I cannot get them in germany for a realistic price. Andreas Quote
trygve Posted May 31, 2007 Author Report Posted May 31, 2007 See what you mean. is the wak a koto or shinto piece? Do you know wich Kanenaga this was? tryve Quote
AndreasU Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 From the paper it reads: "Mino Kanenaga. The blade received an excellent Kanteisho rating (Important Work) at the NY Shinsa this past Fall. As you can see from the scan of the origami, it has no less than the seals of 5 appraisers including Yoshikawa sensei. Mino-den is one of the 5 major gokaden/traditions from the koto period that has its roots in Yamato-den. The Kanenaga line is a long one that extends from the Muromachi period well into Shinto times. This blade is a classic representation of Shinto Mino work, very graceful, longish kissaki, and a wild hamon. I don’t have much information on the specific Kanenaga that made this blade. The era determined by the NTHK was Kyoho (1730) although I suspect it may be earlier because the mekugiana was bored from 2 sides and not straight through. This is a good sign of koto work. (Also, Yoshikawa sensei tends to grade mumei blades as being younger)." Nagasa: 53.3 CM (21â€) Width at Hamachi: 3.0 CM (1.2â€) Width at Monouchi: 2.6 CM (1.1â€) Sori: 1.3 CM (0.65â€) Torri-zori Hamon: Nie based Gunome/Midare Jihada: Itame/Masame Boshi: Midare-Komi Yasurimei: O’ Sujikai Quote
pcfarrar Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 Andreas, I don't think the Kanenaga is a total loss. A polisher will be able to do something with it. The openings you picture are very minor, and what you label core steel looks to be rust. Peter Quote
AndreasU Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 Hmm, I doubt it's only rust even I would like to believe it :lol: So as I said, who's interested can have it for little money. I am not willing to put a polish on this. If nobody want's to have it I will try to "enhance" my polish capabilities. Someone selling a Uchigumori, Hazuya and Jizuaya Stone?? :lol: :lol: Andreas Quote
Stephen Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 dont see a page with kantei papers...am i in the wrong file?? and for that blade to get a 72...hard to belive, you tired nali fits it better. Ill be posting a page on how to pack a sword, i had one come in last week that was basicaly droped in the box with nothing on it.. was suprised to see it had not split the saya maybe the paper on each end saved it. stay tuned for a picture how to. Quote
pcfarrar Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 Andreas, What's the price on the Kanenaga. I might know someone who would be interested. Quote
AndreasU Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 I updated the page and on page 5 you can see now the kantei papers + the shinsa rating. Quote
Stephen Posted May 31, 2007 Report Posted May 31, 2007 Must be my PC i still only see four pages. sorry Quote
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