Calling Kongobei school sword owners!

[flemming]

Do you have a Kongobei school sword, and are good with a camera? I am offering a chance to help us with our project, and help NMB (see below). You will also have the opportunity to have your sword published, with acknowledgements, which certainly adds to accumulated provenance of your sword.

I have been researching Kongobei swords for a couple of years, and am co-authoring a book on the subject. While the project started out as a compilation of every scrap of printed information in English and Japanese, it turned into a correlation of the information revealing new facts, insights and genealogies. Because the charts, graphics and lists are new, I would very much like to include fresh illustrations of swords, rather than the usual handful of fuzzy photocopies we usually see. We already have some fresh pictures including two 1st generation Moritaka tachi, but would like another 8 or 10 to make this really something. They may even further illustrate the surprising role that Kongobei played in the development of the Japanese sword after the first Mongol invasion. In the unlikely event you have the original koshirae, we would like some photos of that as well. Your own very thorough description of the blade would be helpful as well.

 

Therefore, for each set of useable photo files, I will donate $25US to support the NMB in the contributors name.

 

The blade need not be papered, but that is preferred. If you are not sure what generation your blade is attributed to, just send a photo of the paper with the other files, or we will try to identify it ourselves. I would like to complete this effort sometime soon, so I would say you have until the end of February before we must finalize that chapter. As there are 95 Koto Kongobei smiths, we are not too particular as to period, but late Kamakura and Nambokucho blades are of special interest.

 

If you are interested in participating, please send me a PM, and I will give you the details of what we need in terms of photos. The contributor can retain ownership of the images (as long as we have permission to use them), and could even post them here to assist and encourage other Kongohyoe enthusiasts.

 

Lloyd Flemming

JSSC

[uwe]

Hi Lloyd,

there is a papered "Den Moritaka" in my possession

Regards

Uwe

[Brian]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14631

 

Brian

[flemming]

Thank you Uwe and Brian and others, and for the messages of support. I am happy to say we have gotten off to a good start with 4 possible candidates so far. I am including Brians NMB link, if I may use it.

Lloyd

[Jussi Ekholm]

Excellent project, and I will definately want a copy of that book.

[flemming]

Thanks to members Matus and Uwe, they are now sending some files, and another member getting some ready. I am donating $50 for Matus and Uwe right now, before the exchange gets worse. Thanks also to NMB. I hope members can find more material, I am sure there are some very good Morikuni, Moritsuna, Morishige etc swords out there...

 

Lloyd Flemming

[flemming]

Thanks to forum member Martin for his extensive photos; I have made another donation to the NMB for his efforts. I wonder where all the Kongohyoe swords have gone...?

Lloyd Flemming

[Jean]

These swords are scarce, old, thin kasane and small suguha. Many have not survived. I have not met a Juyo one as far as now

[leo]

Here is a sword I had a while ago:

 

"TACHI, 71,6cm, shinogi zukuri, bo-hi, sori 2,3cm, motohaba 3,10 cm, kasane: 6,0mm, itame-masame hada with ji-nie and utsuri, komaru boshi, suguha hamon with kinsuji, sunagashi and ashi, suriage nakago, 2 mekugi ana, mumei, attributed to: "KO KONGOBYOE" by NBTHK Tokubetsu-Hozon-Paper, old polish, some chips on boshi, Chikuzen-Provinz, Kamakura-period, in shirasaya."

 

I enclose pictures of blade and koshirae, but the photos of the blade as well as the polish are medium quality at best.

I still find it interesting because it is a very early example of this school. Might even be from the period of good old Moritaka.

 

Best, Martin(leo)

 

[runagmc]

Hi Martin, what was the menuki?

[BIG]

Hi Adam,

 

Info at juwelier strebel

 

Sold Items, Number 619

 

Best regards

[flemming]

Thanks to Martin (Leo) who posted the above pix. I have been delaying a response while I studied the pictures and thought about that blade. I would certainly like to have had that in-hand to study as it has some differences with mainstream Kongohyoe. If handed that blade for identification without seeing the attribution, with some time I would have probably be inclined to call it Ko-Chikuzen. It seems to lack much koshi-sori tendency in its tori-sori, much like a blade by Sairen. The nakago is odd for a Kongobei sword in that they are almost all Kengyo, or rarely a modified "pointy" ha-agari-kurijiri but with quite straight (little taper) nakago. The nakago on the above blade would seem to more resemble some work in the pre-Samonji line perhaps. There are some Morikuni generations and one Moritaka(?) in mild ha-agari-kurijiri, but are not of the sugata of the above sample. Due to the wide distribution of Kongobei swordsmiths in Kyushu, it is very possible for some cross-influence with other Ko-Chikuzen smiths or even Samonji smiths, (as well as Hizen, Bungo provinces) resulting in the above sugata. The hada certainly appears Kongobei, however I believe some other Chikuzen smiths had similar, including some forms of utsuri in some early non-Kongobei Chikuzen smiths. It's a puzzler. In any event, thanks for posting, that was a nice Kamakura sample to see, and it is all of interest.

