Motohira Dandy

[Vermithrax16]

This is a sweet Motohira, just check out the expanded pictures. Love this one, too bad I am broke:

http://www.sword-auction.jp/en/content/as18565-%E5%88%80%EF%BC%9A%E8%96%A9%E6%91%A9%E5%A5%A5%E5%A4%A7%E5%92%8C%E5%AE%88%E5%B9%B3%E6%9C%9D%E8%87%A3%E5%85%83%E5%B9%B3-katana-satsuma-oku-yamato-ason-omi-motohira

 

 

[Hoshi]

He's one of the underrated late Edo smiths. Jo-Saku does not do him justice. 

 

However I disagree on this one. It's in the danger zone, and with a .5 Kasane I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. .5 Kasane is just too thin, what you'd expect on a ko-bizen polished six hundred times. Moreover, I really don't see much of the 'Shizu' vibe which characterises his top work. 

 

The thing with this seller's blades is that you need to play 'where is the catch' very carefully. These blades are triaged and funnelled on our market, it's big volume work and sometimes they make a mistake and there is a really good blade hiding in the bush, I've seen it happen and it's great when it does. But more often than not you'll find something which justifies the 'special price' - be it cheap juyo from session 22 sold just under ladder theory price, real Kyomaro that are unfortunately mumei, mumei sushu work which has a 'Den' in the paper gives off a strange Hankei vibe, real Rai work with the most disgraceful horimono on earth that dumps the value near zero, etc. dangerously ambiguous boshi which deviate from the oshigata... be attentive. 

 

Aoi is like a freak circus with the occasional orphan child which shows high potential. 

[Guest Rayhan]

I have said time and time again that name calling a seller that has served our community for goodness knows how long isn't very cool.

 

But, Chris is correct on his detailed catch of the Kasane. Unless an Edo period smith is doing a very detailed utsushi of an older blade, there is little reason for it to be so thin in the kasane region apart from heavy polishes over time.

[Bazza]

> Aoi is like a freak circus with the occasional orphan child which shows high potential.

> ... name calling a seller that has served our community for goodness knows how long isn't very cool.

 

All well and good - BUT - with TokuHo and a nice koshirae what's not to like for the majority of collectors - apart from the price??  How is the beginning collector or even a reasonably experienced one to make such a fine distinction about "where is the catch" even when the sword shows the distinct imo-no-zuru.of Satsuma smiths and appears exemplary in every other respect.  The givers of theTokuHo surely saw no "down" feature to refuse the paper ranking.  Why the sword is so thin is indeed a source of wondering and almost begs for an obligatory photo looking down on the nakago/machi junction to discern "normal;" over "heavy polishing"??

 

Hmmmmm...

 

BaZZa.

[Hoshi]

What's Imo-no-Zuru? 

 

Is the argument that because it's tokuho, the thickness is not a condition issue but by design? (e.g. utsushi inspired work). I think that's also the most likely explanation, but it still doesn't make it a good sword for that smith and the period especially where high ranked ones tend to be imposing in stature. Ultimately we shouldn't try and read too deeply into Tokuho since its basically what you get for a blade with disqualifying flaws, except for Gendato where its a real battle. All in all It's likely that the .5 kasane is a typo from a copy past job. 

[Surfson]

Chris, where do you shop online for high quality swords coming from Japan with a website in English?  One without the "hidden catches" that you refer to?   I'm just curious and would appreciate a recommendation.  Cheers, Bob

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello,

 

Below are the measurements of a Nambokucho period Ko Mihara nihonto that by anyone's description could be said to be a 'monster' of a sword. As you can see the saki-kassane measured 5mm, while the moto-kassane measured 8mm. 

 

On the subject sword here we're only given one measurement of which we don't know where it was taken. So, at this point in time we have an incomplete picture. Perhaps, someone could/should contact AOI and ask for these measurements, at which point a more complete discussion could follow.

 

Mumei o-suriage 75 cm (96 cm overall), shinogi-zukuri, high shinogi, torizori (16 mm), chu-kissaki, medium iori-mune, moto-kasane 8mm, saki-kasane 5 mm, moto-haba 32 mm, saki-haba 23 mm, bo-hi.

 

Only suggesting.

[Vermithrax16]

I didn't catch the kasane measurement. Aoi does have miss prints from time to time. The hamachi notch looks excellent in health, so I would doubt this sword has been through polish too many times. I can't buy it anyways, but if anyone was interested just ask Aoi if that's the correct reading. Magnificent workmanship in any case IMO.

[Jussi Ekholm]

Hard to say from pictures how sloped the shinogi-ji is. If the sword has high shinogi then it could easily be just 5 mm at mune and still be very healthy. Of course it can also just be a typo too.

[Hoshi]

From my understand when 'kasane' is posted without precision if its moto or saki, it means moto. The pictures are hard to interpret because of the photoshop mune addition, it can give off the wrong impressions. 

 

Robert, that's a topic in itself. I think it could be useful to review all the Japanese and western dealer sites, state their business models (high/low volume, 'problem specialized' / 'problem averse', high fixed costs / low fixed costs) etc. Once you have the business model nailed down you know more or less what to expect and can shop with this in mind. But that's just a third of the picture of an informed shopper. 

 

Something like: 

• Classify business models on a per-dealer basis to infer their margin making mechanism (and by extension the 'dealer fee' you pay)
• Classify segments of blades as value preserving or depreciating
• Cross-reference [Dealer, Blade] with Jussi's database to highlight example of good buys and model where these tend to happen dealer-wise.  

It's a feather ruffling exercise though. 

[Shugyosha]

What's Imo-no-Zuru? 

 

Is the argument that because it's tokuho, the thickness is not a condition issue but by design? (e.g. utsushi inspired work). I think that's also the most likely explanation, but it still doesn't make it a good sword for that smith and the period especially where high ranked ones tend to be imposing in stature. Ultimately we shouldn't try and read too deeply into Tokuho since its basically what you get for a blade with disqualifying flaws, except for Gendato where its a real battle. All in all It's likely that the .5 kasane is a typo from a copy past job. 

 

Hi Chris,

 

It means potato vines. It refers to the inazuma in the hamon of Satsuma blades and is a key kantei point for this group of smiths. Another suggestion regarding the kasane would be that it was made this way to meet the request of the buyer: Satsuma blades were well known for being of robust construction and perhaps it was made for someone who couldn't swing such a heavy blade. I can't see any sign of o hada or other evidence of overpolishing from these photographs. 

 

I'm pretty sure that, if I moved some stuff around, I could fit it into my sword chest.