Please help by Identification

[Fly]

Hi all,

my first Topic in a Forum hope not my last

I but this Katana on Ebay 2006 in Gunto-mouting. The blade was rusty, scrached and bent but on the Tang was a Shu-mei and that was intresting for me. I gave the blade to a Dealer for examine and a simple Polishing and now the Blade come back to me. My Question is it a good Blade Is it posible to find a School and or Smith, what do you think about the Mei???

Nagasa: 68 cm.

Nakago-nagasa: 18 cm.

Motohaba: 32 mm.

Sakihiba: 22 mm.

Motokasane: 8 mm.

Sori: 18 mm.

Iori-Mune, Chu-Kissaki, Nakago ubu,

[remzy]

Did the "polisher" use acid to etch the hada? *grumbles*

[Stephen]

sure looks like it..and some work to the Kissaki??? or just the photo makes it look miss shaped

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Strange, kao looks like Tanobe sensei's one.

[remzy]

Comment bousiller une antiquité...

[Joseph P.]

Well, I think I can say it's authentic... I am sure about that, but all of its characteristics look really weird...

[slavia631]

While the nagako and sugata indicate that it is indeed genuine, the blade's aesthetics are quite...different. It almost has the "feel " of a modern custom sword (Howard Clark, etc.). Might this be due to the possibility of some hybrid polishing or an acid etch? Or is the blade itself an actual "black sheep"?

[Jean]

Strange, kao looks like Tanobe sensei's one.

 

 

Very far from Tanobe sensei Kao (I have four swords in front of my eyes bearing his sayagaki) this shumei is an insult to Tanobe sensei calligraphy

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Very far from Tanobe sensei Kao (I have four swords in front of my eyes bearing his sayagaki) this shumei is an insult to Tanobe sensei calligraphy

 

 

I agree, it is a bad imitation (purpose of it?)

[Fly]

@ Remzy: Acid to etch the Hada. Surely not! I photograph with high resolution to make the Hada better visible for the viewer.

The Blade is genuine without each doubt. I collect some jears Japanese Antiques and it is not my first Katana but i am not an Expert in this large area.

[Fly]

Here some pics without sharpening.

[Stephen]

i think were all in like that its true nihonto, some pix of the kissaki please and some of the hada with out any trick lighting, just sunlight or bare bulb. so far it does look acid washed

 

you posted as i was typeing, the kissaki looks fine it was the first photo. ...have to say yes it was washed to bring out the hada. looks worth looking into the mei maybe another shot that one could read a bit better. did it come in a shirasaya?

[Stephen]

doubt this will help, but here it is anyway.

[Guest Nanshoku-Samurai]

Hm, the sword looks like a late Shinto or Shinshinto piece to me. It looks like it has good workmanship and I can't see any Kizu. But what bothers me a bit is the polish. Is this a new polish? I am just curious but was this polish done in Japan? It may be due to the pictures but the polish does look a bit akward to me.

 

As far as the Mei (cutting test in this case I would guess) goes I always tend to say they are not legit unless they are papered. Then again I think it is especially difficult if not impossible to say wheter a cutting test is valid or not.

 

Just my two cents

[Guest reinhard]

Finally I found the AF joke! Genuine NihonTo? You must be kidding.

 

reinhard

[Guest Nanshoku-Samurai]

Reinhard, could you please let me know why you think this is no real Nihonto? It looks Shinshinto Mino to me. The polish may make it look akward but I have no doubt that it is a genuine Nihonto.

[Fly]

Hi,

for better reading the Shu-mei. I read under the mekugi-ana ASAEMON YAMADA MANKICHIRO??? ( TADA ? KAO)

 

And a picture from the Kissaki posible it is Kaen or Yakitsume?

 

 

@ Reinhard: Yes, let us know why do you think this is not a real Nihonto!

My opinion, it is a Shinshinto, but I do not want to affect anybody in its judgement.

 

@ Stephen C: The Katana is mountet in a new Kosherai but antique Fittings. I give the order to a well-known dealer here in Germany but I don't now where the Blade is polishing.

 

The unusual is, the dealer wants purchase options by a possible sales

[Guest Nanshoku-Samurai]

Fly, would you mind letting us know to which dealer you gave it? Thinking of Germany Juwelier Strebel comes to my mind but I am not sure if they do polish swords. In my oppinion the polisher established the lines well on your sword. I am quite sure though that he used acid to enchance the Hada. Wheter one likes this or not depends much on personal taste I guess.

[Stephen]

All these pix with the black background and shadows....it hids so much...please a shot in daylight with plain background. so far this is a crappy acid wash polish IMHO

[Nobody]

I enhanced the pic of the nakago to read so called Shumei. I can read several kanji on it and the whole text seems to be a Setsudanmei. But it looks a little strange to me, as the characters look like scribbles.

 

Of course, I could be wrong.

[slavia631]

For what it's worth--and because nobody has mentioned it yet--Do the mekugi-ana not look drilled rather than punched?

[Stephen]

Made up huh? so it could be a farce, anyone have true nihonto out there!!!??? Please!!!

[Mark]

I have seen some Showa swords by Amahide with this type of hada/hamon.. Not saying it is but a possibility.

[Ted Tenold]

This blade has clearly been etched.

 

The yokotesugi has been "installed" by masking with tape. The kissaki finish is dull and the abrasions in the monouchi are of the same pattern, density, and direction transitioning across the yokote into the kissaki. If sand paper had been used on a traditionally polished kissaki, the yokotesuji would be obscurred and the transition rounded.

 

In the habakimoto there is yet another tape line masking the nakago from etchant.

 

The so called "shumei" looks like nothing more than regular brown urushi, and the script is poor. The kao does resemble Tanobe-san's but there is absolutely NO way any of this is by his hand.

 

The hada is harsh while the background is chalky, dull, and lifeless. The striations in the ji have "jagged" edges as to those in the yakiba.

 

The habuchi/yakiba is also chalky and dull looking and without brightness.

 

My guess is that this is a showato or gendaito that's been, shall we say, "embellished".

[Guest reinhard]

*Deleted by Admin*

[remzy]

^Yes, as i said back then, it look etched and i find it ugly... but do we really need this kind of harsh tone in here?

[slavia631]

Last time I heard, Gendaito are considered true Nihonto? Either way, it's better than a kick in the butt with a frozen boot. Would a proper new polish and removal of the Shumei help this blade's cause?

[Mark Green]

Hi Gang,

I'm with Mark J...... I am holding in my hand a flawless Amahide, that has had no acid anything on it, that looks very much like this sword.

I believe the dark lines in the hada, had to do with the steel used. However, the sword I'm looking at in my hand, BY Amahide, does look very close.

The one I'm holding is true gendi, no stamps, very nice sugata, allmost Koto like, in feel.

Likely custom made for some army officer.

I would say that your sword is likely Gendi. I think the writing is suspect at best. I hate to think about who may have been the cutting test subjects for the period this sword was in action.

Mark G