Noshu Seki Tadakatsu

[Brian]

Hi all,

 

I have posted about this one before, but wasn't able to find out any info about the smith, or whether this one could be a gendaito or not.

It is signed Noshu Seki ju Tadakatsu, and there isn't much info to be found on him in any of my books. Dr Stein's site only has him as a Seki smith, and made showato.

This one has an interesting hamon, but due to the fact that someone (*sigh*) has used that old enemy of Nihonto...acid or ferric chloride...the hamon has gone overly white and the nie/nioi and hada is not showing.

I feel that the hamon does not look remotely oil quenched, and those contrasting lines might polish up to show some nice hataraki. I am not sure exactly what the ferric chloride does show, and if the lines that look like sunagashi and chikei would disappear with a polish, or show some nice hataraki. They might just be differing hardnesses in the metal, or maybe follow hada if it is there? A good reason to avoid the use of any chemicals in "polishing" What you see afterwards is seldom what appears to be there.

So my questions are as follows:

Does anyone have any books with any info on this smith at all?

Does this look like it might be a Gendaito, or just a Showato?

Looks like the hamon might be choji based, which isn't common with oil quenched blades?

Any other comments? The koshirae is civilian and plain, and there are no stamps to be found anywhere. As seen, the mei does match the Showa one on Dr Stein's site.

 

Thanks,

Brian

[Brian]

As owner of the forum, I get the privilege of shamelessly bumping my own post here :D :lol:

I was hoping someone had decent Showa/Gendai books, as all I have is Hawleys and Slough, which aren't much help with this one.

 

Brian

[Stephen]

in Gendai toko meikan...maybe drop a line to Chris B...he should be able to help you out/

[Dr. T]

Okay, here is what I was able to dig out on Tadakatsu.

 

Tadakatsu's real name was KOKETSU, Minoru. He was among the 232 gunto smiths worked in Seki Tanren-jo Co. during WW2. As you may already know, Seki Tanren-jo Co. was a forge created as a subsidized company by the city of Seki in Gifu Prefecture (old Mino province). Their aim was to boost the city's severely declining economy by participating in the "Tan To Ho Koku [serve the country by forging swords]" pro-war movement that started right before WW2.

 

According to the official record compiled in 1944, Tadakatsu officially joined the forge on May 7, 1943, and worked as a gunto smith till the end of the war. Unfortunately I don't have any other information on this smith, thus whether or not he was actually an Army Jumei Tosho that also produced real gendai-to is unknown. Since I could not find any other information on Tadakatsu in any of my reference books, my guess is that he was not an official army jumei tosho but was merely one of the Seki smiths who had mostly been making kitchen knives and carpentry tools before Seki Tanren-jo Co. opened...

 

Of course, that does not mean that the particular blade in your possession is a mill steel, oil quenched Showa-to of inferior quality (which will not be considered as a true Nihonto under the current Japanese laws). Actually I can see from the photos that the particular blade would probably be considered a true gendai-to (by the legal standard of the Japanese Customs) and be appropriately registered so, if ever brought into Japan.

 

Contrary to an old misconception still perpetuated amongst Nihonto collectors in the Western world, today's Japanese officials (who are commissioned by the customs to examine/determine if a blade to be imported into Japan is a real Nihonto) are better educated on Showa era gendai-to and interested in preserving them. So if you use today's more lenient standard held the Japanese officials, the blade should be considered a real gendai-to that can be registered in Japan. (Though I doubt if the blade would pass NBTHK's Hozon shinsa like the blades made by Emura and Ichiryushi Nagamitsu...)

[sencho]

Takeuchi san,

 

Welcome to the board and nice website.... !! That is one of the best first posts I have seen... Thanks!

 

Cheers!

[Brian]

Dr T.

 

I can't thank you enough for that insightful and useful information.

It is a pleasure to have you on board, and your website is one of the ones many of us read frequently, as the articles are excellent. It is one of the more popular links on the NMB links page.

 

Many thanks.

Brian

[Dr. T]

Thank you gentlemen for the warm welcome and compliments on my site.

I was away from sword related BB’s for a while due to many things, but am hoping to be reacquainted with the Nihonto circle (slowly).

[mike yeon]

Dr. T,

 

I remember your very informative posts on SFI. Glad you're here.

 

mike

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

  Dr. T said:

but am hoping to be reacquainted with the Nihonto circle (slowly).

 

A great addition as yours can only be welcomed.

[Jon Fury]

I've also had Dr. T's "Nihonto Random Thoughts" Page bookmarked for quite some time too.