Katana for comments

[Bill Marsh]

This is the hardest sword I have ever tried to photograph. The 6 pictures you see here are from over 60 exposures, and I am still not happy. I have some other ideas about lighting. It has some very beautiful and subtle details that I can see, but have not yet been able to photograph.

 

Polish is modern Japan. Here are some interesting features about this katana.

 

I am very new to collecting Nihonto and would appreciate your comments.

 

This smith is from "Satsuma" province in Japan. He is the 63th generations sword-maker. His ancestors estimated start forging sword in 1306. The smith is working on a Tachi style from Koto period. One side is signed "Namihira Yukiyasu" and the other side is a date when he forged this sword. 1861 in our calendar.

 

It is awarded the paper by NBTHK "Tokubetsu Hozon" in Showa 60th year. (1985, our calendar)

 

As I understand it, there are three kind of papers: Hozon, Tokubetsu and Juyo. . Hozon means "Worthy of preservation". Tokubetsu hozon means "Especially worthy of preservation". Juyo means "Important worthy of preservation". With NBTHK, you must pass the Hozon before you can submitted to Tokubetsu hozon paper. You must pass Tokubetsu hozon before you can submitted to Juyo paper.

 

Will post some more info on the basic features, later. I am just learning Nihonto.

 

It has suguha (straight temperline) with Ara-nie majiri. The hada (grain structure) is Muji (pearl skin) with ko-itame. The sori is curve at the waist level like Koto style. The boshi is Ko-Maru (small turn around).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Hi Bill,

 

Looking at that nakago, I just can't believe that your sword is a late shin-shinto piece dated 1861 - it looks very koto to me.

 

Is the boshi very thin in the kissaki (as it appears to be in your photos)? This is something else that might suggest a much older blade with perhaps a re-shaped kissaki.

 

Can you possibly post pictures of the NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon origami? Maybe the NMB members who read kanji can double-check that it matches the blade.

 

Simon

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Hi Bill.

Seems older to me too.

 

As regards your troubles in photographing NihonTo, well you've choose

a very hard subject to take pictures of.

 

I think that this link can be useful to you :

Scanner works quiet well for smaller parts, and it's quicker :

(Great find of Nicolas Rudaz)

 

http://csdl2.computer.org/comp/proceedi ... 80102c.pdf

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hi, it is very difficult to find a true to shape shinshnto copy of an early koto sword, congratulations. The steel definitely looks shinshinto. This sword would be a good test of kantei skills.

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Hi Franco

 

So, do you think that the maker has deliberately heavily patinated and corroded the nakago (including the mei) in order to emulate a much older koto work whilst still using the correct date of 1861 (if the translation and papers are correct)?

 

Seems very strange to me. :?

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hi Franco

 

So, do you think that the maker has deliberately heavily patinated and corroded the nakago (including the mei) in order to emulate a much older koto work whilst still using the correct date of 1861 (if the translation and papers are correct)?

 

Seems very strange to me. :?

 

Hi Simon,

 

nothing about the way this nakago looks raises an alarm at this point. As for corroded, that would be assuming it was finished with strong yasuri to begin with. This is simply the manner in which this nakago was finished at the time. In fact it's a credit to this smiths skill and should not be taken as a "deliberate act" attempting to fool someone. The tokuho papers, if correct and I have no reason to believe they are not at this point, confirm that. The more we see, the more we learn, hopefully.

Still, don't drop your guard

 

PS looking with fresh AM eyes, i now suspect this nakago may have been repatinated (opinion). Still, if that is the case, as long as it is done in a proper manner and not intending to fool, it's acceptable.

[Jean]

Hi Bill,

 

Just a small correction, you can directly apply from Hozon to Juyo without going through TH process.

 

To apply for Juyo, you must be a NBTHK member.

[mike yeon]

First off nice blade. I like the sugata. Very koto in appearance. As for the nakago, I've seen many shin-shinto/non-koto blades with nakago that are so deeply rusted that they give the appearance of being older. You have to consider the history of the blade and the care that it was given up to the point of restoration.

 

Many blades were left uncared for to deteriorate in rust conducive conditions (buried, kept in a damp basement or garage, etc). I have a sue koto sadatsugu daito with a nakago that looks at first glance like it was a kamakura piece. It was brought back by a GI who lived in seattle (the rain capitol of the U.S.) and was kept in his garage. The togi who polished the blade had to clean away some of the rust so that it could fit into a shirasaya.

 

Anyway, just a tiny correction, the hada looks nishiji (pear skin) not muji (clear mirror like hada). Nice feature you find on older yamashiro/yamato blades.

 

Hope you enjoy it!

