Nashiji hada

[huntershooter]

Came across a photo of this Nashiji hada (pear skin). The only info I could find was an explanation of "pear skin" (which it does resemble). Has anyone further info re. this type hada?

[Curran]

huntershooter (Todd M.),

 

Pear skin is difficult to photograph in a way that truely captures what it looks like on a long blade. It is often found in Hizen blades and is very tight or fine. Occassionally someone will try and claim a blade with little or no grain and old polish is nashiji hada, but not true (this is my own personal experience as a newbie many years ago).

 

I am afraid this is something best seen in person. A member of the New York club that collects Hizen blades showed me a good example once- and it has been my mental reference since then.

 

Maybe Darcy has a photo?

 

Curran

(aka. Curran Campbell)

[Brian]

My first wakizashi (which I bought from Darcy a long time ago) is a mumei waki with a mix of nashiji and o-mokume. As Curran stated, nashiji is hard to photograph. It is a very fine hada that, as they say, resembles the cut flesh of a pear. It is not muji hada (which is often also used to mean NO hada) and I think is very close to the Hizen konuka hada. Konuka is a slightly more coarse form of nashiji hada with less ji-nie.

I would have to read through Connoiseurs to see which schools they attribute it to, but am sure someone will beat me to it.

 

Brian

[James]

Here's a few photo's of my Hizen (Tadayoshi) wakizashi that has nashiji hada with a few tight mokume burls:

[huntershooter]

Lovely James. Thank you.

[Jean]

very fine and tight ko itame. Imagine goose flesh very tight and much smaller

[paulb]

A uniquely french ability to describe hada in terms of goose flesh (if it is really fine does it get to be Fois-Gras? )

I cant remember where but I am sure I read somewhere that Nashiji hada was so called because it resembled the pattern of the flesh of the fruit if you cut through it horizontally. That sort of makes more sense than "skin" which tends to be much less consistent. However I am relying on memory which is increasingly not my strong point.

Re: Nashiji vs Konuka, my understanding is that Konuka (which is said to resemble the rice bran used in cosmetics) is a coarser version of Nashiji. In old reference books the two seem to be interchanged quite often. I think the Hizen Konuka was an attempt to copy the fine nashiji of the awataguchi school.

[Jean]

Hi Paul, referring to "foie gras", I shall "duck" this one :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Martin]

Hi Todd,

 

check this link too: http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/nashiji.html

 

cheers,

[takakage]

Hello,

i'm living in france a little town near the country of monbazillac wine and of course foies gras.

(i don't use nihonto to cut it)

i'm a nihonto addict and a member of an other french forum with my friend serge.

a little word for Jean ( on se verra le 20oct)

have a nice day

[Jean]

Hi Patrick,

 

Sorry, but I have my goddaughter's wedding on the 20th.

[Darcy]

I'm a bit rusty in this area.

 

Heres what I think I know in regards to this... the Tadayoshi line is influenced first by Shizu in the teachings of Umetada Myoju who made great Soshu copies. Tadayoshi I makes them as well. Later on he bases his school style on Rai, but you still see the Soshu influenced work.

 

Soshu is generally a middle patterned itame/mokume mix showing strong emphasis in chikei. The above Tadayoshi to me looks like the kind of classy second period Soshu work (Masamune / Go / Norishige / Shizu). It would not be nashiji hada as far as I know, though could still be konuka just with emphasized chikei. The scale of the pictures might be throwing me off a bit, first I felt it was more just mokume/itame mix.

 

In general, nashiji hada is a Yamashiro tradition thing, and so that's how you get it being mentioned at all in combination with Hizento. Usually you hear "konuka hada" though which is rice-bran hada and that is what the fine Hizen jigane is described as.

 

Any particular sword by the Hizen smiths though has to be examined to know what the influences are. I think the following Omi Daijo shows the konuka hada properly. Chikei are de-emphasized, the jihada is much finer grained, and in the hand in the light looks like silk.

 

Nashiji hada in the Yamashiro tradition is shown in the trademark work of Rai Kunitoshi. Before this there is mokume and itame but it is not as fine as when Rai Kunitoshi establishes the elegant and simple style of fine hada and suguba while departing from the choji hamon of his youth.

 

Below the Omi Daijo is a picture of the jihada of a Rai Kunitoshi, this is nashiji hada mixed with itame. It is my tanto, which also happens to be the earliest known dated Rai Kunitoshi work. It has some itame and masame mixed in, not an effect of polish as it is almost in original condition, but possibly because he was still working out the details of the new kitae. You can see in the finer areas though how tight it is without becoming muji. Again, the blade looks like silk in the light, and you can see how a great smith of later years would look at such an elegant blade and desire to copy the style.

 

I think the two pictures show well the relation of the two schools.

 

Omi Daijo konuka:

 

 

Rai Kunitoshi nashiji with some mix of itame and masame: