Cat-scratch Habaki

[Mark S.]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I've found that if a picture rotates when posted, I take the original and crop the edges, even just a little, and it re-posts normally.

 

Thanks… will try it next time.

[Stephen]

My guess is yes Bruce, and a type of oak i never hunted it down.

[Bruce Pennington]

Another Rain on Boards, @Mark S.

On a Ray Singer waki HERE

[Sunny]

On 10/21/2020 at 2:54 AM, Kurikata said:

A funny one of mines....

amazing craftsmanship 

[Sunny]

On 7/14/2020 at 9:54 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

This is a doozie from Robert's (Surfson) post http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32640-new-acquisition-that-needs-some-tlc/

 

I imagine it would eat the wood liner to shreds with only a few cycles of the blade!

this one makes me think of tree tops of a forest.

[Bruce Pennington]

9 hours ago, Steven Edmund said:

amazing craftsmanship 

I agree Steven!  Quite beautiful.  Have you identified the dragon or spirit or god?

[Bruce Pennington]

9 hours ago, Steven Edmund said:

tree tops of a forest.

I see what you mean, good observation!

[Sunny]

31 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I see what you mean, good observation!

The discolouration even makes it look more like depth of the part of the forest that is in a notch and remains out of the sun.

Yes ...the dragon looks great.

I believe a dragon has a spirit and can be classified as a demi god in a sense.

The style of the dragon looks to be early Muromachi 

I love the circular movement and balance.

The woody bark looking texture is phenomenal.

[Bruce Pennington]

2 minutes ago, Steven Edmund said:

What do you mean by identifying the dragon , spirit or god

These characters are usually a dragon or spirit of significance to the Japanese at the time.

[Sunny]

1 minute ago, Bruce Pennington said:

These characters are usually a dragon or spirit of significance to the Japanese at the time.

Sorry ...I just edited my reply above ..I forgot about the other habaki you were referring to.

[Sunny]

3 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

These characters are usually a dragon or spirit of significance to the Japanese at the time.

The hair or mane style and direction of the dragon is a very old style technique usually seen in the first dragons guilded by the Hizen school when they were more simple in design with a few clouds or water.

 

[Sunny]

 mistake brain fart ...correction ....HIGO ..not Hizen school.

My first koshirae set I bought was Higo water dragons with menuki mice with such fine detail and placing they looked like real miniature gold mice peeking around the tuska wrap.

I wish I never sold it.

I never seen menuki mice of that quality and realism again ever.

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Not 'art' per se, but I couldn't help myself!  SteveM translated this seal script to "received from my father-in-law" and "1871".  Found HERE.  Posted by @Ian B3HR2UH

[Mark S.]

Both sides of a recent auction blade…

 

[francois2605]

An unusual habaki shot today at Drouot. The sword is absolutely massive, the motohaba is more than 4 cms

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Wow!  Beautiful work!

[PNSSHOGUN]

WOW, that is breathtaking. Do you have the listing for this one?

[francois2605]

Yes, it's this sword visible here (on auction tomorrow): https://www.drouotonline.com/l/15882162--shinto-wakizashiepoque-edo-16?actionParam=listLot&controllerParam=lot&fromId=116199

 

Copying the description below to preserve it.

 

Quote

 

Shinto wakizashi

Epoque EDO (1603 - 1868)

Signé (mei) : Kunishige

 

Lame (sugata) : hira zukuri, mitsu mune, bo hi ni tsure hi, un horimono bonji mato kannon sur une face

Motif de forge (hada) : mokume

Trempe (hamon) : hotsure suguha

Pointe (boshi) : o-maru

Fusée (nakago) : ubu keitai, haagari nakagojiri, deux mekugi ana, katte sagari yasurime

Longueur (nagasa) : 35,3 cm

 

Monture (koshira-e) :

Tsuba fuchi kashira : en suite en shibuichi à décor en katakiri bori des sept sages dans la forêt de bambou. Tsuba et fuchi signés Godai Kiryusai Somin suivi de kao. (Ecole Yokoya, 5e génération)

Kogatana : kozuka en shibuichi et cuivre doré à décor en relief d'un motif kurikara ken ryu (dragon sur un ken), sur fond nanako, le revers à motif dit neko yasuri (griffures de chat), Ecole Goto. La lame ornée d'un bonji et signée Katsuren

Habaki : en cuivre doré et shakudo ciselé d'un dragon parmi les vagues tenant le tama

Kurikata : en shibuichi à motif nanako orné d'un môn daki myo ga (pousses de gingembre), utilisé par la famille Hori de Iida

Menuki : en cuivre doré figurant deux dragons

 

Fourreau (saya) : en laque alternant des rayures noires ro-iro et des rayures noires à inclusion de fines lamelles de bois, orné de deux môn en cuivre doré : daki myo ga (pousse de gingembre) et ageha no cho (papillon)

 

Provenance : vente Collection Bakhmeteff, Mes Lair Dubreuil et Bellier, Drouot, 16-18 janvier 1929

 

Le fondateur de l'école Yokoya, Somin, de son vrai nom Yokoya Chojiro, (1670-1733) avait étudié la la peinture de l'école Kano, et est l'inventeur de la technique du katakiri bori, qui imite des traits de pinceau dans le métal.

 

Adding some pictures too.

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

A very nice KO-WAKIZASHI, but the MEI is almost an insult to the eyes.

[Bruce Pennington]

Another that isn't a beauty, but it's unique enough to note.  On a Russian site - Guns.ru:

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Maybe a Moon over Clouds? or Moon over Farmland?  On a 17th century Sukesada, civil mounts at a Guns.ru thread.

 

[DRDave]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Maybe a Moon over Clouds? or Moon over Farmland?  On a 17th century Sukesada, civil mounts at a Guns.ru thread.

 

To me there's kind of a garden vibe

 

[GrozaB]

On 11/1/2021 at 11:03 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Another that isn't a beauty, but it's unique enough to note.  On a Russian site - Guns.ru

It's from my Soshu Masahiro, I showed this one here few years ago

[Bruce Pennington]

19 minutes ago, GrozaB said:

from my Soshu Masahiro

Thanks Oleg.  Truly gorgeous blade:

 

[GrozaB]

14 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Truly gorgeous blade:

Gorgeous indeed. My favorite sword so far. Here is original thread:

 

[Bruce Pennington]

3 hours ago, GrozaB said:

original thread

And a much better photo!  Much nicer looking, too!

 

[C0D]

A pretty unique one from Aoijapan https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-mumeiunji/

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

5 hours ago, C0D said:

unique one

Wow, incredible!  Do you think the fittings, with this habaki, are new?  They seem too new looking to be original.

[C0D]

they do look quite new, maybe Meiji or modern

[Bruce Pennington]

Interesting one in that both sides have mon, but different ones.  Also interesting because of it's possible history.  Found this on an auction posted by John, @Shugyosha, HERE.  The tanto is made for Tomoo, in 1843.  The seller speculates that it was "Nagasawa Tomoo 長澤伴雄 (1808-1859) who was a scholar of Japanese classical literature and Waka poetry. He was a Samurai at the Kii Domain, Wakayama. He compiled multi-volume Waka poetry collections. It is likely that the long poems inscribed on both sides of the blade are by him."