Kanesada

[Stever]

Hi All,

 

I'm hoping your collective knowledge (and libraries! :D) can help me with a tanto that has come into my possession. It's hirazukuri with a 10 5/8" / 26.9875cm / 8 sun 9 bu nagasa with ~1/8" / 0.3cm / 1bu sori. Nakago jiri is iriyamagata bordering on kengyo, signed Kanesada. The blade is unfortunately in piteous state, looks to have been used for polishing practice. Even through the scratches I can still make out the hamon, which seems notare-midare with tons of activity. On one side, there appears to be a double habuchi. There also seems to be some muneyaki, but I'm not sure about this. I also can't really make out the boshi.

 

Anyhoo, I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me track down which kanesada this might be and whether it may or may not be gimei (looks a little like Kanesada III). I'm trying to decide if it is worth my while to have it polished and sent for shinsa or not. Here's some pics of the mei and sugata:

 

 

 

 

cheers and thanks in advance,

/steve

[Mark Green]

Stever,

Great looking blade, and GREAT close up on the mei!!!!! I'm going to crack the books now.

Mark G

[Mark Green]

I couldn't find the Mino book but from the Fujishiro, I would say that it does look close. The marks all seem to go the right way. With a few problems.

I would get it looked at closer.

I'm sure others will jump in on this when they have a chance.

I would put it at possible. You never know, big name though. So, you allways have to wonder.

Those with more books than I will chime in soon.

Mark G

[Stever]

Thanks, Mark. I was looking in the Toko Taikan, now that I look in Fujishiro's, it actually looks closer to Kanesada I than III! Mayhaps it's a gimei of Kanesada I?

 

I should clarify, though: I don't actually think it is by either I or III as the characteristics don't really seem to line up. Though I do have to say it would be really cool if it did turn out that way. I was thinking more along the lines of a possible early Aizu Kanesada smith, though I haven't been able to really find any decent mei examples to really narrow anything down.

 

cheers,

/steve

[John A Stuart]

Hi Steve, I think this may be a late koto tanto. That being the case there are many smiths that used the name Kanesada at this time. Some can be eliminated, like the Hachiya Kanesadas, they used a different 'sada'. Of those who used this form there is the Kanesada Ha (7) and the Sue-Seki smiths (. In the first group they could be found in Akasaka, Seki and Sagami with Kanesada IV even ending up in Aizu. With the Sue-Seki smiths some used the right 'sada' and some went back and forth. I have some oshigata of these smiths, but, they are too numerous and close to compare nijimei found on tanto. Luck on narrowing this down. John

 

BTW, Steve. With what did you measure the tanto? You've got it to 10,000 ths of a cm.