 

mike

[Bill Marsh]

Thanks for the info and compliments.

 

My first Japanese sword!

 

I am picking up the paperwork soon and will post it. I suspect the sword is what the seller says.

[Gabriel L]

Mike,

 

Pretty sure you cannot see any hada at all in the pics. There's a ton of photographic noise which looks sort of like nashiji hada on the bright sword, but if you look closer it's uniform over the entire photo (except on the black background photo, but I suspect that one had the ground edited out to pure black anyway).

 

Maybe I'm wrong and someone's seeing something I'm not, but it would be hard to tell behind all that noise...

 

-GLL

[mike yeon]

Gabriel, you might be right about the noise, just noticed how the background might produce that effect. The jihada sure looks "wet" in the pict that shows the hamachi. Looking forward to seeing the

[Bill Marsh]

I think what appears to be hada is noise also. The background is red, but I raised the shadow detail in the pictures. Unsatisfactory. Not satisfied with it.

 

Pictures are also unsharp. Need to disable the auto-focus and go to manual. Should work better.

 

May get a microscope digital camera. Been wanting one anyway.

 

Going to try some more exposures tomorrow. Hope to get the origami. Will post.

 

Thanks for the comments.

[Mark Green]

Great Looking Sword Bill!

It was common for Shinshinto smiths to "copy" the styles of koto blades.

Your guy did a wonderful job at that. I do suspect that a patina job may have been done on the Nakago. jmho,

Did I miss the dementions? Please post the size of this gem, for the true sword geeks to ponder.

It's great that it doesn't have some gemei signiture on it. It would seem to have been a good cantidate for such a thing. Or maybe it did, and that is why there is a patina on it. Are there any good pics of the mei side?

Mark G

[mike yeon]

If it is signed and dated, I'd wonder why someone would patinate the nakago to give it an older appearance?

 

Food for thought.

 

mike

[Brian]

I don't see any reason to believe anything has been done to the nakago. I think it has just aged a bit more than some other swords from that period. There are always exceptions, as pointed out often. Nothing strikes me as remotely odd here.

And let's not forget it has TH papers from the NBTHK, which is exactly what you want in a purchased sword

 

Brian

[Mark Green]

OH, I'm sorry, I couldn't see the sugniture.

I missed that in the text, my bad. That's what I get for looking at 1am.

Still a great looking sword though.

Mark G

[Bill Marsh]

Here are some of the pictures of my paperwork.

 

Overall

 

 

Watermarks

 

 

 

Back of paper

 

 

Envelope

 

 

Close-up of main info (sorry about the color shift)

 

 

Seal

[Rich T]

try not to forget that the Shinshinto period saw a huge revival in Koto style workmanship, especially through the Masahide Kado and this included trying to make a sword look much older than it was.

 

I have seen 2 swords that were made (and are papered) with deliberate Osuriage nakago. One sword by Jitaro Naokatsu is even mumei Osuriage. This was done deliberately.

 

There are also deliberate forgeries of signed older works that were made to look old, to fool a potential buyer. Aging nakago to fool people was quite common I believe. I think there was a shinsa a couple of years back where the NTHK bounced several swords as Meiji or there abouts forgeries/copies of older swords (I might have that wrong).

 

Always there is food for thought :-)

 

Rich

[Nobody]

This smith is from "Satsuma" province in Japan. He is the 63th generations sword-maker. His ancestors estimated start forging sword in 1306. The smith is working on a Tachi style from Koto period. One side is signed "Namihira Yukiyasu" and the other side is a date when he forged this sword. 1861 in our calendar.

 

It is awarded the paper by NBTHK "Tokubetsu Hozon" in Showa 60th year. (1985, our calendar)

Only small corrections;

 

The date on the nakago is 12th month of Kaei ? year. So, the year must be within 1848-1853.

 

The paper is not "Tokubetsu Hozon" but "Hozon" which was issued in Showa 61st year (1986).

[Bill Marsh]

[

The date on the nakago is 12th month of Kaei ? year. So, the year must be within 1848-1853.

 

The paper is not "Tokubetsu Hozon" but "Hozon" which was issued in Showa 61st year (1986).

 

I am certainly not disagreeing, but want to know more. How can you tell it is Hozon and not Tokubetsu Hozon? Is it the paper color? Japanese characters? I read somewhere it has to do with a number made of dots??

 

I realize that there are several boxes around the Japanese characters and that means "questionable." Does some of what you are saying refer to this?

 

I am here to learn.

[Nobody]

The characters of "hozon (保存)" are explicitly written on the paper. The following excellent web page will help you, though there are still some misunderstandings.

http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sw ... se_sword_4