Mystery O-kissaki Katana

[ChrisW]

Hello again gentlemen!

This is a blade that I recently acquired locally. At first, before cleaning it, I thought it was going to be another relatively young blade that has simply gone through a world war and was brought back by a veteran. Beneath all the cosmoline or brake grease (and grass clippings), came a blade with no edge damage and a surprisingly interesting hamon. The blade is 27 1/4"  with a very nice o-kissaki point. It has two mekugi-ana, of which both appear to be drifted. The fittings are somewhat plain but have some hint at having some kind of applied ornamentation (cloisonne?) having existed though it is mostly gone, some manner of white flecks that have mostly rubbed off. The flecks appear on the kashira, tsuba, and kojiri. The tsuba, although plain appears to have a shakudo plug in it. After cleaning it, I was impressed and made an offer which was accepted.

When I brought this to my local Token Kai meeting, neither I nor Dan could figure out what exactly we were looking at. We spent a good while pouring over the book he brought, trying to narrow its manufacture down, to no avail. There are also a few spots where the hamon lifts up beyond the normal pattern. One notable oddity was that on the omote side of the blade, about 3" up from the hakabi is a set of three circles in a triangular arrangement above the hamon. But most noticeable of all is the CRAZY amount of kaeri. The hardening goes at least down half to two-thirds of the mune towards the habaki. The mune width itself is also rather narrow compared to many other blades I've seen. Its not quite a cormorant neck shape, but it is nearly diamond-shape.  I am unsure if the blade exhibits true utsuri or not, but there appears to be evidence for it. I am also unsure if the blade is simply suriage or o-suriage. The sori is interesting too.

Therefore, for your perusal, is this blade! My asks are:

Probable age/era of production

School

Possible smiths
Ideas for the reason of the strange hamon/kaeri

Suriage or o-suriage

As always, any and all help and opinions are appreciated! This one has our local TK completely stumped, so here it is!

The images are arranged with a link to the imgur resolution, followed by what is a lower resolution image.

https://imgur.com/Hj1GCSN

https://imgur.com/8561qnC

https://imgur.com/TQlpT4f

 

https://imgur.com/9Gz77jo

 

https://imgur.com/iw8vMdz

 

Evidence of what I believe is significant kaeri:

https://imgur.com/tpTt2rp

 

https://imgur.com/UKeumwT

 

https://imgur.com/39iTzDt

 

https://imgur.com/BF5K2Dr

 

https://imgur.com/5FTx1sT

 

https://imgur.com/aKDB56h

 

https://imgur.com/3GrrcF9

 

https://imgur.com/YCNiIaV

 

https://imgur.com/swcjM2C

 

https://imgur.com/mEYn8O8

 

The image showing the three circles:

https://imgur.com/ULFj0N4

 

Boshi:

https://imgur.com/EibDmsK

 

Evidence of utsuri:

https://imgur.com/0l2X34o

 

https://imgur.com/MBxdYvx

 

More kaeri:
https://imgur.com/d9a1IcQ

 

 

Thanks again gentlemen! As always, very appreciated.

[Bazza]

Shinshinto Seki??  A single menuki ('solid' gold??) with the other one winkled out.  Shame.

 

BaZZa.

[ChrisW]

I have no way of knowing if the menuki is simply foil or solid. It was probably removed to see if it was solid or not, a shame. Judging by the fact that the other one is still there, probably just foil.

 

 

[Rivkin]

Sorry the pictures are bad. Can't see kaeri, can't see boshi, can't see hamon - its all there, but blurry, shaky etc.

For example, it can be Daido. He did straight blades with o-kissaki and long kaeri. A lot of possibilities here. The most desirable is obviously Nambokucho Soshu, but...

[ChrisW]

I feel like some of the pictures aren't quite as bad as Kirill says, any other slightly more helpful opinions out there? The second image shows the hamon fairly clearly I thought. I will attempt to get a more clear set of pictures.

