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Token Bijutsu info needed

Ray Singer

By Ray Singer
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Ray Singer Grand Master

Ray Singer

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Would anyone here happen to have the November 2008 issue of the Token Bijutsu? I was reading through the online archives and noticed that kantei sword #2 seems to match the nijimei Korekazu below. If any of you have the issue handy and can check the oshigata can you confirm if it is the same sword?

 

Kind regards,

Ray

 

http://www.touken.or.jp/english/translation/619.htm

 

http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-korekazu-musashi-daijo

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cabowen Grand Master

cabowen

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Thanks Chris. I get 6 bu as converting to 1.81 cm. Unfortunately Token Bijutsu does not specify how much over 6 bu their Korekazu's sori measures, but it seems a close match...

 

They say it is slightly less than 8 bu; even at 7 bu, it is over 2 cm and significantly greater than the Aoi blade....Otherwise, I agree, they seem similar.

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Ray Singer Grand Master

Ray Singer

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They say it is slightly less than 8

 

I believe that it a different sword, the Yososaemon Sukesada. This is the full writeup on the Korekazu. I would still love confirmation either way if someway can find this issue in their library.

 

No.2 Kantei To: Katana

 

Mei: Korekazu

 

Length: 2 shaku, 1sun, 2bu

 

Sori: slightly more than 6 bu

 

Construction: Shinogi tsukuri with iorimune

 

Jihada: strong ko-itame hada and masame hada, ji-nie, midare utsuri

 

Ha: Choji midare mixed with ko-gunome, small togariba, scattered small midare. The upper part has a high yakiba, with ashi, yo, and is in nioi. The lower part has sunagashi.

 

Boshi: yokote yakikomi (at the yokote, the yakiba is wide), straight, with komaru

 

The most distinctive thing about this sword is the variation of the choji midare hamon and ji-utsuri. The sword has a deep sori, but is not koshisori because this is a different shape from Kamakura period tachi. The tight nioiguchi inside of the ha does not have much hataraki, and from these characteristics, one can judge this is a Shinto Bizen-den sword, especially likely to be from the Ishido school. By the Keicho period, the Bizen-den style was dying out, but the Ishido school revived it, and this school was active in Edo, Osaka, Kishu, Fukuoka, etc. This sword is an example of the Edo Ishido school, and is the shodai Musashi daijo Korekazu’s sword. The shodai Korekazu’s jihada is all masame and the hamon is choji midare. This is his original style, and is different from the traditional style. His saka-ashi are not seen often, but the yakiba is small or narrow, and around the monouchi area the yakiba becomes high or wide, another charactestic of Korekazu’s style. Most people voted for Korekazu, but because of the deep sori and partly because of the wide hamon, some people voted for the Fukuoka Ishido smiths Koretsugu, and Moritsugu. Both smiths are Korekazu’s students and made similar style swords, but their yakiba are bigger or wider, and in places over the sword, a high yakiba can go into the shinogi-ji, producing a contrast with the high and low yakiba. These smiths also produced a peculiar diamond shaped choji or gunome hamon in some places, and the boshi is always midare komi. A boshi which is straight with a round return or kaeri, or with a shallow notare is a characteristic of Edo Ishido. Another vote was for Edo Ishido’s Mitsuhira, but he never produced a jihada which was completely masame, and his yakiba have more variation in their width, also suggesting old style work. Also, this sword has a niji-mei and no Musashi-daijo title, and so the mei is different from his usual one. Thus, this is a very rare sword which he made before receiving his musashi daijo title.

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