Katana and NBTHK

[Klaver]

Hello,

I would very appreciate your opinions.

Do you think this katana will pass the Shinsa?

I think the Mei is correct.

Signature: Enju Ieyoshi

Manei 2 nenn 2 gatsu hi

The blade is still be aesthetically worthy despite the fact it has scratches.

As far as I know the jidada is not repaired.

No chips in the blade.

Era : Late Edo Period

Shape : It is wide and thick and magnificent looking katana

Jitetsu : Itame had well grained with jinie. The texture of the ha is dymanic.

Hamon : Nie base suguha with koashi attached. Boushi is hakikake(brush up) style.

Special feature : Enjyu Ieyoshi is known to be the last generation of Enju school.

However, it is not written on the directory so it is assumed

that he was helping the wordsmith for most of his life.

Historical background: Manei first year（1860）, on Sakurada Mongai Incident,

Mito domain and satsuma domain datsuhanroushi(Those who left the domain by their own will)

have attacked the line of HIkone domain and have killed the daimyo federal lord of Bakumatsu, Ii Naosuke

in Sakurada gate of Edo castle(it is now the front gate of metropolitan police department).

In the police department, there are the remaining of the nihonto that was used in the battle

and the polisher I have known for a while has been asked to polish one of the blade 20 years ago.

However, the katana had been cracked in half with many hakobore(minor cracks).

[cabowen]

Unless it is gimei or has hagire, I see no reason why it shouldn't paper....

[Tokaido]

Hello Jordy,

since the oshigata are by Aoi-Art (obviously), you may simply ASK Mr Tsuruta if he guarantees Hozon Kanteisho and act accordingly to the answer...

Greetings

Andreas

[hxv]

I think this is a good news/bad news scenario.

 

Good news: The smith is not so outstanding/highly ranked that chances are good that the mei is correct. There is no obvious fatal flaw, or Aoi Art would have mentioned it. So, the sword would very likely get papered.

 

Bad news: Because the smith is not highly ranked, so what if it gets papered? The cost of papering it may not outweigh any increase in monetary value. This may not be true, but is something one needs to consider.

 

I am just thinking aloud here. So, please don't shoot the messenger.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Guido]

The smith is not so outstanding/highly ranked that chances are good that the mei is correct.

Thats a common misconception, it actually happened frequently. Mr. Tanobe even writes in his article about Gimei (Nihontô o Miru, translation by Markus Sesko)

Occasionally one stumbles on fantasy signatures of swordsmiths who never existed, or a mixture of two actually existing smiths. For example "Yamato Daijô Masanori" and "Harima Daijô Shigetaka" suddenly fuse to "Yamato Daijô Shigetaka".

This was especially done with (originally unsigned) Shiiremono; the idea behind it was exactly the above reasoning, i.e. (fake) signatures of lesser known smiths are also less suspicious.

[hxv]

Thank you Guido.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Klaver]

Hello,

 

thanks for the feedback!

 

I asked Mr Kazushige Tsuruta, this is what he told me.

 

I think the blade will pass NBTHK Hozon token.

The NBTHK is strict. So we cannot guarantee.

 

Do you think the Shinsa want to find out more if they cannot constue it directly?

 

The fact is I like the blade and koshirae. The hiro-suguha is attrative and the itame hada looks very fine. I need to see the sword activities with my own eyes, difficult for me to see it from pictures, for me right now, from pics you get an idea but the reality is sometimes different with those katana's. Personally I do not care if a smith is high graded, sometimes a blade just makes my heart goes faster, do not know why. Of course I want to know the theory behind all this and mostly I do recognise the high rank smith only my wallet does not like it to much. I think the nioi is pretty nice at the hamon.

 

What do you think of the spot at the shinogi near the mitsukado and ko shinogi down at the yokote line?

 

I think it is a kurijri tang with a straight file mark.

 

What do you all think about the Signature: Enju Ieyoshi?

 

Thank for you support already!

[takakage]

Nakago match to many enju shin shinto . Morever nakago mune is often maru. Have you got maru mune on your ?

It is a small low rank smith so i don't think a gimei blade.

[hxv]

I think the blade will pass NBTHK Hozon token.

The NBTHK is strict. So we cannot guarantee.

 

I find the comments interesting. If I were to read between the lines, I would guess Aoi Art thinks the mei is genuine, but the blade condition may not be up to par for Hozon standards, hence the comment: "The NBTHK is strict." Again, this is my impression of the comments from Aoi Art.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Klaver]

Yep, you are right, but you can also read:

 

Shape : It is wide and thick and magnificent looking katana > of course this does not say anything about the condition.

 

I personnaly think this can be the bottle neck:

 

Special feature : Enjyu Ieyoshi is known to be the last generation of Enju school.

However, it is not written on the directory so it is assumed that he was helping the wordsmith for most of his life.

 

The blade condition seems not to bad, what all do you think about the condition?

[takakage]

I think the state of polish is good for hozon. I don't know if iyeyoshi is the last one of enju because enju muneyoshi worked at the same period. Maybe a link iyeyoshi and muneyoshi ?????

[runagmc]

If you are not fimilar with the NBTHK Hozon Token standards, you can find them on nihontocraft.com and other places, probably...

 

From memory: if a sword is traditionally made, no fatal flaws (except in special swords), smith is deceased, and sword is either shoshin, or mumei with enough features visable to attribute to a school, it should pass at Hozon. (Someone will correct me if I missed something, I'm sure...)

 

The point is, the sword should pass unless they (NBTHK) doubt the mei...

 

It is weird that Tsuruta san hasn't had it papered, and won't guarantee it, though...

 

You can always say you will only purchase it with a money back guarantee of papering, and if they say no, maybe best to move on... IMHO...

[Eric H]

Link

 

http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-enju-iey ... 2-gatsu-hi

 

Eric

[benatthelake]

 

It is weird that Tsuruta san hasn't had it papered, and won't guarantee it, though...

 

You can always say you will only purchase it with a money back guarantee of papering, and if they say no, maybe best to move on... IMHO...

 

I would agree. At 450,000 yen....Also consider a few points:

 

- What would you value the sword at if it doesn't paper?

- Is the Koshirae important for your collecting needs? What do you value the incremental value of the Koshirae? If you think it adds 150,000 yen, do you think this is a 300,000 yen blade? Personally, the blade does nothing for me but I do like the Koshirae.....very clean with a nice Tsuba.

-Aoi Art is considered a respected a fair dealer by most. Have you looked at a few others? Have you ruled out blades offered by members here?

 

IMHO I think you would be better served to wait unless there is something about this package that you just love. I believe you'll find plenty in this range which offer very similar characteristics in both blade and koshirae. On this site and others however you can occasionally find some really interesting swords in Koshirae, papered, between 450,000 and up. 450,000 seems to be a starting point I believe.

 

Finally, send some PMs to board members who you respect, have similar collecting styles, and are more knowledgeable than me!

 

Ben M.

[Klaver]

Thank for the prompt reactions.

 

Ok, so here I go, does anyone have in the same price range a katana with papers so I can take a look, if I like it? If you have you can PM me if you want. I do not like to flashy katana's.

 

I think the reactions from AOI are very vague, he probably does not know it also.

 

I like this one also:

 

http://www.aoijapan.com/katana-musashi- ... aru-sekido

 

The hamon is more active, but this one does not have koshirae what gives me an extra added value. I understand I must go for the nagasa but those things are something you are sometimes split in betweeen.

 

What do you all think about this one?