Opinions On Katana

[SAS]

Starting this thread for discussion of this blade; I have not taken measurements yet.(EDIT: SEE BELOW) Seeking general observations at this point, thank you for your replies.

[SAS]

More

[SAS]

and another; blade is iore mune, suguha hamon with yo, boshi is not visible due to polish.

[SAS]

And one more.... it has masame hada on the shinogi ji, the photos showing it were too high resolution to load. The jihada is hard to read, the blade was not polished well last time around. Some of the shinogi is rounded as if someone had sandpapered rust off.

[Geraint]

Dear Steve.

 

Hard to say very much from these images and without measurements.   What do you think of it so far?  It seems to be o suriage, rather slender with a somewhat larger kisaki.  As you can't see the boshi then we have to wonder if that is the original kisaki shape.  I have not come across mune hada being used as a kantei point and we cannot make out what the hada on the blade is from the images.  Is the shinogi raised or low?  

 

I think you will get more feedback when you give some more information, any opinion at this stage is based on pretty slim evidence, (especially mine) Having said that it would be nice to think that this was a fairly early sword.

 

Have fun.

[uwe]

Steve,

as Geraint said, hard to define based only on this pics. Despite everything, shape suggests an old blade.

 

Uwe

[Shugyosha]

Hi Steve,

 

It looks to me like there is some koshi sori going on there which would have been more pronounced before the blade was shortened - so what Uwe said.

 

Masame makes me think of Yamato or one of the related schools but I have a book on Mino to which suggests that they would often have masame in the shinogi ji. Apparently they were generally kobuse forged and this is the hada of the shingane showing - the kawagane being folded differently gives different hada in the hiraji.

 

I think this is also a kantei point for Ishido school blades but I don't think that the blade is young enough for that...

 

It looks like an interesting blade and I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

 

Best,

John

[SwordGuyJoe]

I agree on Yamato but yamashiro can't be ruled out, perhaps Mihara. That thing looks huge - maybe just the pic. What's the nagasa?

[SAS]

Measurements: nagasa 26.75 inches, blade is machi okuri and (o)suriage. Motohaba 1.15 inches, sakihaba .78 inches, motokasane .27 inches, sakikasane .16 inches, shinogi high. Good comments so far, thank you  PS earlier I said masame on the mune, I meant shinogi ji. PSS I hate autospell, any tips to disable it on a Mac?

[SAS]

In the last picture, there is activity in the ji above the main hamon; to me this is reminiscent of the dragon chasing the moon/sun motif; thoughts? (Actually most examples of this I have seen in pictures are larger than what shows on mine, maybe just a happy coincidence.) This sword was presented as a koto sword by the last owner, who had been told that by the previous owner. Initially I had my doubts, as I thought that it could be a shinto or shinshinto utsushi of a koto blade......as I have photographed it I am thinking that it may actually be koto, though my in hand experience with old blades is limited.

[SAS]

I have posted measurements, is there anything else you want to see in photos that will elicit further comment?

[Kronos]

Looks like it could be late kamakura from the photo's and measurements. I'd be interested on your thoughts on whether the first mekugi-ana is the original? (to me it looks like it isn't making it O-suriage and a fair bit longer originally). Also the rust on the naakago looks shinto making a shinshinto utsushi unlikely.

[Shugyosha]

Hi Steve,

 

You could try having a play with the lighting to see if you can get any better pictures of the hamon, hada and kissaki - I can't tell a lot from those pictures other than there appears to be a hamon. You might want to point the blade towards a spot light (fluorescent if possible) and let the light play down the hamon and hada to see if you can get a picture of any activity.

 

As regards your earlier comments, I wouldn't expect to see the dragon chasing the pearl motif in the hamon of a koto blade and if it isn't significant in size it might just be nijuba that you are seeing. That wouldn't be out of keeping with koto Yamato or Yamashiro blades - another possibility would be yubashiri or shirake utsuri but it's hard to tell from the picture and we might be getting ahead of ourselves here though...when I hear hooves I try to think of horses rather than zebras. 

 

Best,

John

 

P.S. You could try holding the sword by the bare nakago. If it feels uncomfortable in the hand this might be where the cutting edge was originally - logically that should stop two or three inches before the mekugi ana nearest the nakago jiri. That could give a clue as to the original blade length.

[SAS]

Thanks everyone....John, I will take your suggestions when i have some time this weekend hopefully and try and get some other shots.

[SAS]

Had another photo session, but I don't think much more is apparent in this state of polish and with mine and my camera's limitations. However, for your consideration, here are a few more: