Mumei wakizashi with interesting hamon

[ChrisW]

Hey everyone,

 

Its been bright and sunny today, so I decided to go out and try my hand at photographing a new blade of mine with the limited camera and skills I have. I was able to capture its hamon very faintly, but of course the picture quality is low. However, I think I got enough to maybe see what you all think of it.

 

 

The blade is a wakizashi coming in at a nagasa of 14 3/4" with 1/2" sori which seems pretty standard. However, what isn't standard is the rather wild hamon that goes all over the place. It is in a poor state of polish and fairly faint, but visible for most of the nagasa. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

 

Opinions? Anyone have an idea of school, age, etc.?

 

Again, my apologies for the poor camera quality!

[Oshy]

Looks to have some age purely based on nakago, Edo maybe?

[vajo]

I would go with Mino. Shinto sword.

[Ganko]

Maybe Edo Ishido?

[ChrisW]

It does look like Ishido work to be honest but its age suggests shinto. I've no idea to be honest, its a mystery to me!

[ChrisW]

Any other opinions out there?

[SAS]

How about a full length photo to see the sugata, and some dimensions?

[Ken-Hawaii]

With so many togari, not much question about Mino den. Chris can you take a shot with reflection down the length? Something about the hada looks familiar, but can't quite place it.

[SAS]

Ishido looks good for this sword to me...better pics will help. Nice blade regardless....

[ChrisW]

I'll get a full length picture, but the hamon is very tricky to photograph. Give me a few minutes.

[ChrisW]

Here are some more:

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Chris, you need a shot of the entire, completely-bare blade for sugata. The habaki hides useful info.

[ChrisW]

Ah. I'll do that tomorrow, already put stuff away!

[ChrisW]

Here is the bare blade:

[ROKUJURO]

Not well focused.

[ChrisW]

I'll have to try again after I get a hold of a better camera. I'll see if I can't borrow a friend's.

[vajo]

Chris don't give up with pictures. It is not easy to take good shots of a blade. That is a task that never end's. 

[Promo]

Your pictures would be much better if you did not use artificial light but natural light. Best is a cloudy day for outside pictures. This way you don't have any glares and the same amount of light on every part. Camera might also be a problem, but the best camera will give worse results with poor light than most cameras with good light.

[ChrisW]

Noted!

 

Thank you for the information. I will have to remember that next time I take pictures outside with a better camera. I'll be updating this thread when I do.

[SAS]

A tripod will help in getting proper focus, if you have not been using one already.

[ChrisW]

Ha! I'll have to get a proper camera first and not this cellphone.

[Lance]

Chris J (Vajo) mentioned Mino Shinto, maybe Kanefusa? 

 

kenbō-midare (兼房乱れ) – A kind of large-dimensioned chōji-midare that goes back to the smith Kanefusa (兼房). Kenbō is the Sino-Japanese reading of the characters “Kanefusa.”

 

https://markussesko.com/2015/06/04/kantei-3-hamon-boshi-1-2/

 

(image and text from Markus Sesko's blog)

 

Regards,

Lance 

[ChrisW]

Looking at all the different examples and comparing it to the blade in hand, I think you found the closest matching style of hamon. Thank you!

[SAS]

The only way to get a more authoritative opinion is to submit to shinsa; this hamon style is referenced by Nagayama as representative of Shinto Ishido. The yasurime do not say Mino to me, but my opinion is not authoritative.

[ChrisW]

That's fair too. I suppose it really breaks down to if the blade is worthy of a polish.. I am leaning towards no because its a mumei wakizashi that is either shinto or edo in age. But my opinion is not very-well informed personally, I suppose it will have to be shown to someone in person and see from there.

 

With the state of the world, that might be a while..

 

Regardless, I appreciate everyone's time and input! Thank you all!

[SAS]

Worthy...yes. Worth it financially....that is the $3000 question.