Kantei Section For The Raffle "who Wants To Win A Nihonto"

[Mark S.]

i would say Brians is a good one

 

However, can the entrants kindly decide what they would be comfortable with?

Good with Brian’s method...

[Bazza]

No worries with Brian's method.  What a super bloke.  Bonza.

 

BaZZa.

[Vermithrax16]

I have full confidence in the people running this. Brian's method is clean and correct IMO.

[Greg F]

Happy with what ever you guys do.

 

Greg

[shakudo]

Very happy with Brian's idea. Thanks again for this opportunity. Mike.

[SmoothNinja]

Brian's idea sounds good

[Shugyosha]

Happy to go with the flow.

[paulb]

me too

[Gunome]

Me too

[Brian]

Sounds good. I will keep adding any new names to the list until 6pm UK time. At that point, the list will be randomly sorted and sent to Barry Hennick so he can verify my list.
Ray will post the number he randomly draws and myself or Barry will then post the winning name, which will be verified by the other.
Clean and transparent.
Good luck all! Still time to enter. We have 31 names so far.

[Navymate]

Thanks again to Ray for this great opportunity. I have learned a lot and have enjoyed participating and I also appreciate both Brian and Barry for helping.

[Mark S.]

In an effort to keep the fun and anticipation going, can I ask a couple general questions?

 

1) As a group (the members here), have all 3 blades (individually) been correctly identified by one or more members?

 

and

 

2) Has anyone scored Atari on all 3?

 

Not asking for names or results. Just a “yes” or “no” would be interesting

[Stephen]

Can i retire this devil's advocate moniker hanging around me neck? looking forward to results. Hope its a newbie who learns the responsibility of being a caretaker for a few decades. 

[Brian]

Bear in mind that even I have no idea of the answers. AFAIK, only Ray knows the answers

[Mark S.]

Was hoping Ray would give us a little preview...

[Stephen]

And at that point Brian you should have been allowed to enter,,,just not win,,,lol just kidding

[Gabriel L]

…I will keep adding any new names to the list until 6pm UK time.…

 

Me: checks UK time: 4:45 PM.

 

Ah, looks like I'm practicing a little kantei in the next hour. Hope to post a bid soon! 

[Stephen]

Gabe: Get some!!

[Gabriel L]

Ah, I am totally out of time. OK, here are my bids – notes further down.


Kantei 1: Tairyusai Sokan
Kantei 2: Hizen Tadahiro (II? III?)
Kantei 3: most uncertain, thinking Rai? Kunitoshi?


Notes (wish I had started this earlier…)
 

Kantei 1

Nagasa: 83cm, Sori: 2.6cm

 

Initial impressions: very long nagasa, maybe ubu, clear yasurime, not a very heavy patina. Finely-worked steel, irregular chōji/gunome hamon. Possibly nioi habuchi but with sunagashi near the ha. Hamon continues through boshi, small sharp turnback. Large-ish chū-kissaki, full curve. Blade seems healthy, ha chip notwithstanding. Not much hint of funbari. Hada… itame with ji-nie and maybe spots of utsuri? Interesting spot midway up the omote side. Hi start above the machi, maru-dome, and bridge the yokote; flush with the shinogi/mune. Kesho yasurime, steep sujikai.

Conclusions: I'm thinking Shinshintō.

 

Kantei 2

Nagasa: 68.8 cm, Sori:1.4 cm

Relatively little sori. Josun, maybe ubu. Pretty distinct funbari. Irregular medium-width nie-based suguba with almost nijuba or similar. Distinctive bōshi with a "bump" near the yokote, sharp turnback. Dark, fine steel with patches of darker steel near the base. Very full curve to the kissaki. No hi/horimono. Kesho yasurime, sujikai.

Conclusions: from the sori I'd leap to Kanbun period or similar.
 

