Nambokucho Etchu

[Ray Singer]

I thought this sword would be of interest and would enjoy hearing others thoughts on it. The sword is one I found in essentially zero polish at the 2014 Tampa show. At the time, the majority of the blade was covered in black rust, except for a clear area under and just above the habaki (maybe 3cm total). From what I could, see there was a feeling of ayasugi, not a very regular one that would point to Gassan, and I made a guess of Ko-Naminohira. I was at the show with a friend and asked him if he wanted the first shot, which he jumped on. After polish, there was a feeling like Norishige in places, not a textbook matsukawa-hada but a workstyle that showed some relationship. My guess at that point was something between Tametsugu and a very high quality Ko-Uda. The sword received a kanteisho at the 2016 Tampa shinsa to Nambokucho jidai - Uda Kunifusa, who is considered to be a student of Norishige and falls into the Etchu middle period along with Tametsugu. That said, the sword has not gone to the NBTHK yet or been in Tanobe-sensei's hands, so I wanted to open up for the groups thoughts. I will take better photos if possible this week, but I think the attached gives a good idea of the work in this sword.

 

Best regards,

Ray

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

I thought this sword would be of interest

 

Wow, it IS of interest ! . Uda seems a good call. Curious what the NBTHK will say.

[John A Stuart]

Lovely. Great results from polish. John

[PNSSHOGUN]

This blade has a powerful look about it, reminds me of Soshu school.

I am very interested in seeing how shinsa turns out.

[BIG]

Hidden treasure, nice find Ray... Congrats!

 

Best Regards

[Ray Singer]

Thanks for the kind words. I will say that it is hard to discern a darkish jigane in this sword, which is first thing one should look for in a hokkoku-mono. The jigane is filled with ji-nie though, and that may be making the color of steel difficult to evaluate.

 

Here is an oshigata from the Zufu which has similarity to this sword and gives an idea of how the hamon appears.

[Jamie]

I feel like you almost need to hold them up next to something else to see the dark jigane. I have a northern blade and it certainly doesn't look dark sitting there by itself.

Nice sword, good find.

[md02geist]

Great looking blade.

[Greg F]

Great find Ray, very attractive hada and nice habaki too. Congrats.

 

Greg

[Ken-Hawaii]

Amazing what you can find under a sea of rust! Great call, Ray!

 

Ken

 

[Ray Singer]

Jim Kurrasch used to say that the best test of how clear the jigane is, and its colour, is to view it alongside a small mirror. The mirror being equivalent to perfectly clear steel, as a mirror contributes basically no colour of its own.

 

 

I feel like you almost need to hold them up next to something else to see the dark jigane. I have a northern blade and it certainly doesn't look dark sitting there by itself.

Nice sword, good find.

[Jean]

Ray,

 

Very good find. Top smith, Uda Kunifusa or Tametsugu are both good call. I would opt for Uda Kunifusa but in any case it is top Soshu so the call will be for a direct student of Norishige.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello Ray,

 

Thanks for sharing. 

 

A couple of comparisons linked below. Darcy's tanto to my eye seems to show similarities.

 

Moses polished your friends/this sword?  

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzzQ7wVKU-k

 

http://www.nihonto.ca/saeki-norishige/

[Ray Singer]

Thank you Franco, I agree that some similarities are evidence. There is a calmness of workmanship though, but the influence definitely seems to be there. This was not polished by Moses.

[Katsujinken]

The hada has tons of character, but I don't see any chikei to speak of in the photos. Of course that could be due to the photos or my inexperience. The nioi-guchi also looks quite clear to me, which pulls this further away from Norishige. This is super interesting though, and I'd love to know the results of shinsa when the time comes. Either way it seems your courage will be rewarded!

[Jean]

For me, shimizu (subdued) nioiguchi...

[Ray Singer]

That's more due to my very poor, mobile phone photography. The habuchi is very bright (not at all shimiru), but is also distinct and does not have the vague transition zone seen in Norishige's Ko-Hoki style work. Here is shot which shows the bands of chikei flowing through the ji.

[Katsujinken]

Interesting. So what do you get when you have this blade with chikei, suguha, and a tight[er] nioiguchi? Does the hamon rule out Norishige? Maybe we're seeing an utsushimono of some kind?

[Ray Singer]

Hi Michael,

 

I would say that Ko-Uda can also meet that description. The work of shodai Uda Kunifusa has a hamon like this, in a generally suguha tone. I will share some reference examples. I would also say that this type of hamon (only the hamon) reminds me somewhat of Yamato Shizu.

 

Similar to the oshigata attached, the hamon has deep nie, but not depth to the ha like you would expect to see in Norishige.

 

Best regards,

Ray

 

Interesting. So what do you get when you have this blade with chikei, suguha, and a tight[er] nioiguchi? Does the hamon rule out Norishige? Maybe we're seeing an utsushimono of some kind?

[Katsujinken]

Thanks Ray! Perhaps in the end the boshi will be the key here, but we are obviously already well beyond my expertise. :-)

[Jean]

Yamato Shizu can be translated by Soden Tegai (To be noted: all Nambokucho Tegai swords are not Soden):

 

http://nihonto.com/rh494.html