What's Going On With This Jigane?

[DRDave]

Sword bears the signature of Tsutsui Kiyokane, and dated Showa 20.  What would have produced the almost rectangular areas in this photo?

 

 

Thanks!

Dave D.

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Umegane, very bad polish, or someone doing a really bad job of cleaning a spot?

[Ray Singer]

Looks like an unintended hardened area (tobiyaki) within the ji. Perhaps a fault during yaki-ire.

[b.hennick]

Hi

It seems too large an area for umagane. Perhaps it is shintetsu.

[DRDave]

There is one more area further down the bade with the same rectangular shape.  It's fainter, but even larger, than the ones shown.  The other side of the blade looks fine.  Umegane was my first thought.  But to that extent?  If tobiyaki was intended, why only one side?  And If accidental, what's the likelihood of getting those straight lines and sharp corners repeatedly?  I don't know.  It's unusual.

 

Thanks!

Dave D.

[John A Stuart]

It just looks like a different type of metal that wasn't homogenised perfectly during folding while being forged. John

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, what John said.

It is very probably a layer of the KAWAGANE, and it is quite coarse and not well homogenized/folded. It would not affect the performance of the blade, but it looks quite unusual and not aesthetically satisfying. Nevertheless, it could be the "style" of this smith, so more research might be advisable.

[jeremy]

The koto wakizashi I have for sale has something similar in the shinogi ji which is a umegane.

Jeremy

[Surfson]

Looks like it had a "skin transplant"!

[mfarrar]

I noticed this also and thought odd and maybe an umegane but then the hada is not different and flows through it. Also strange that there is no mention the of what it is in the description.

[DRDave]

I had emailed the seller (Aoi) about it a couple of days ago, and late yesterday, received their response; they too, say it's umegane.  There is some evidence in the hada suggesting the possibility of bigger issues requiring umegane, but I still wonder.  Life was far from normal in Feb 1945.  Bombing of Tokyo; invasion of Iwo Jima.  I wonder if maybe the additional metal was of such significance to the smith that he just wanted to incorporate it into the blade.