Aikuchi tanto

[hobnails]

Hi guys thought I would share a few pictures

of an aikuchi tanto I have, it is signed kanemasu

I think probably late shinto or shinshinto your

thoughts would be welcome

 

regards

Chris H

[Alex A]

Hello, plenty of info available on Kanemasu tanto, one sold recently and is in the "sold" thread, they were sometimes given as gifts.

 

Many Kanemasu smiths, don't remember reading much about late Edo Kanemasu, why do you think its late Edo?

[Ken-Hawaii]

Nice package, Chris. From the hada & the nakago alone, I think it's early Edo, at the latest, & possibly older.

[Lee Bray]

Hi Chris.
You say an aikuchi tanto..."aikuchi" relates to the koshirae and means 'without tsuba'(not sure on the exact translation) and your koshirae has a tsuba. Because it's a small tsuba, it is refered to as a "hamadashi" koshirae. So, technically, you have a tanto in hamadashi koshirae.

[Alex A]

What Ken Said. Also, judging by the hamachi it has seen quite a bit of life..

 

Difficult to be exact, could be either side of 1600, maybe searching for a similar mei might throw a little light on it.

 

The good thing about a blade like this for me, don't really require the expense of Shinsa.

[uwe]

Don’t want to appear petty, but shouldn’t it be “hamidashi (喰出)?

Nice package Chris!

[Lee Bray]

Happy to be corrected as you're right, Uwe.

One letter is one letter otherwise you'd be pretty instead of petty...

[Alex A]

Read a few places where it mentions them as gifts, heres a page Kirk added to his sales page.

[SAS]

That is perfect Alex; now i remember where i have seen Kanemasu before, as i have the set from Bob Benson.

[hobnails]

Hi guys thanks for the input, I have looked online but have only seen examples

of earlier mei will have to get back to my books and see if I can find some later

examples. I thought it might be later as mei looks quite deep but as Alex pointed

out the hamachi does look quite worn.Again many thanks for your thoughts

 

Cheers

Chris H

[Alex A]

Hi Chris, don't forget the blade itself and not just the mei, clues there with the hamon and boshi etc. Worth just looking into that to help with date.

 

Had a look at the mei and looking it other examples of Kanemasu, see a lot of variation with the strokes to the right of the bottom horizontal.

 

A number of Kanemasu working around 1600, maybe a way to differentiate between smiths, but just speculating.

 

Let us know if you find anything else out, cheers.

[george trotter]

Hi Chris.

You say an aikuchi tanto..."aikuchi" relates to the koshirae and means 'without tsuba'(not sure on the exact translation) and your koshirae has a tsuba. Because it's a small tsuba, it is refered to as a "hamadashi" koshirae. So, technically, you have a tanto in hamadashi koshirae.

Also not sure of the exact translation, but aikuchi seems to mean "ai" (meet)  and "kuchi"  (mouth), so aikuchi means "meets the mouth" as in "no tsuba".

I could be wrong literally, but this is what I've always thought aikuchi means.

Hope I haven't messed up too much.

Regards,