Swords 3 of 3: Soshu Style Wakizashi

[cju777]

First off, I hope those of you at the Chicago show are having a great time on day 1. Hope to make it to one once I am back State-side.

 

For those of us stuck at home, as promised the last in the series and it is for the Soshu crowd -- This sword is an osuriage wakizashi which appears to be a Nanbokucho-period naginata/nagamaki-naoshi. With ato-bori bo-hi and the kaeri looks intact to me. Although a commenter did think it was rather a shobu zukuri tanto or ko-wakazashi. It has itame jihada with nie arcing out of the hamon becoming chikei in the ji. The hamon is midare, with some gonome-midare. Like the Bizen in #2 I do plan to send this to NBTHK shinsa once global shipping is more reliable and will update the thread then. This was also featured on the forum for purchase so some of you may have seen glimpses of it before (hint hint to those looking for a first piece, some great deals here on the NMB with some patience ). Again credit to @Ray Singer for the better photos. to everyone for taking a look, I hope the series provided some examples of various smiths and traditions until we can all get out and view more swords comfortably again.

    Nagasa: 41.1cm

    moto-haba: 31mm

    7mm thick at the shinogi

 

The sword has two old attributions:  an early 1962 green paper to Naoe Shizu and an old sayagaki from Honami Koson to Sa Kunihiro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Those are lights reflected int he boshi along the edge...)

 

 

[JD808]

Wow thank all three are beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us.

[cju777]

I promised an update post-shinsa, although it's taken me awhile to get there... and a curveball on this particular blade. First off kudos to Robert "@Keichodo" for providing a great shinsa, sayagaki, and you name it services in Japan! A pleasure to work with.

 

The first part of this story was a bit of a disappointment this fall as the blade only received a Hozon paper to Echizen Seki and did not pass TH. This is easily one of my favorite pieces to take out and look at and I thought the craftsmanship was beyond that attribution. While I am not one to argue with papers and the panels a couple folks also felt I wasn't far off so I decided to see if Tanobe Sensei would be willing to take a look.

 

Robert was able to get it to Tanobe Sensei to at least give me a last sanity check and agreed that the Echizen Seki NBTHK result wad a bit off. He checked over the existing sayagaki which made an attribution to Sa Kunihiro which he said was a reasonable attribution, but he that in his opinion the blade should be attributed to Sekishu Sadatsuna, son of Sekishu Naotsuna. This puts the attribution into the Nambokucho period like the Naoe Shizu green paper. He is working on the sayagaki and will update one I have that in hand and looking forward to his commentary. I'll also call out @Ray Singer for making a similar call, so a credit to his own study.

 

I am by no means trying to tar the NBTHK, I respect their work and expertise in most cases, but highlight this example to show another example of some of the more conservative calls that seem to be the trend of late (I will update another post with a result that was in line with what was expected though). With mumei blades, we study in the realm of never knowing the whole story and a lot open to interpretation. It is interesting to me at least to have this particular piece with a range of attributions, all from respected sources. Maybe I should add in the NTHK-NPO in April for fun!

 

Some obligatory photos to add to above...

 

 

[Rivkin]

2 hours ago, cju777 said:

Robert was able to get it to Tanobe Sensei to at least give me a last sanity check and agreed that the Echizen Seki NBTHK result wad a bit off. He checked over the existing sayagaki which made an attribution to Sa Kunihiro which he said was a reasonable attribution, but he that in his opinion the blade should be attributed to Sekishu Sadatsuna, son of Sekishu Naotsuna. 

 

I am by no means trying to tar the NBTHK, 

 

Frankly - you should. Echizen Seki call on this blade means they did not care to examine it. The last two years Echizen Seki attributions are like a floodgate opening from every orifice. And I thought all blades are supposed to be Bungo by default...

[cju777]

21 hours ago, Rivkin said:

 

Frankly - you should. Echizen Seki call on this blade means they did not care to examine it. 

Fair, my initial reaction was not as measured as my post. Without starting another thread on the state of the NTBHK I do wonder if they are just getting flooded with submissions as the global shipping system is more reliable post-COVID, or what else might have lead to the more conservative approach. 
 

Certainly puts me off for the hassle and cost of sending things over for a bit. Or get things to Tanobe Sensei first, although not just sending junk his way.