what do you look for?

[Bugyotsuji]

Part One

This thread has been excellent material for helping me to sort out my own thoughts, motivations and insecurities regarding traditional Japanese blades. When I draw a blade from the saya, the first thing I look for is some decent lighting by which to observe the blade. If the light (sources) is/are fragmented or inconsistent, all kinds of little demons creep in and destroy any possible enjoyment for me. Perhaps I lack the deep concentration that I sometimes see and admire in Japanese people.

 

(Actually, to go back a step, the overall shape of the saya will often lead me to the one I wish to draw, and nudge me to avoid others. Perhaps size and shape are indeed early indicators for me.)

 

And now the washing machine is beeping to tell me to hang out its contents. Do I continue with this post, just as I feel something taking shape, or do I go, hoping what I have written so far does not disappear as the PC screen goes blank? ... end of Part One.

[Bugyotsuji]

Considerations Part Two

 

If I am taking part in the Kantei gatherings, I generally follow the advice/procedure, to bow, pick up the blade and look at the sugata first. Then check the mune, the jihada and the kissaki and boshi. Finally the hamon and interactions with the hada. Replace and bow again. All of that before the buzzer goes. Later we get a chance to see the nakago and Mei. But how much have I really enjoyed the blade during that time? A bit like the tea ceremony, I suppose. Pressure. My teacher will sometimes ask me afterwards what I remember and what I enjoyed.

 

In a less formal setting my eye will be caught by something special as I draw a blade from the sheath. (Or not.) To be able to trust that gut feeling, I know that I must study more and more.

 

I guess on the battlefields of old, the enemy would see the size, the taihai shape and the flashing of reflected sunlight of the raised Tachi running towards them, among the hoko and naginata. To them that is what they would look for, or look away from.

 

One customer at a sword shop told me over coffee that you need thirty years of study to develop an eye.

 

To tell the truth, I am a slow learner and I do not have thirty years left. It seems as if those thirty years still stretch ahead of me. Still, step by step one gets to Rome. Some of the exceptional descriptions in the previous posts have struck and excited chords inside me!

Many thanks.

[paulb]

Hi Piers,

I am well over 30 years in to this (actually I think now 40) and am still trying to get a handle on it. Fortunately I have convinced myself the journey is far more important than the destination, otherwise I would be hugely disappointed to realise at the end of the trip I still know so little.

I think the shape discussion is as Michael suggested worthy of separate discussion but I wonder if there are two different factors at play as we talk about it. Books tell us to look at shape first. I think primarily because it may offer indicators of the likely age of a blade.

The second reason is to determine whether it looks good. That is a much harder to define aspect but I am guessing first and foremost has it been messed with resulting in an unattractive shape and secondly does the overall look deliver the features the observer finds attractive. As suggested above by John  the sugata acts as a frame for the work it encloses and needs to be in harmony with it. If it looks wrong it throws everything else off and detracts.

So I look at the shape, admittedly briefly at first, simply to decide for myself if I like it and if not I would, rightly or wrongly, be tempted to move on. Provided there are no major issues with the shape then I move to hada and this is where my main focus is. If the sugata is the frame then the hada is the landscape with its numerous intricacies and features. Whatever is formed here then goes on to effect the activity within the hamon. As the dear late Michael Hagenbusch said and I have often quoted "Jigane is the key"

 

[Jacques]

I look to see if the sword has real artistic qualities and not just good craftsmanship. Jidai don't matter.

[Surfson]

OK, I will bite.  

1.  What I look at sequentially are the shape, the steel, the hataraki (hamon), the nakago and the signature (if present).  

2.  What is difficult to learn (not necessarily to understand) are the particularities of the various makers and schools.  This requires often a lot of rote memorization to learn.

3.  I would like to talk with any well established sword maker whose period of activity was in the late Kamakura period.  I would like to ask whether the increase in the length and size of swords actually had anything to do with the Mongol invasions that occurred in 1274 and 1281, or whether that is a modern myth.  Of course, I would need a translator that spoke Kamakura period Japanese and 21st century English!  

[Kanenaga]

This is a great topic.

Since no one else has mentioned these, here are some things that can make my pulse race. Naturally, the many physical aspects of the sword as discussed are also very important to me, but these three can add a special frisson of excitement:

 

1. Signature

2. Date

3. Good horimono

 

Some might say "elitist,' but I would disagree. Many fine Shinshinto and Gendaito blades have these features, and to my eye they add an extra dimension of interest.

[No Clue]

Delightful reading! Interesting , almost captive as all the responders show personality and character of themselves and their swords....

[DRDave]

1.  What interests me is a matter of perspective, and since I initially view blades as a whole (e.g. from a distance, relatively speaking) sugata comes first.  I'm either attracted by the overall shape or I'm not.  It's when I zoom in closer that I'm looking at hada, hataraki, utsuri, etc.  

2.  Everything is difficult for me.  Foreign language, reading kanji, the schools, the schools within schools,  the blends of schools, the history, genealogies, time periods... you name it.  When I first got into nihonto, I was interested in Showa/Gendaito, because that's a time period I can relate to.  Five uncles fought in WWII.  I know the battles, etc..  And because much of it was recorded on film, I even know what it looked like.  It's not as easy to relate when we're talking 3 or 5 or 7 times that long ago.

3.  If I were to sit down with a smith, I probably wouldn't ask questions about sword making because I know I'll never have a chance to do it myself, much less make a career of it.  I'd probably ask them who their hero's were.  Who did they consider the best, and why.

[Bugyotsuji]

Many years ago I was in a sword shop returning a sword after my first venture into Japanese blades. It was a wakizashi, and after a week it had taught me that my life is short in comparison, that one can never really 'own' the soul of a blade, and the responsibility of taking good care of a blade for future generations was too onerous for me. In other words, my motivation for 'ownership' was Gollum-like greedy, not deep, and too frivolous.

 

Now, if the thing were of a little better quality, I might be persuaded to take on the life of a sword for a period of time, I told myself. I asked the Banto, a Mr Ono, very sadly no longer with us, if he might not have something a little better, something not too expensive.

 

Well, said he opening a drawer, I can offer you this Tanto, and oh, here is another one. The price wasn't bad, perhaps a little steep, and I can still kind of see in my mind's eye the green musty binding and patinated brasswork on one of them. Hmmm... I said, not really clicking. Just a minute, he said, jumping up and walking into the back room. Out he came with a carefully wrapped bundle of blade in Shirasaya and black lacquer Koshirae with gold Mon. The moment he drew the long slim blade, I was smitten. It was suguha, but creamy smooth throughout, and it seemed to light up the room. Suddenly my budget lost its cap. What he was asking for it was no longer important. This now is a blade that I can treasure, I felt. 

 

In time I discovered that the Mei was that of a Daimyo, a direct descendant of Date Masamune, and when I sent it off it was papered by the NBTHK. Once during a regional NBTHK sword meeting, we were given the opportunity to show and tell. Although ashamedly I could not really describe what hataraki I saw in there, this was the blade that I chose to show them, and somehow I managed to say a few words about it. I know, sure, I blew my chance to study a blade thoroughly and work out all the correct vocabulary. Story of my life!