Hizen Yoshitsugu which one?

[pcfarrar]

I've got a wakizashi signed Hizen Kuni Yoshitsugu. It doesn't appear to be by the shodai, I only have a couple of oshigata to go off, it matches none of them and the yasurimei are wrong.

 

I wondered if it could be the nidai or the Shin-Shinto/Meiji Hizen Yoshitsugu. Does anyone have an oshigata of the other two?

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

 

[Mark Green]

Hiya Peter,

I have a signed Yoshitsugu wak, the guy that was said to be the son of Tadayoshi's mistress.

Mine matches the oshi in the Hizento Handbook.

Great sword, very much like a Tadayoshi 2.

I would guess that yours is the late period guy. Does the sword look shinshinto?

Mark G

[pcfarrar]

Hi Mark,

 

I'm not 100% sure it's shinshinto. It does have a lot of tsuba wear on the nakago which doesn't seem consistent with a shinshinto sword. I can't tell a great deal from the workmanship as its quite rusty but it's a wide suguha with a wide nioi line.

 

Probably turn out to be a gimei of the shodai :lol:

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Mark Green]

Hi Peter.

Sounds very like mine.

Very controlled suguha, with fat nei line. Very tight hada, nearly flawless, but for some dumbass taking a grinder to the ha. It's all better now though. I love it.

Here is my mei, [attachment=0]IMG_0202jpg.jpg[/attachment]

[Ed Harbulak]

Peter,

As a general rule, the smiths of the Tadayoshi school wrote the "zen" character of Hi-zen with the small stroke to the right side of the right hand vertical stroke. The correct Japanese way to write "zen" is with that small stroke between the part of the "zen" character that looks like the character for moon and the right hand vertical stroke. Since the way "zen" is written in the mei on your blade is wrong for members of the Tadayoshi group, I'd have to say that the mei is gimei. That's not all that unusual, of course, when it comes to Japanese swords, so judge the blade on it's own merits, not on the signature.

Ed