Papered mumei sword

[Ludolf Richter]

Hi,I am interested in a Koto-sword in shirasaya,attributed to a Kaneharu from Mino by NBTHK.Please translate the paper for me.Thanks in advance.Ludolf

[Curran]

Herr Richter,

 

http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sw ... se_sword_2

 

Your Kaneharu papers are very standard Tokubetsu Kicho papers.

Not much specific detail.

Did you have a specific question?

[Ludolf Richter]

Thanks Curran,my question is,how did they come to the solution,that the Wakizashi was made by "Kaneharu":is there something mentioned in the paper,which of the 9 possible Kaneharu is the most likely one (eg.son of Kaneyuki or Kanenaga,or which era)?.Ludolf

[Curran]

Unfortunately, the description gives none of that information.

It is very "just the facts", including measurement, mumei attribution to "Kaneharu", identification of what sort of blade it is, and date of the paper.

I am only reading 90% of the paper, and relatively sure there isn't more information in the two bits I would need work harder to translate.

[Ludolf Richter]

Thank you Curran!I am wondering about the NBTHK decision,because there is no prominent Kaneharu among the 9 possible ones.Why not e.g."sue seki style"?Although the Waki looks great,I am not going to pay the 2.500 Euro.Ludolf

[mdiddy]

Ludolf,

 

Is there a sayagaki on the shirasaya by chance? If so, it might contain some additional info that the papers do not. With 9 generations of a Sue-Seki smith I expect it would be hard to track down info specific enough to separate them all.

 

Matt

[Curran]

Ludolf,

 

With many of the Sue-Seki, some argue that they can be sub classified based on hamon and jigane.

My Mino books are in storage for the summer, therefore I cannot take a look for you and try to guess how they say 'Kaneharu'.

 

As to the 9 generations.... phew.... on an unsigned blade, your guess is as good or better than mine.

When I was a younger collector, I had a nice signed 'Shimosaka' where I thought I would pinpoint the generation.

Dozens of books later, I never did.

[Ludolf Richter]

Curran,

maybe they had a sword with mei Kaneharu (which they could not equate to a specific Seki swordsmith) as a reference sword,which looked like this one.There are only 2 Kaneharu examples in Cox Mino-To and one Mei-pic in Fujishiro Koto-hen.The seller claimes 1532-1555 (i.e.tenmon and koji-era).Ludolf

[John A Stuart]

Hi Ludolf, No promises, but, I have quite a few Minoto books that may help if you post or PM me a pic of the mei. John

[Curran]

Ludolph,

 

Follow up with John.

As he touches, there is a huge amount of Mino reference elsewhere.

I love the Malcomb Cox book as a quick reference before I need start pulling out Taikans.

If John has them, then you might get somewhere.

[Ludolf Richter]

Thanks John and Curran,

I got only one pic with blade and koshirae from the auction house.Because of the uncertainty

from the NBTHK-papers (no specific swordsmith),I have now decided,not to make a bid (limit Euro 2.500 plus 22% on the result).Ludolf

[NihontoEurope]

Could be the father of KANESUKE (ENTOKU ERA).

 

So, It would then be KANEHARU (BUNMEI ERA).

 

Both father and son made slightly longer nakago than the average.

 

/Martin

[John A Stuart]

Foolish of me anyway Ludolf. The sword being osuriage has no mei and all attributes would be by the other factors which would be problematic to the extreme in narrowing down the particular smith. You probably made a very good decision. John

[NihontoEurope]

I think they nailed it by the up-most yasurime.

 

That particular smith (father and son) used a very large angle.

 

/Martin