Kantei contest and photos

[Rivkin]

An interesting blade which proven itself very useful when one needs to embarrass sword club member by means of kantei, since it is not an easy one by far. To make things fair, he is rated Jo-Jo-Saku, which greatly limits the number of people to consider.

The two links with full resolution overall and macro shots are below.

 

As always I don't pass an opportunity to advertise my photography - I am always on a lookout to photograph interesting blades, especially in California. I'll do it for free, since frankly it beats my typical multi-year (!) adventures which are pre-requisite to photographing blades in any museum. 

 

Kirill R.

 

http://historyswords.com/test1.jpg

http://historyswords.com/test2.jpg

[Alex A]

Nakago pic Kirill ?

[Rivkin]

Nakago pic Kirill ?

 

Sorry - too much is written there so cleaning it up in photoshop just does not leave much left .

 

Kirill R.

[Alex A]

Ok, cheers

[Brian]

How high has be papered?

[Alex A]

Sorry - too much is written there so cleaning it up in photoshop just does not leave much left .

 

Kirill R.

 

That makes me think Edo.

 

Il go with Hizen Masahiro, copy of an older works.

[Rivkin]

Hizen Masahiro - negative.

Regarding the papers - unfortunately absolutely don't remember what level.

 

Kirill R.

[BIG]

Kiyomaro Tanto..

 

Best

[geekman]

I'll go with BIG on this one.  

[Rivkin]

That was quicker than expected, however Kiyomaro, if I remember correctly, is sai-jo-saku. This one is jo-jo-saku.

 

Kirill R.

[BIG]

https://www.nihonto.com/kiyomaro-清麿/

 

Best

[CSM101]

Taikai Naotane

 

 

Uwe G.

[Rivkin]

Taikai Naotane

 

 

Uwe G.

 

He is also sai-jo-saku.

 

Kirill R.

[BIG]

Yes Uwe also think that he is more importent !!

 

Best

[Surfson]

Suishinshi Masahide

[Alex A]

Does not look Shinshinto to me. At first glance I was thinking Nobukuni line (but thats not an answer, cant make it fit)

 

This may take a while

[Ganko]

Satsuma Masayuki

[Rivkin]

Not Masayuki, not Masahide, sorry.

 

Kirill R.

[Rivkin]

Well, without dragging the question for too long:

 

Its Jirotaro Naokatsu. "The best blade that Naokatsu made", as some not too objective people commented. My own guess would have been Kiyomaro or Kiyondo.

 

Kirill R.

[Surfson]

Son of Naotane, so that guess was not far off.  Well done Uwe!

[Alex A]

Well, that comes as a big surprise.

 

Once owned a Naokatsu and spent a good while looking into his work, im done with this infernal hobby!

 

Shows how difficult kantei can be without seeing the whole blade.

 

"Shinshinto is dull", i will now ignore.

[Ganko]

They are all made out of steel, it is amazing that there seems to be an infinite number of variants. If none were ever signed it would be mass confusion :-).

[Vermithrax16]

Over time my love for Shinshinto works increases, just a nice set of excellent smiths making top flight works IMO.

 

Fun exercise Kirill! Thank you!

[Alex A]

Not easy to get a good idea of the steel from pictures but now wondering.

 

Difficult from images, looking at the jigane, I cant help thinking if this blade was made from a steel that wasn't his usual.

[Tom Darling]

Hi Kirill,

 

your photography prowess is beyond belief.  Keep up the good work,  Cheers.

 

 

Tom D.

[Surfson]

So it is interesting that we had guesses of Naotane (teacher of Naokatsu) and Masahide (teacher of Naotane).  We were definitely sniffing around the right town, having both his teacher and his teacher's teacher....

[Rivkin]

Yes, it was all pretty much surprisingly in the same area.

The guesses from people who've seen it in life were

Sue Soshu (club were I am not welcome).

Go Yoshihiro (a person who knows Soshu quite well).

 

What surprises me also is that in Bizen kantei with two blades people seem to be cautious. And I thought Bizen can be more straightforward than Soshu.

 

Kirill R.