Akihide Tanto

[JohnTo]

Can anyone help with the identification of the swordsmith (Akikane) who made this Meiji period tanto?  The blade (8.0 inch, 20.3 cm) is kanmuri otoshi in form with naginata style hi cut into the lower half of the blade.  The hamon is togari ba in nioi with small patches of ko-nie in the tani.  The jihada appears to be muji or possibly a tight masame (the apparent feint masame grain may be due to the polishing plus minute rust specs).  The nakago is roughly shaped with a kenkyo tip and the yasurime are sujikai (sloping downwards from front to back) and seems to have been signed in a hurry (Akikane, see photo).  This seems indicative of a smith in the Meiji period being told to produce an attractive blade for an uncritical foreign tourist clientele who would probably not appreciate the finer qualities of Japanese blades, but having spent a considerable effort in producing a complex shape was still proud enough of his work to sign it.  So far, I have been able to identify a smith of this era with this signature.  There do appear to be other smiths with the name Akikane in the literature, but use an alternative kanji for Kane (Gendaito smiths AK144, AK145 and AK146)

The koshirai appear to be typical of pieces aimed at the tourist market in the Meiji period, rather exuberant, but demonstrating the skills of the metalworkers, who were made redundant after the wearing of swords was banned in 1876 (just because these kinko artists no longer made items for the samurai did not mean that they did not turn out some superb soft metal works of art, e.g. the bronzes coming out of Miyao Eisuke’s workshop in Yokohama).  In this case the koshirai are based upon silver plate with embossed and engraved sparrows and branched of blossom, with touches of gilt finishing.  The fuchi/kashira/kurikata etc are all matching in copper with a black (shakudo?) ishime finish embossed with silver chrysanthemums and gilt borders.  None of the pieces of the koshirai are signed, but overall an attractive little tanto.

In such pieces the blade was usually of secondary importance.  Sometimes an old blade would be utilised but, at the other quality extreme, a simple blade would be made with an etched hamon.  This blade seems to be contemporary with the fittings and the difficulty in polishing such a complex shape would indicate that the forging had some artistic merit over many other blades made for such pieces.

The ‘Aki’ part of swordsmith’s names seems to have become common around the Meiji era. Kuihara Akihide’s father established the NihontoTanren Denshusho at Akasaka in Tokyo around 1893.  Akihide’s teachers were Inagaki Masanori and Horii Taneaki. Akihide taught many Gendai smiths including Amada Akitsugu, Akimoto Akitomo and Miyairi Akihira.  All of these smiths (and others from this densho) used the same character for Aki as this example.  This, plus the associated koshirai would lead me to speculate that Akikane was working around 1890 in Tokyo, but I can find no reference to him anywhere.  It’s quite probable that Akikane quit swordmaking around this time due to lack of demand, but he may also have continued working under a different name.   Can anyone help?

While we are on the subject of this particular tanto, can anyone give advice on stopping the silver of the koshirai tarnishing further without causing abrasive damage?

 

Thanks, John

 

[IanB]

John,  I recently catalogued some swords for one of the UK's major museums in which was a daisho that reminded me of your koshirae. That had superb shakudo nanako fittings that were a bit of a mixture but all of the highest quality. Onto all of the basic fittings had been added rather numb chrysanthemum flowers stamped out of gold sheet and very simplistic tendrils in gold wire. The fact they were added onto already made fittings was shown by the fact that the odd flower overlapped the gilt borders because they was too big. There was also a totally unrelated tanto with what were obviously an Edo period saya and kojiiri but with a hilt fitted with shakudo nanako fuchi / gashira with the same flowers and tendrils as the daisho. To me this suggests a nanako producers stock had been given a make-over to appeal to the tourists and used to make up a daisho and to complete a partial tanto. Also in the pile was a katana with a very nicely chiselled Mino Goto tsuba with the usual fauna and flora but in plain shakudo. Again, a partially finished piece awaiting gilding that was pressed into service.

Ian Bottomley

[JohnTo]

Ian, Thanks for the comment.  On my tanto fittings the chrysanthemums look firmly attached, but at each end of the tanto there are silver braches with gold flowers.  These are not attached very well and the ends of the braches are free from the main body of the fitting and have obviously been applied with little thought to practicality (they keep snagging the bag it is kept in).  I did see similar fittings on a sword at a London auction (Bonhams, I think) a couple of years ago.  I'm sure you are right that at the end of the 19th C pretty little tanto were being put together for tourists incorporating a variety of skills which would not usually be seen on products for the samurai market.  Bonhams (New York, Sept15) have a couple of Meiji tanto with cloisonne mounts (lots 3342, 3343).  They don't bother showing the blades and one is just described as 'containing a tanto blade'.  Down here in South West England I have seen a couple of such tanto coming up at our local auctions, possibly from the families of the original owners.  Unfortunately, we cannot all afford Juyo rated items at the big auction houses and have to bid on what comes up locally.

John B 

[IanB]

John,  I absolutely agree about prices. I catalogued three of these lavish Meiji tanto for a dealer the price he paid being enough to have bought a house 20 years ago.

Ian B

[Ken-Hawaii]

On the silver, John, there's an acrylic protective coating that I use on my meteorites, http://shop.paleobond.com/VCI286-Clear-Coat-Protective-Spray-VCI286.htm.

 

Should work fine on silver, but be careful of overspray, of course.

 

Ken

 

[JohnTo]

Ken,

Thanks for the info regarding the silver coating.  The product does not appear to be available in the UK, but I have found a similar one. 

 

John

[Kai-Gunto]

What about renaissance wax?