Lloyd Flemming

[Iluvswords1]

This one is a stretch. I do not get on the boards ever, per se, but I do have a Morisada saku tachi which failed Shinsa because they said it was retempered. Hmmmm!  Anyway I wanted to offer once I happened to see this link from a '14. So, if the book is not in its third printing by now, please contact me and I would be delighted to help.

Jeff

[CSM101]

Just another Kongobei.

 

Uwe G.

 

Edit: the photo has 2,32 MB but here only 29.6 KB. Strange.

[flemming]

Hi There

I noticed this post today, and first to Jeff: The Morisadas were two groups at least, from Hyuga and also Hirado in Hizen. They are all after Ei-sho, working around 1530 or so, one in early shinto. There are 2 different types of kanji for "Sada" differentiating these smiths. I have not seen a sample in hand, they are not particularly common. Shame about the saiha re-hardening, but it is possible for the curvature to change on a re-hardened blade, so they do not make good representative samples of sugata, or hamon or hada. The signature is of interest if it is signed. We have been slowly collecting Moritaka generations to finally represent each generation and reconcile the signatures, some still eluding us.

Hello to Ewe, that is a nice sample, a quick look at the sugata reminds me of an O-suriage Nambokucho sword, some of the koshi-sori has been lost I think, since the koshi-sori was nearly at the machi originally, like some earlier Bizen blades that now have a bit of a tori-sori look from shortening. In any event, the whole thing is nice and healthy looking and the hada is captured well in the photo.

 

Lloyd Flemming

[CSM101]

So, here is a download-link for the photo:

 

http://daten-transport.de/?id=6ABxRCbmx5Nb

 

 

Uwe G.

[flemming]

That is a spectacular photo there, in hi res you can zoom into the hada nicely, and I notice your width (depth) of focus across the blade is amazing. Did you take that photo Ewe? I can see some hada in the ha, it almost looks like a Sadamori.

 

Lloyd

[CSM101]

Hello Lloyd,

 

The paper only says Kongobei (TH). So no name for a smith.

 

And yes, I took the photos. But this is not HiRes. It´s the LowRes-version.

 

THIS is a MiddleRes-version: http://daten-transport.de/?id=gs7vNxRYm25t .

 

The Original has 32,4 MB as a JPEG.

 

 

Uwe G.

[uwe]

Hi Lloyd,

still curious about the outcome of your work!

Could you use my images?

[flemming]

I did use one image, you will see it hopefully by the end of next week. I believe your name is included, as is another member who I should contact.

Yours was the only image I have seen that had the qualities of the sword photo you have posted above. In fact, I wish you could have photographed all of the book material, since you have obviously mastered this process. To get that kind of lateral focus I have to shoot at f32 for about 15 seconds, using a telephoto with close up tubes at a distance. It never looks as good as your results. I am going to feed your above large image into a pro-1printer when I have time, and I will bet the output is outstanding. In case there is a second printing, we have been adding slowly some of the missing Moritaka generations.

 

Lloyd F.

[uwe]

Thanks a lot Lloyd,

but unfortunately it's not my merit. Moses made the pictures I guess

[Adrian S]

the TH Reisen Sadamori on Darcy's site is mine. Ask Darcy if it is ok to use the photos, i'm cool with that.

 

cheers,

[flemming]

Thanks Adrian, we have had some Sadamori blades in hand for photos, so those we already have. I hope people note the date of my first post in this thread, it is about 2 years old, and the book has been published. We may publish an addendum based on Ko-Kongobyoe samples being studied, so are only looking for very early Moritaka and Morikuni samples, around early to mid-Kamakura. Thank you for responding, the Sadamori swords I have seen are quite beautiful works.

 

Lloyd F

[Brian]

How do we purchase a copy, or was it a private print run?

[estcrh]

  On 3/19/2016 at 2:43 PM, Brian said:

How do we purchase a copy, or was it a private print run?

Sword Smiths of The Kongobyoe School, The Warrior Monks of Chikuzen

https://www.amazon.ca/Smiths-Kongobyoe-School-Warrior-Chikuzen/dp/0993691803