Find Info On Muromachi Blade

[Jean Quett]

Hello,

 

I am a newcomer on this forum very rich and very active.

I am looking for information on this nihonto.

 

 Probably from early Muromachi / Nanbokucho period, Can I have some comments about this sword.

(I am looking for tradition and forge school)

here is my visual description : 

mumei, suriage, Shinogi Zukuri, sori 19mm, nagasa :735mm, Mitsu-mune, Suguha Notare, Mokume ?

 

Blade very visually close to the IJASWORD post (from March 13, 2019) !!!

 

Thank you for the help you can give me

Jean Quett (France)

 

[Ray Singer]

Hi Jean and welcome.

 

This looks like a potentially very nice sword. Nambokucho period Ko-Uda would be my call.

 

Has an iori-mune (rather than mitsu-mune). Boshi appears quite narrow, not sure to what extent it is still present at the end. 

 

PS: Please check on the large fingerprint (clean and oil the blade). http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm. If you decide to have restored, please also do so in Japan. The hamon, as narrow as it is in places, should be handled by a good, licensed togishi. I would recommend Paul Martin as a good choice to assist.

[Jean]

Welcome Jean,

 

My guess would be Uda school also, second half of 14th century

[Vermithrax16]

Ray and Jean have my guess, I would say Uda but cannot give a Ko attribution without better pictures of hada/hamon activities. If the nagasa and kasane readings are correct, this one has real potential.

[Jean Quett]

Hello, Thank you for your interventions

 

Ray, Jean, Jérémie, Can you, please, give me more details about this kantei  (your analysis) ?

 

(iori mune : exact, )

 

thanks in advance

 

(This post obviously does not attract a lot of people ! ?)

Jean Quett

[16k]

It does, but maybe, just like me, they aren’t knowledgeable anough amd don’t want to lead you astray. Beautiful blade by the way!

[Ray Singer]

Hi Jean,

 

    Your sword has what appears to be a darkish jigane, which is what is associated with works from northern Japan. The jitetsu appears to be a combination of large patterned itame with areas of a flowing itame (nagareru) which is seen in Uda / Ko-Uda. The sugata has an old feel to it (to my eyes) with a somewhat stretched kissaki that has a feel of Nambokucho. The hamon is a low-lying midareba showing Soshu influence, that is (among others) representative of Ko-Uda. Shinogi-ji is proportionately narrow. There is a trace of soe-hi visible in the nakago. This is an old sword. 

 

    A few reference examples:

    https://www.aoijapan.net/?s=kouda&x=0&y=0

    https://www.aoijapan.net/katana-mumei-kouda-2/

 

Kind regards,

Ray

 

PS. I might be 100% wrong, but as requested am giving feedback on what details I noticed. I do not follow a structured approach to kantei, going sequentially through sugata, jitetsu and hamon. Often, the attribution I suggest will be an impression based on what a sword reminds me of from past examples I have studied. Usually it is a gut reaction that a sword looks like one or more blades I have studied which show similar attributes. 

[16k]

Thanks for that, Ray!

[uwe]

Hello, Thank you for your interventions

 

Ray, Jean, Jérémie, Can you, please, give me more details about this kantei  (your analysis) ?

 

(iori mune : exact, )

 

thanks in advance

 

(This post obviously does not attract a lot of people ! ?)

Jean Quett

Jean,

 

You shouldn’t expect so much feedback for such a question. Cos it’s a very difficult task to create a kantei, based on some pics.

However, Uda sounds good and reasonable.....

[Jussi Ekholm]

I think Ray's Ko-Uda guess would be the same one I would go for. In general when dealing with Uda school Ko-Uda usually refers to Nanbokuchō and Uda refers to Muromachi work.

 

My guess might be that the second hole is the original one and sword would have been bit over 80 cm tachi originally. Of course the other possibility is that all of the original nakago is lost and this would be an odachi of over 90 cm. I feel that 3,3 cm motohaba to 2,2 cm sakihaba falls nicely within the common range for shortened Nanbokuchō swords being on the wider side on bottom and lower mid tier on the top. I have been often puzzled how many of the mumei swords still above 73 cm are (at least appear to be) greatly shortened, as there seem to be a lot of them, and surviving very long tachi are extremely rare. Due to that I personally feel that 80-90 cm potential original length might have been much more common than 90 cm+. And while there are even Nanbokuchō odachi out there with small kissaki, personally I'd expect sword to be wider at sakihaba and kissaki longer in overall if this was a really large sword originally.

 

Similarily like Ray I would turn my attention to combination of hada and hamon together. Hada shows to me as hada-tachi (standing out), and like Ray explained earlier there seems to be large patterns mixed in with flowing pattern. I think Jean guided in another thread that this would point towards Northern provinces. There are also some schools down in Kyūshū that made standing out hada with similarish pattern, but when you combine the hamon in the mix that would make me go towards Uda specifically. There are other Hokkoku-mono that have similarish hada and jigane but they generally applied bit different style of hamon in my opinion. Also way up north there is Hōju which I personally like a lot. They share many features that are common in Uda work but they are quite rare and I would often lean towards Uda.

 

Here are few examples of descriptions of Uda workmanship by NBTHK

 

 

1.The hamon is a suguha-chō with slightly undulating notare which shows hotsure, kuichigaiba, kinsuji and sunagashi, that means generally nie-based hataraki. Thus we can see the typical elements of the Yamato tradition. And because the steel is blackish we are not directly in Yamato but in a more distant province.

 

2. The Uda smiths worked basically in a zanguri-like itame or a fine and beautifully forged ko-itame, and this tantō can be attributed to the latter category. But it nevertheless shows a blackish steel and mixed-in jifu, both elements very typical for northern Hokkoku-mono. The nie-loaden hamon with its hotsure, yubashiri and uchinoke shows in places Yamato characteristics

 

3. The Uda school is an offshoot of the Yamato tradition, that means their style is of course Yamato-influenced and shows a standing-out itame mixed with nagare, a blackish steel with shirake-utsuri, a nie-loaden suguha and horizontal hataraki like hotsure, kuichigaiba and sunagashi.

 

[16k]

Thanks Jussi,

 

I’ve been following your posts for a very long time, first on SBG and now here and your posts are always extremely usefull and thought provoking. I always enjoy reading them!

[Vermithrax16]

Epic posts Ray and Jussi. Excellent.

 

For myself, I rely on examples I have seen (mostly online scans) over the years to make a bid. Not as well structured as the more advanced people.

[Brian]

Thanks Jussi,

 

I’ve been following your posts for a very long time, first on SBG and now here and your posts are always extremely usefull and thought provoking. I always enjoy reading them!

Couldn't agree more.

[Jean Quett]

Hello,

 

Many thanks to the whole community for your explanatory efforts.

 

I discover thanks to you a new school !

Very difficult research for me ...,

 

Jean Quett