Tadamitsu O-wakizashi

Karusk · March 12, 2021

A few flaws but nothing fatal. It has an old green paper I believe to be an accurate attribution but not accurate rank. Seller wanted 1500 and let me have it for 1100.

My opinion on the paper is it never would have gotten the green paper with the flaws and was a dishonest ranking. Its dated 78 so im pretty sure of that. It is extremely heavy (heavier than the hottuke i just posted which is actually pretty hefty too)just under katana length(1/2”) With the suguha hamon, shape of the nakago, suguta and sori I believe it to be a tadamitsu. Alot of examples i found of other tadamitsu also have the double mekugi-ana about the same distance apart. Like every single one i found, so I believe he actually pinned his nakago like this, and it is not cut down. Without the attribution and just from the suguta and patina of the nakago id place this as a koto blade.

Any opinions appreciated. Please leave me alone if your gonna deride me about the green paper.

If you think you have an opinion about another maker i would be glad to hear your input. If you have a tadamitsu to compare it to id love to see it.

Not for sale. No opinions will be used outside of my own learning and showing of the blade.

AntiquarianCat · March 14, 2021

It doesn’t seem like the photos you posted were great for capturing the hada. Something I have found that helps me with photos is to take a lamp, point it directly towards your sword and then use a camera and have it focus in an area near the light. Should look something like this when you’re doing it. Probably experiment with the angle of light since certain angles are better for the hada and certain better for the hamon. Also you can point the sword at a light source above it to illuminate the whole nioiguchi. They say the Tadamitsu often had mokume and konie suguha so if you see those I guess that’s a good sign. http://www.sho-shin.com/sue4.htm

All I can say is I don’t imagine the papers were wrong (especially if you see tadamitsu traits); also, it has the sakisori shape you would expect from a Muromachi sword. Also I like your habaki.

PS: if it’s any help, there are many videos of swords by those smiths on YouTube. Also the examples I posted were of a Shinto period blade, not a Tadamitsu, they were as an example of how you can try to use lighting to capture the details. I have a muromachi Bizen I could post when I get back home and you do see suguha and woodgrains so it doesn’t seem rare for bizen in that time period (And anyways Nagayama and others say suguha is what you’d expect for Tadamitsu).

Dave R · March 14, 2021

It has been my experience that when a blade has been made to take two mekugi, that the ana are further apart.

You see a lot of wakizashi with the same spacing of two mekugi ana, and I believe it's because of the change in the allowed length of a Samurai Wakizashi, leading to blades being cut down.

Karusk · March 14, 2021

Thank you Dave, that actually answers a question i had about my super long masastugu. Its 32 3/8 inch(82cm) and i was curious if it was actually legal at the time it was made( around 1650) He apparently was skirting the maximum length at the time.

Im guessing this is good for assuming the blades age and maker(this post) as alot of examples of his work have this.

ChrisW · March 14, 2021

I believe O-katana and such could be made as temple offerings?

Karusk · March 14, 2021

@ChrisW ill be posting it soon.

AntiquarianCat · March 17, 2021

@Karusk I had almost forgotten I had promised to post the Bizen muromachi example I had. So like yours, it has the typical Bizen nagako shape(Kurijiri), and a saki-sori shape. When I asked Robert Benson, apart from saying it was Bizen, he said it might predate the sengoku so that explains differences like the increased taper and it not having the typical katate-uchi shape, also a machi okuri makes the nagako look bigger than it originally was.

Anyways what strikes me as its most notable traits are a hada that’s mostly dense mokume with some larger itame, with nie and some chikei; a nie ladened suguha hamon that might do a bit of notare, the main activities I see are sunagashi with some nijuba, and the nioiguchi is wider than the very tight one on my older Yamato tradition sword. Kisaki has hakikake as its most notable trait.

I’m sure this sword doesn’t have the same smith, and it might not even be connected to the Tadamitsu smiths but seeing as how it’s a Bizen Muromachi with suguha you would expect at least some common traits.