Kantei By Photo - Oktober

[CSM101]

Dear members,

 

Back again. And I hope you missed me.

 

 

So, here is another kantei: Katana, osuriage - mumei - nagasa appr. 69 cm

 

 

You can find the photos here: https://www.nihontophoto.com/kopie-von-tamahagane.

 

First click on the photos. In the left upper corner ther are two arrows. Use them to enlarge the photos. Have fun and I will give the answer

next Tuesday.

 

A small hint: No, the blade is not in the blue book.

 

 

Uwe G.

[Guest Rayhan]

I cannot say from the patination of the Nakago as it is very bright (Like very) but if were to garner a guess then I am saying Rai Kunitsugu or Soshu Yukimitsu

[Shugyosha]

Hi Uwe,

 

I'm struggling a little with the pictures - any chance of larger shots of the boshi and jigane?

 

Thanks,

John

 

I'll take a shot anyway - Nambokucho, Bingo, Ko Mihara.

 

My reasoning is that (I think) I see Nambokucho sugata with high shinogi line, strong chikei work in itame with some mokume with perhaps some sumitetsu, I think there's some shirake utsuri, hamon looks nioi based with maybe ko nie but I'm struggling to make out the boshi very well but I'm happy to make my guess based on the the other factors.

[CSM101]

Boshi is very faint and I already "enhanced" this area. But I put a third photo on my site and I hope this one is more helpful.

 

Uwe G.

[suketaka]

Unji?!

 

Michael

[eternal_newbie]

I'm going to go with Komihara as well, simply because I used to own a Komihara blade with nearly identical hada, hamon and boshi. The hada is just a smidgen too loose for Aoe, and I can't see any masame that might push it to Tegai.

[Guest Rayhan]

This is keeping me up...could it be Miike?

[Tokaido]

Hi Uwe,

thank you for entertaining us with these lovely pictures

 

The sugata reminds me of either late Kamakura Period or late Nambokucho/Beginning of Muromachi.

The hada is breathtaking. Reminds me of a sword with a debatable attribution to either Soshu Yukimitsu or Taima.

 

Since there are very many chikei, I guess it is neither of these. I can also understand an attribution to Kashu Sanekage or Uda

Well, the later is an excuse to not know what it is and so to dump it right in the "box of doom"

 

Greetings

Andreas

[dwmc]

Higo Enju School ??

[Stefan]

Going for Reizen Sadamori. I ve seen  an nearly ident coloured hada on an other blade. 

Stefan

[mywei]

I'll go with Chu-Aoe

[Guest Rayhan]

The suspense is killing me, answer already? now it looks like Bizen....i want to stop looking!

 

Edit: nope, not saying Bizen...scratch that

Edited October 16, 2018 by Rayhan

[CSM101]

Dear members,

 

this time I want to do it a little bit different. Because sometimes we have to remember, why we are here, It is because we want to learn.

And sometimes our education is a circle and we have to go back to the basics.

 

Shape, steel, hada, hamon.

 

Three things are obvious. But "steel" is not. And it is the hardest part to see and recognize a good steel.

"If the steel is good, the rest of the sword is good." That's what I have learned. So, let's take a look at the steel:

 

 

The kitae is a beautiful dense koitame-hada rich with ji-nie and chikei. You can find a fine nie-utsuri. (all three points are an indicator for high quality steel). The kitae is kenzen.

 

 

 

The hamon is suguha with konie.

 

It has a slender and elegant appearence with a high shinogi.

 

With a description like that it is clear that is must be something very, very good.

 

And then you have to think like me. Okay, at first you would loose 30 IQ-points. But that's not what I mean. I always choose a blade that is a typical example for time,

province and school. I would never pick a Kamakura Bizen Nagamitsu in Soshu-style or a signed and dated Go Yoshihiro. Next point: when I write: "The blade is not

in the blue book." then I mean "The BLADE is not in the blue book." But the maker is.

 

An elegant sugata, koitame, suguha and high-class-steel brings us to: Yamashiro, end of Kamakura. And whatever you pick, Rai, Enju or Ryokai is not important.

Important is, that you pick the right time and province.

 

"We don't have a time machine so we will never be sure." = Darcy Brockbank. Nothing else to say.

 

By the way, it is a Rai Kunitoshi - Juyo Token.

 

I don't want to write here much about Rai Kunitoshi. Markus Sesko did that and who is better?

 

https://markussesko.com/2016/01/28/kantei-4-yamashiro-16-rai-%e6%9d%a5-school-2/

 

https://markussesko.com/2016/01/31/kantei-4-yamashiro-17-rai-%e6%9d%a5-school-3/

 

But let´s come to the results. And in the end I can understand most of the answers. Rai Kunitsugu and Soshu Yukimitsu, Miike, Reizen Sadamori. Unji has at least

mokume in the hada and for the rest is the difference the quality of the steel.

 

I made photos of another Rai Kunitoshi (the katana in the blue book) This one is even closer to Miike.

 

 

Just one more point, because Stefan brought it up: Color in a nihonto photo. Just forget that in the future. I could write 3 pages about color managment, calibration,

sRGB, AdobeRGB, whatever.. In the future I will do it like aoiart. The tang in color and the blade b&w. Or I invest in a EIZO ColorEdge. Maybe then i can present

a color that is close to reality.

 

Now I have a Talisker waiting for me. Cheers!

 

Uwe G.

[CSM101]

And I forgot this one: https://www.nihontophoto.com/arbeitenfuermuseen

 

 

Uwe G.

[Guest Rayhan]

Oh man that is wonderfully explained!finally can sleep..

[Brian]

Fantastic explanation Uwe. Well done and thanks for the effort and education.

[Shugyosha]

I really need some better eyes and a sh!t ton more knowledge. 

 

Thanks Uwe!!