Omi Daijo Fujiwara Tadahiro

[loiner1965]

esp for john stuart...not very good pics of my friends wakizashi and unknowingly he commited the inmoral sin in cleaning the tang but that was years ago........its out of polish but he says you can see the suguhu / straight temper in the blade...someone verified it as genuine and it has been on this forum a few years ago as i and another sent in the kanji for rich turner to translate.

the 100,000 dollar question is would you buy an out of polish and no papered omi daijo fujiwara tadahiro which has been through the wars and minor damage around the habiki........i love it

[paulb]

Steve,

can you get a decent image of the mei?

As to whether you/anyone should buy it, well as I think was said in an earlier thread to someone else only the buyer can decide that and what they are prepared to pay. General points to consider when thinking of buying an out of polish unpapered Hizen sword:

1. Hizen swords by the first 3 generations especially have always been popular and expensive. Because of this there are many forgeries some of which are very, very good.

2. Omi Daijo was very long lived which means a) there are a lot of his swords about, b) over the 60 years of his working life his signature varied a lot and c) because of this he is a main target for forgers.

3. It is always a risk buying Hizen blades out of polish. As has been often said here the skin steel is very thin and everytime you polish one there is a real risk of core steel showing through.

 

On the up side if you buy it at the right price, it polishes without a problem and papers you could have a very fine sword. It depends how much of a gamble you are prepared to take.

consider though that the cost of a good polish, shirasaya and papering would cost several thousand pounds on top of what you pay for it. As it has been shortenned it will never get better than Tokubestsu Hozon papers. Examples of this smiths work papered and polished have been on various websites in recent years ranging from £8k to £14k but these were before current economic situation. having had it polished and should it fail to paper you will have a gimei Tadahiro and would struggle to recoup the cost of the polish.

 

Dont know if this helps. but I think you have to consider all possibilities when looking at a top name out of polish and un papered.

Best Regards

Paul

[loiner1965]

cheers paul...they is a decent pic on another thread , i told my mate this 2 years ago what option he had about wether its real or not and if it would polish ok due to the steel being very thin due to the hizen design etc....told him the cost involved and how long he had to wait.....could be worth a fair bit or it could not be worth the cost of the polish.

in the end he loves it as it is and it lives in the wardrobe lol.... i would love it as well but would not get it polished either....apparently hes been told its 99% genuine from a uk collector but i do not know who

[loiner1965]

here you are paul.....the tang was cleaned by my friend years ago as he knows nothing about nihonto as the sword was his fathers from a debt i believe

[paulb]

Well, on first view the mei looks within the range of Omi Daijo signatures. In partcular the Fujiwara characters and the Hiro character look to be good matches. (kick your friend for cleaning it though) All I can say so far is that it is not an obvious fake (of which there are many)

As said before it depends what he wants for it and how much you would be prepared to spend to bring it up to standard.

good luck

Paul

[loiner1965]

Well, on first view the mei looks within the range of Omi Daijo signatures. In partcular the Fujiwara characters and the Hiro character look to be good matches. (kick your friend for cleaning it though) All I can say so far is that it is not an obvious fake (of which there are many)

As said before it depends what he wants for it and how much you would be prepared to spend to bring it up to standard.

good luck

Paul

told him they are 99 out of 100 fakes of this smith out there but i also told him 2 years ago i believe its genuine...i love to have it but he will not sell and i respect him for that.only live 30 miles from me and he is a genuine man and as took time out to try and photograph it as best he can for me this weekend......cannot wish for more

[John A Stuart]

I have a couple of swords that I am absolutely scared to have polished as they may have hidden fukure that I am loathe to bring to the light of day. Even though they could be better appreciated with a polish all the attributes are there and it fulfills its' pupose. The fact a shortened sword from the shinto area precludes its' getting more than tokubetsu hozon always bugged me, after all, quality is quality. John

[loiner1965]

I have a couple of swords that I am absolutely scared to have polished as they may have hidden fukure that I am loathe to bring to the light of day. Even though they could be better appreciated with a polish all the attributes are there and it fulfills its' pupose. The fact a shortened sword from the shinto area precludes its' getting more than tokubetsu hozon always bugged me, after all, quality is quality. John

like opening a can of worms john....thats why the sword just lives in his wardobe now but i told him to wipe and oil it carefully every couple of months

[reinhard]

The fact a shortened sword from the shinto area precludes its' getting more than tokubetsu hozon always bugged me, after all, quality is quality. John

 

Average quality level of top-class ShinTo and ShinShinTo is below top-class KoTo. Inoue SHINKAI is no match for Go YOSHIHIRO, whose work he tried to copy, f.e.. Long KoTo were shortened due to changing needs during Momoyama and early Edo-period, but ShinTo and ShinShinTo can't claim such needs. Shortening is just a regrettable flaw in their case. However, this preclusion from Juyo is not a law made by stupid bureaucrats. Exception to the rule is shodai Nanki SHIGEKUNI, one of the greatest ToKo of all times, whose shortened blades can go Juyo or higher.

 

reinhard

[John A Stuart]

Oh yes, Reinhard, I understand their reasoning. There has to be basic criteria after all. It just bothers me in that a foolish error, looking on it in hindsight, can create the perception of less than equivalent work as one not altered. No real objection per say. John

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

For those who want to exercise their eyes

 

[Brian]

Thanks for that Jacques. It is too useful to leave on imageshack, so I have uploaded it here.

 

Brian

[Clive Sinclaire]

It's a great shame that there is so much wrong with the nakago and it is a million miles away from ubu. The mei looks pretty good but the suriage, machi-okuri, 3 mekugi-ana and it looks like damage to the ha-machi, mean you need to buy this very cheap indeed. I would pass on it as there will always another Tadahiro along in a minute!

Clive

[loiner1965]

It's a great shame that there is so much wrong with the nakago and it is a million miles away from ubu. The mei looks pretty good but the suriage, machi-okuri, 3 mekugi-ana and it looks like damage to the ha-machi, mean you need to buy this very cheap indeed. I would pass on it as there will always another Tadahiro along in a minute!

Clive

would love to have it clive but he will not sell as it was his fathers and like most things in life he doesnt need to sell lol