Lost Boshi?

[Roland]

I just had a look at this kissaki of a o-suriage Tachi. And I cannot identify any boshi, though seen from mune-saki there is a nagashi. What has happened to this blade? Ichimai should display minor parts of the outline of the boshi. Just some brutal sanding? May be that's a stupid question but I try to train my eyes.

[pcfarrar]

I think its quite visible in the picture you posted.

[paulb]

I agree with Peter I think there is something there although certainly not easy to see or well presented in the image. I have often heard the kissaki and boshi are the most difficult areas to polish well. This suggests thats true.

[Marius]

I just had a look at this kissaki of a o-suriage Tachi. And I cannot identify any boshi, though seen from mune-saki there is a nagashi. What has happened to this blade? Ichimai should display minor parts of the outline of the boshi. Just some brutal sanding? May be that's a stupid question but I try to train my eyes.

 

Roland,

 

do you actually have the sword, or are you just looking at pictures? I have noticed that cheap polish often "hides" the boshi. The kissaki has not been sanded - the yokote is too crisp for that. IMHO, it is not ichimai boshi. Then again, I can't really see the hamon, although at this resolution of the picture I should. The yakiba seems to have been produced with hazuya. I see no grain, and I guess even if the hamon were nioi-deki, I should see some.

 

My impression is that this sword has been polished down and that the hamon is somwhere near the cutting edge. What you see in the picture is the effect produced by the polisher.

 

This is my opinion only, and since I am a beginner, it needs to be confirmed or trashed by the experts on this forum. They should probably see the sugata as well in order to determine whether the kissaki has not been cut down.

 

Best regards

[remzy]

hum Did you stole this boshi, Roland?

 

 

This might aswell be only shading on the steel that we see... personnaly i cannot see any boshi going on even if i distort the pixel to the max... might want to ask for more pictures.

 

Remy

[Brian]

IMHO, this blade (from what we can see) is not nearly in any state of polish where you can start to appreciate any visible boshi.

It looks like it was rusted over, and has had a rough amateur polish job done to bring it to this state.

Just my opinion from what I see, but there is way too much pitting and roughness to be in a state where the boshi will be nice and visible.

The boshi is probably the hardest to polish, and doesn't show nicely unless the polish is done well.

I can't make a determination if it is there from the pics.

 

Brian

[Roland]

I received some photos from the owner. The sugata (see photo!) looked not bad. Nagasa 26-1/3", sori 2.5 cm, iori mune, o-suriage nakago 8-1/4", three mekugi-ana, nakago-jiri kiri, width at munemachi 3 cm, 0.65 cm thick, that are the figures I got.

 

Then I had a look at his photos which showed a, well, suboptimal polish.

 

I just was a little bit irritaded when the guy told something of "no boshi". So I investigated further...

[raaay]

Hi Rolland

 

is it my eyes or an optical illusion that the tip off the boshi has a saki sori ?? type dip !!

 

and could indicate a total reshaping off the boshi area ?

 

regards

ray

[Marius]

IMHO, this blade (from what we can see) is not nearly in any state of polish where you can start to appreciate any visible boshi.

It looks like it was rusted over, and has had a rough amateur polish job done to bring it to this state.

 

Brian, I beg to differ. This is by no means amateur polish, nor is it rough the ridges are just to crisp for that. Please take into account that the pics are high-res, which makes even tiny scratches visible. The sword must have been badly rusted before it was polished, hence all those pits. But the problem with the boshi is that the tempered part is just at the cutting edge, which indicates that this sword has been over-polished.

 

That is my humble opinion only.

 

best regards