My first Tokubetsu Hozon Katana =|:^)

[waljamada]

 Greetings all, 

 

I purchased my first Tokubetsu  Hozon Katana signed  Bitchu no Kuni Matsuyama ju Akamatsu Kotobuki Minamoto Ujisada Saku

Bunkyo 4 Gatsu Hi (1864 February)

 

I must say after spending some time with it, I now have a real life reference for what a Tokubetsu Hozon blade can be/is and this is an absolutely beautiful blade.  I get it now....It is in shirasaya with silver cat scratch/rain habaki and was sent to Japan to be polished/shinsa by the previous owner during which it obtained Tokubetsu Hozon.  The seller originally found the blade in gunto mounts which when sent to Japan for polish were not returned sadly.  I also attached a photo of the blade as it was originally in its gunto mounts before polish.  

 

Sadly, I know almost nothing of the smith and the owner didn't have much info on him specifically.  He gracefully did share all he knew and his own tale with the blade which was much appreciated.  I want to keep even the modern histories alive with a blade whenever I can.  Any additional assistance in learning about the smith is greatly appreciated! https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/UJI138

 

Either way gentleman, for your amusement and thoughts I present my first tokubetsu hozon katana!

 

Also a quick little shakey because it's hard video of the blade: 

 

 

[waljamada]

Additional photo dump.

[FZ1]

Lovely looking blade Adam

 

(I hope that the dog survived the photo session  )

 

Jon

 

[waljamada]

Jon, thank you and the dog thrives!

 

Also forgot to upload the gunto shot pre-polish.  Here's that photo.

[NewB]

  On 8/2/2021 at 7:33 PM, waljamada said:

 

 

 

 

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The dog is stressed out lol

Nice! It looks very similar to my Yokoyama Sukenaga. Best among his works IMHO

 

John

[Toryu2020]

Great piece - I love happy endings...

-t

[Michaelr]

Adam, that is a beautiful blade. You are a lucky man. Thank you very much for sharing   

   MikeR

[reeder]

Nice one!

[Tom Darling]

Adam,  you are well on your way to stardom, quick learner.  Congratulations on a winner.  Outstanding Katana. I noticed you have two doggies, any more. 

[Brian]

Have to ask...is that a Shiba?

[waljamada]

Tom and Brian, I lord and love over three pups and a cat.  We got Kiki (the smallest and my golden child but I don't let the others know), Lela and Luna.  Then there is Forrest Boots.  All the dogs are chihuahua mixes, a chorkie, a chipin and a pomchi.  I found Forrest Boots as a kitten in the forest behind my house and he has the Hemingway paws and maybe some maine coon from a generation or so back.

[Tom Darling]

Adam,  I love all your babies, one happy family.  Forrest Boots looks like a tiger, he is the boss. I am going to start watching you on utube.  Cheers.

[tbonesullivan]

Oh wow, that looks great!!! Definitely a great blade!

[Ken-Hawaii]

Adam, glad you spent the time to research, rather than buying the first blade you saw. Good workmanship.

[waljamada]

Tom, thanks and you're helping me get to the milestone of 20 followers!  I am trying to go down the path of nihonto, learning along the way, so I can in the future be a true contributor to this hobby/field.  Forrest Boots is the aloof mysterious boss who gets his patte on demand and to the schedule of his liking.   I love them all dearly.

 

Tbone, Thomas, Micheal, Brandon and Ken,

Thanks I really appreciate the feedback and the blade is now my crown example.  I have others that I have real sweet spots for that I may favor slightly more but that's just because I like oddballs and flawed beauty.  Also Ken, the research part was mostly being able to recognize quality and traits to appreciate...plus just knowing Tokubetsu Hozon is a good thing =|:^)  I got lucky with a seller who accepted my offer and has been nothing but class in his interaction with me and the pictures I had to go off of were pretty rough.   I still don't know much about the maker (Google isn't very helpful in my research on him) as I don't have the appropriate books but I can tell the man knew what he was doing as did the togishi.  It was taken care of by many hands before mine.

[waljamada]

Resurrecting this to see if anyone has any information on this smith? 

 

I have been completely unable to find any additional information on him.  I also haven't been able to find other blades by this smith.

 

Have two different names for the smith Ive gotten:

 

Bitchu no Kuni Matsuyama ju Akamatsu Kotobuki Minamoto Ujisada Saku

 

備中國松山住赤松壽源氏貞

bitchu kuni matsuyama ju akamatsu jugen ujisada

[mywei]

Hi Adam,

 

Seems to be a relatively unknown Shinshinto smith

 

The only example I could find after some googling for you - not sure if you've already seen it

https://www.e-sword....katana/1510-1124.htm

[waljamada]

Matt,

 

Thank you, I hadn't seen that sword!  It's really great seeing what seems a sister sword to mine in sashikomi polish so I can see the hamon details.  So far the smith is 2 for 2 on reaching toku hozon.  Little different arrangement of mei kanji on that one since he looks like he ran out of room at the end of his mei on mine.

[peterd]

Nice hada

[waljamada]

  On 10/30/2023 at 3:38 PM, peterd said:

Nice hada

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Peter,

Yeah, this blade is honestly a beautiful piece.  It stands out from others I have in my collection and seen through my little window into nihonto.  It's also my only blade that has what I'd consider a very skillful art polish.  For me it was great to get because it let me see what a blade with no flaws, skillful smithing execution across the board, dense hada and an expert polish really look like in hand.

[2devnul]

Hi Adam,

 

Lovely blade, I envy you so much! 

 

If I may, I want to boast too. I have 3 Wakizashi and all 3 are in same, perfect polish (you can find pictures in my forum threads about them).

I completely understand how it feels to have such perfect condition blade in collection. 

 

Cheers!