So-Den Bizen Yoshikage Ju-To

[Ray Singer]

Would anyone be able to confirm if this the same Yoshikage that was for sale on Aoi-art two years ago? If so it is quite a deal, now being $10,850 at the current exchange. The sword on Aoi was I believe 1,600,000 yen at the time.

 

http://www.sanmei.com/contents/media/O99535_W5086_PUP_E.html

 

Regards,

Ray

 

 

[b.hennick]

Hi Ray:

Are you making the point that the blade was bought for 1.6 M yen and then was put through juyo shinsa. If currently for sale for less than $11k it is a super buy.

[Jimmy R]

It says that it is the 31st nihonto to recieve Juyo in 1973

Jim

[Ray Singer]

Hi Barry, the sword I recall was already Juyo. Given the exchange at the time I believe it around $16-17k, already a good deal I felt at that time. At the current exchange it's really quite amazing. I believe it is the same sword but I unfortunately did not save the photos.

 

Best regards,

Ray

[DirkO]

Would it be able to get Juyo nowadays? Doubtful. Was it repolished after it got Juyo in the 70's? Likely. If a Juyo is at this price, one has to tread very carefully. I've seen Juyo that changed quite a bit after a new polish and not always in a favorable way. Not saying this is the case here, but when a deal seems too good to believe...

[leo]

Most probably this is a shortened nagamaki, converted much later into a wakizashi. Hence the very reasonable price. Too much sori for a shortened tachi. Most Yoshikage tachi I have seen have no nagamaki naoshi- kissaki or a part hi on the shinogi.

An o-suriage tachi attributed to Bizen-Soden Yoshikage in very good condition would cost not under 5-6 M. Yen nowadays.

 

Regardless of the price I personally would not buy it because it was not made as a wakizashi.

 

Dirk, this will most probably get a Juyo paper today. I already sent blades to Japan for papers in 1970 and from my experience it is much easier today to get one. Today it mainly needs a TH paper, good condition, made in Nambokucho or earlier, money and patience. There are quite a few of these mediocre Juyo blades on the market attributed to some school.

 

Best, Martin

[Marius]

Regardless of the price I personally would not buy it because it was not made as a wakizashi.

 

But you would buy an o-suriage tachi (in other words, a katana) which was not made as a katana. Hm...

[kazarena]

Ray,

 

I was only able to find 4 Juyo swords by Yoshikage sold through Aoi in my records in the recent years:

 

wakizashi, around Aug 2011: 23th Juyo at 2.5m yen

katana, around Nov 2011: 47th Juyo at 3m yen

naginata naoshi, around May 2014: 13th Juyo at 3m yen

naginata naoshi, around Jan 2015: 16th Juyo at 2.6m yen

 

All are different swords from the one in your link.

 

Regards,

Stan

[Ray Singer]

Thank you for providing the confirmation Stan. This shows that I am thinking of a sword by a different smith.

 

Best regards,

Ray

[Ray Singer]

Sorry for the confusion, I should have simply checked the Archives from the beginning. I misremembered the sword in question and in fact it was a So-den Bizen Kanenaga rather than a Yoshikage. The Kanenaga is below.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20101213012623/http://aoi-art.com/sword/sale/10229.html

 

Thanks,

Ray