[Alex A]

Looks quite a stout blade in the images, whats the Motohaba/sakihaba?

[ChrisW]

Unfortunately the batteries in my calipers are dead, so I'll have to search for new ones, in the meantime with a ruler:

Motohaba is approximately 1 3/8":

Sakihaba is approximately 1"

 

Edit: found some batteries!

 

Motohaba: 32.64mm

 

Sakihaba: 24.28mm

[Alex A]

Hi Chris

 

Mino, not sure on age though as nakago dont scream Muromachi, the way it was cut short does though

 

Only ever seen one katana with really well done controlled muneyaki, that was a Shinto sword

 

A mino sword with muneyaki here. Higaki yasurime again mentioned. Maybe some masame on your sword maybe.

http://www.nihontocraft.com/mumei_katana.html

 

Not much help, killed a few minutes why misses has masterchef on

 

cheers

 

[David Flynn]

I don't think one could call this as having an O Kissaki.     In my opinion, it would still be classed as, Chu  Kissaki.

[ChrisW]

2 inches from the yokote to the very point of the kissaki isn't o-kissaki?

I will also attempt to seek a better camera or a professional, probably the latter if possible.

[Bugyotsuji]

Do you not get a feeling of Kyushu from the saya?

[ChrisW]

Can you elucidate me on what you mean? I would be most appreciative to understand this new term to me!

I found this thread that gives me something of an idea, but I do not completely understand:

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Wow, that thread is a blast from the past! Not long after I was starting out on this quest.

New term? Kyūshū (?) is in the south-west of Japan and sometimes their saya (sheath) is a distinctive shape or color. That shade of red reminds me of Saigo Takamori for some reason!

[ChrisW]

Ah, I see! Thank you Piers!

Indeed it is a very distinctive red, reminds me of cinnabar to be honest (a mercury-based mineral with a vivid red coloring).

[Bugyotsuji]

Sometimes the koshiraé can be an indication of where to look for a smith.

[Shugyosha]

Interesting old thread Piers - you put a lot of love into that. Do you still have the tanto? 

[Bugyotsuji]

Sadly not, John. It was nice to be reminded of it! Luckily I have a replacement! 

 

Now back to Chris’s conundrum. 

[ChrisW]

Anyone else have some potential insight? Much appreciated!

[Alex A]

Hi Chris, sorry, but as Kirill points out its difficult with those images, the image of the saya looks to represent sori better than that of the blade.

 

Can only go with what we have available which can be fun at times.

 

Had a look at iphone images of the nakago and i take back what i said about it not appearing to be Muromachi, to be more precise i think the blade may be Momoyama (really sticking my neck out lol). You see the worn Hikagi yasurime typical of Sue-Seki.  Would say it has only been cut short the distance between the two ana, this would put the original length into blades made at that time.  

 

I mentioned the way it looks to have been shortened, significant maybe, some info. Tenshō-suriage and Keichō-suriage | Markus Sesko

 

Probable age/era of production.................1600 ish

School................Mino

Possible smiths.........................................Kane- whats it
Ideas for the reason of the strange hamon/kaeri...........Not typical, but see sword on the link above, guess it happens.

Suriage or o-suriage   ....................suriage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DTM72]

Chris,

 

i actually go into a closet and lay out a black bed sheet. Using my camera phone, zoom in to 2.5x and focus. Turn on flash turn out the lights and snap a picture at a slight angle to deflct the flash away from you. i have gotten some great pics doing this.

 

1st pic is a wakizashi by Kanesaki.

2nd & 3rd pics are a katana by Shichibejo Sukesada

 

Just a suggestion.

[Edward Mahle]

The 16th photo looks like someone put a good amount of heat to it.

[ChrisW]

25 minutes ago, Edward Mahle said:

The 16th photo looks like someone put a good amount of heat to it.

That discoloration is a result of the isopropyl alcohol I believe, annoyingly enough. It wiped off clean though.