Naohiro 4Th (Hiroshi Kojima) "experimental" Massive Tanto

[Marius]

Allow me a few words about the maker of this tanto, Hiroshi Kojima, the 4th Naohiro...

 

I have known Kojima san for years and I regard him as one of the most open and helpful Japanese sword smiths. His only wish is to make swords and spread sword knowledge. He shares his sword knowledge willingly and teaches to focus on steel and its particles. He does not care about recognition, he plays down his own knowledge and his sword making skills in a way that reminds me of the best English traditions (those who know true Englishmen will know what I mean). He is not a Mukansa and will probably never be one - he simply does not care about it. He loves his work and that is sufficient for him. 

 

Kojima san is always keen to experiment - two years ago I have studies a sword by him that was folded only three times and quenched/tempered without clay (it came out with an amazaing saka-choji hamon). This tanto in its current shape is also the result of an experiment.

 

Kojima san appreciates simple,  functional swords, even if they are no masterworks. His own swords are functional, too. He does not try to emulate any particular style, but his daito are usually tachi with a rather tight steel full of ji-nie, a flamboyant choji hamon and utsuri. If he makes a sword in the style of early koto, his steel is not so tight anymore. 

 

He is the last sword smith of the Naotane lineage - I cannot imagine any candidate who would have the talent, patience and humility to go through a full apprenticeship at Naohiro's. 

 

I own a few swords made by Naohiro, including this interesting tanto. I have bought it to study the effect of polishing on steel activities, but also to analyse natural choji in comparison to designed choji (in this case I used a gorgeous Chounsai Tsunatoshi tanto as a benchmark for designed choji). Now it is is time to part with it. 

 

Being lazy as I am, instead of taking pics and writing a description I am referring you to a webpage on which this tanto and its origin is described. It is a fascinating story. Before you jump to the page, please let me tell you a few words about this tanto.

 

1. It is what people tend to call a "cleaver". It is absolutely massive in hand, very broad (motohaba of 3cm, that's 1.18')  and still thick.

2. It is in beautiful, classical polish which does shows the steel and hamon very clearly (on one side the choji remind me of Ichimonji). There is utsuri, as in most swords by Kojima san.

3. It is unusual and ideal for serious study. It is with a friend now, who is studying it. 

3. It comes signed and with a sayagaki by Kojima-san, which describes its history in somewhat poetic words, AFAIR.

 

So, here is the link:

 

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/effectofyakiire.html

 

 

This tanto is yours for

withdrawn (includes shipping to EU and US, but charges are extra, payment schedule possible).

 

Return policy: 7 days inspection period and if after that you don't like it, just return it for a full refund, minus shipping costs (a purchase with a payment schedule is excluded from this guarantee, but we can work something out also in such a case).

 

If it remains unsold for a couple of days, I will ask Brian to move this thread to the nihonto discussion section, if he deems it educational enough. So posting it makes sense in any case. 

[Brian]

Wow. What an amazing and interesting experiment. And the end result is still an attractive and beautiful tanto.
They did a fascinating experiment there with unexpected results. Lots of implications for kantei etc. Nice one Mariusz and at that price it should sell.
Definitely want to keep this topic for reference.

[ggil]

Very interesting experiment results. Makes me wonder how accurate the books are, when the hamon (a major kantei point) can change over time through polishes. Maybe the amount of metal removed here on one side was more significant than a blade would typically see before being fatally tired, not sure. The price seems good to me also, or cheap if you consider the rarity and implications of the results.

[Gakusee]

Well, this is reasonably well documented result but glad to see it proved with a new blade.

For instance, if you read about the Hatakeda school (Ichimonji and Osafune related), you will notice that the Hatakeda “floating” kawazuko choji are often the result of the polishing away of the connecting thinner stems of the choji.

The same goes for Koto utsuri, which usually had initial depth of 1-1.5mm and thus faints or disappears with polishing

[Marius]

I tend to be mercurial, sorry, so...

 

the tanto is no longer avaiable. 

