国行 Kuniyuki

[hoobastank68]

Acquired this blade recently, thought I'd share it and love to hear your thoughts on it.

 

http://www.kanetoyo.com/sell-katana-18.html

 

I was quite excited to find a piece from the Heian era.

[Marius]

Congratulations

 

It is a ko-Senjuin blade. The paper says "den Senjuin". And it is ubu and signed, which is absolutely great

I don't think the description of the hamon is correct - there were no choji in Yamato works.

 

I'd love to see good pics of it, especially showing hada and hamon.

 

Enjoy it

[Jean]

John,

 

It is a piece of History and a real relic

[Alex A]

Must be nice to own such an amazing piece of history.

[echizento]

I agree a beautiful piece of history.

[Darcy]

There are choji in Yamato blades. Particularly in Ryumon and Senjuin.

 

In practice it is very hard to make any sweeping generalizations in the Yamato tradition as it is kind of loosely knit and seems to have had many influences and the various smiths seemed to be more keen on doing their own thing. You see things like pure suguba, you see midareba so good it can be very close to Masamune, you see all kinds of kitae from very tight and beautiful ko-itame that looks like good Yamashiro to choji midare that looks like Rai Kuniyuki to the textbook masame style of Hosho (which is not even in all Hosho works). Some Taema is known to be confusable with Soshu Yukimitsu.

 

My feeling from looking at a variety of Juyo Yamato works over the years is that this member of the Gokaden has less in common between the various schools than the others, and that collecting them together into "Yamato Tradition" is half about housekeeping and simplifying the Gokaden concept.

 

That said: Signed ko-Senjuin, regardless of the condition, is a real find and a treasure. This one looks like it is a bit rough shape but this is ok. It's Heian. Very special. I counted the signed Yamato works in the Juyo index once and came to the figure of 108 in total. A large number are tanto.

 

So any signed Yamato work has to be held in esteem, we know so little about the smiths because of there being so few signatures. Consider that the number of signed Omi Daijo Tadahiro dwarfs the total number of signed work left to us in Yamato.

 

Attached is a typical work of Ryumon Nobuyoshi. He also worked in pure suguba and a mix of the two. This might be attributed to Niji Kunitoshi maybe except for the boshi.

 

Also a sample of Ryumon Nobuyoshi kitae from another work. The kitae is every bit as good as top level Rai. The hamon is also choji on this Nobuyoshi but I didn't photograph it very well so I went to the oshigata of a signed one.

 

After this is a Senjuin attributed wakizashi. Hamon close to one of the styles of Norishige. Kanzan sensei actually attributed it to Norishige. NBTHK made it Juyo as Senjuin.

[Darcy]

Also I think you should be commended for buying this sword for what it is and in spite of any condition issues. You did not get wrapped up in the wrinkles and spots of an old lady. You saw her for the treasure of her years and you saw the beautiful girl hidden behind the veil of time.

 

These are the hallmarks of a true collector.

[hoobastank68]

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone! Especially Marius and Darcy!

 

Marius, I will post more photos soon!

[Marius]

John,

 

looking forward to this :-) Great stuff!

[Dr Fox]

Exciting, and what an opportunity for members, to see and get information on a special blade outside a museum.

[hoobastank68]

Hi Marius, I did the best I can with the photos! Here they are.

 

http://imgur.com/a/HB7Bp

[Marius]

John,

 

Thank you