Kantei 3

Nagasa: 68.2 cm, Sori: 2.3 cm

Whitish steel in photo. Some loose hada in places. Flowing itame. Irregular flowing hamon, maybe nie-based, looks vaguely Soshu with lots of activity. Hamon near the monouchi is straight on one side, that seems very distinctive. Seems likely ō-suriage. Nakago condition is very old, heavy patina / pitting. Bo-hi run through the nakago and end above the yokote; flush with the shinogi/mune. Boshi has a small gentle turnback.

Conclusions: from the sugata / nakago I'd assume kotō, maybe mid-Kamakura.

[Curran]

 

I'm curious to see the kantei results, as that 2nd one is still nibbling at my mind.

[Brian]

In the nick of time
Ok...Barry and I have the list. Will await Ray's number and then we can make someone's day/week/month/year. Good luck all!

[Stephen]

Time stamp one min left...talk about cutting it close!

[Brian]

May be headed for bed, long rainy day. In that case, if Ray posts the number then Barry may name the winner, or I will do it tomorrow morning.
A HUGE thanks to Ray for this great and fun exercise. I think it has been hugely positive and an amazing gesture. We await the results and hope this is the start of good things to come. Small versions of this may be a regular feature if we can find sponsors.
Again, best of luck all.

[SAS]

It is 7 am Sunday American Samoa time; is it too late to enter? I need to figure out how to pay and then bid if i still can.  ETA payment made, if too late for raffle it is a good thing to support Brian and the Board anyway.

[Stephen]

Hour n half to late Steve...

[SAS]

Any way; #1 Shinshinto Munetsugu....#2 Masamune, da original....#3 Muramasa, da original....not great at kantei, even less so in 15 minutes.

Everything in Samoa is slow....

[Guest Rayhan]

Dear All

Thank you so much for participating and garnering great interest in the art of Kantei. For some it has been an opportunity to educate others in the way and for others it has been a brave step into professional collecting of Nihonto.

There has, without doubt, been much emotion and consideration in this process and no one who has entered is without merit. Those that consider themselves collectors and have not entered should be braver in future (yes, I called you pu**ies).

The process of Kantei is not only a learning tool but something that brings us closer to our Nihonto. It is a conversation between our souls and the swords soul. But, that takes time and insight to commit to. My intention here was to get people to look deeper into their Nihonto and deeper into the educational material we have at hand, without which we would all be lost. Thank you to all those that contribute to our collecting and thank you to Brian and the Mods for NMB.

The swords:

1. ShinShinto is correct. it is a large sword and in very healthy condition which should spark a clue towards ShinShinto. The Yasurime on the Nakago is a gift from me as in true Kantei I would not see someone receiving this large clue. Hosokawa Masayoshi.
2. Shinto is correct. Osaka Jigane is correct. The sword has an altered tang but it is more slightly Suriage than anything else. Kuniteru, this is the prized sword and comes in full Koshirae as well as Shirasaya. The winner will see the magnificent JIgane that can only be described in hand. Well done and congratulations!
3. Ko-Hoki. I did not expect anyone to land a finger on this one as it is for all intensive purposes the father to many sword traditions. Darcy has had a Ko-Hoki listed before(https://yuhindo.com/ko-hoki/) and the Jigane on his listing is far more pronounced than this one is on pictures, but, having held this sword I can tell you that it has all the features one would expect in Ko-Hoki. A mix of Jigane where Nie is abundant, Itame and mokume fight in harmony between the various layering and the Hamon is a jumble of traditions, this is after all, one of the key stones to all swords as we know them today. There was no right answer here, just the recognition of the past in ever living steel.

The number I pick randomly is 23 – I will let Barry announce the winner!

[Surfson]

Wow, none of us got any of the kantei swords correctly, right?  So who won the sword?  

[Guest Rayhan]

Number 23 won but i don't have the randomised list

[b.hennick]

I am happy to announce:

 

23 Barry Thomas

Congratulations to the winner and a big thank you to Rayhan for his generosity. Thank you to all who entered and made a contribution to NMB.