 

Brian, can I kindly ask you to move this topic to whatever section you deem appropriate or just to delete it? Thank you

[SAS]

Very interesting experiment; I do wonder how the grinding before the polish was carried out, as heat from grinding would have a major effect on the temper of the blade if not controlled. Obviously this could affect the appearance of the finished result.

[ggil]

Should be kept just for the link to the Usagiya sword shop. Fun reading there for sure, thanks Marius.

 

Steve,

 

How is the grinding done? I bet: by hand filing, sort of like a polisher (a pattern of patches to keep a constant depth), and not bearing into it constantly but being well knowledgeable about how excessive heat will free those molecules up and ruin it.

 

Fa’a Samoa

[Marius]

"Grinding" is Kojima's way to say "polishing away steel". I have seen him shaping his swords - he is working with the tools of a classic polisher and of course with loads of water. 

[Gerry]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread with a question about the smith you mention, the 4th Naohiro.

 

Is he the same 4th Naohiro as this smith?

 

https://www.e-nihont...products/detail/1388

[C0D]

1 hour ago, Gerry said:

Thought I'd resurrect this thread with a question about the smith you mention, the 4th Naohiro.

 

Is he the same 4th Naohiro as this smith?

 

https://www.e-nihont...products/detail/1388

The Naohiro of this topic is actually 5th generation, the one of your link his predecessor

NAOHIRO (直弘), 4th gen., Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Saitama – “Minamoto Naohiro saku” (源直弘作), “Musashi no Kuni Ōmiya-jū Minamoto Naohiro saku” (武蔵国大宮住源直弘作), real name Matsubara Eiichi (松原英一), born May 5th 1924, student of Juō Naohiro (寿王直弘)

NAOHIRO (直弘), 5th gen., Heisei (平成, 1989- ), Saitama – “Kei´un Naohiro” (慶雲直弘) “Hiroshi tsukuru” (寛造), “Hiroshi kore o tsukuru” (寛造之), real name Kojima Hiroshi (小島寛), born January 22nd 1957, he studied under his father, the 3rd gen. Juō Naohiro (寿王直弘), and under the 4th gen. Naohiro, his older brother, by becoming independent in 1981 he received the name Naohiro from his senior fellow students, he uses the gō Kei´un (慶雲) and signs sometimes also just with his first name Hiroshi (寛) which is read “Kan” by its Sino-Japanese reading

[Gerry]

Thanks for the clarification, Manuel.

[chi fan wong]

this is a portion of mr. kojima's response in an email regarding one of his swords signed keiun dated to 1994:

 

- The signature was only Keiun, because I was not Naohiro at the moment.

Naohiro was my teachers name. The name Keiun also given to me from my

teacher. It was one of the name he used in his young days, before he became

Naohiro (3rd). I like the name.

After he died, another student became Naohiro (4th). I became Naohiro (5th)

when 4th retired smith. After some 10 years working, I gave Naohiro to my

student when he got independence. So now, I am only Keiun, again.

- I didn't copy any style of sword in history. But I like the swords from

13th century or older. So my blades may have some similar appearance like

that swords. I like to start hamon with some distance from hamachi. Not only

it can be found in old blades, but also it is very interesting to study the

tempering effect. Usually it is hidden under habaki.

[Gerry]

Ah, thanks for sharing Chi Fan, and it's interesting that Mr. Kojima is signing his name as Keiun again now. I have seen some of his blades signed just as "Hiroshi Saku" too. It's odd that for such a good swordsmith, his yasurime seems a little messy.

 

[Marius]

Gerry,

 

he doesn’t care about yasurime, no more than he cares about about art swords. He is interested in the quality of the blade,  as a function of steel/forging/quenching and tempering.

 

For the same reason he doesn’t care about what hada his swords will have.

[chi fan wong]

marius is 100% right about what mr kojima thinks about swords.  his yasurime have sometimes been simply scraped which looks even more messy.  as far as i know he is back to using naohiro again and sometime keiun naohiro.  the hiroshi saku (kanzo) i believe was used in his beginning years before given the title of naohiro.