Fujiwara Kunitsuna Katana

[YukouYukimura]

I have found this sword online for sale, they claim the signature on it is "Echizen ju Sagami no Kami Fujiwara Kunitsuna" but they translate the name into Fugiwara Kunitsuna, There is only one blade I have found to have any reference to the "Fujiwara Kunitsuna" this: http://www.sanmei.com/shop_e/media/A71873_W8100_PUP_E.html

The signatures match to my eyes, except for the first Kanji on the blade I posted under this. Of course the opposite side of the tang, the inscription I can't read. The engraving on the blade seems a bit off to me, but I have not seen enough to judge really..

 

I know you all say buy the blade, not the signature. But sometimes do signatures warrant a second look, even at blades that haven't been taken care of 100%?

 

Blade: 31 1/4" and the overall: 41 3/4"

 

 

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I would like honest opinions about the blade, the engraving(if it belongs) and the point of this entire post in all honesty: Is a blade by this swordsmith worth it the additional money to get polished and possibly papered?

 

Thank you all in advance

[loiner1965]

personally i would pass on this due to the diy engravings.....just my opinion

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0610_1057syousai.htm

[paulb]

Tyler,

I need to qualify what follows by saying I am singularly inept at seeing "diamonds in the rough" which is why I have never found fantastic bargains on ebay or bought a treasure at a fraction of its true worth. Having said that this blade looks rough!

The quality of the horimono is very poor, you can see very little by way of detail on the blade except that it has been well worn down (judging from the loss of horimono) and it has little if any merit. In my own ultra cautious and conservative opinion I would doubt it warrants the cost of restoration or polish. As always it depends what you want, how much it costs and how much you are prepared to risk on trying to have it restored. but even if it polishes you will still have a blade with the remains of an awfully cut horimono.

 

You asked for honest opinion and I have tried to give same. At the end of the day it is just that, an opinion. Others may see merit in this that have passed me by.

regards

Paul

[IanB]

Tyler, I agree with Paul that this sword has seen a great deal of abuse. I doubt the horimono ever looked good, and what remains is sad indeed. On the plus side, and yes I can see some, is the fact that the habaki is covered with silver foil and the seppa with what looks like gold foil (or at least silver gilt). These features cost the owner money when the sword was mounted. Someone thought a lot about it. I am also intrigued by the tsuba, badly worn as it is. I assume it represents Hotei with his sack. On the back I can see the kanji for 'genuine', 'excellent' and 'iron'. Rather curious. If you do choose to buy, it will never look great but there just may be some redeeming features awaiting discovery.

Ian

[Mike]

I agree with all previous opinions, this sword is tierd, will have no use for learning or even as a hanger as the koshirae is not so great either. So I would leave it to its owner. Mike

[Grey Doffin]

I agree with all above and one more thing sticks out to me. In the 9th & 10th pictures it looks like the habaki sits crooked on the blade (it actually makes the blade look crooked at the machi but I'm sure it's just the habaki). A habaki that doesn't fit properly probably wasn't made for the blade. Possibly a bunch of parts put together to make a salable package.

Grey

[YukouYukimura]

Oh wow! Thank you everyone for your help. I am glad you all raised these very good points about the blade. This is exactly what I was trying to ask. I will just look at buying books instead, and memberships with NBTHK in Japan when I arrive. I own a couple of swords already so I'll be content with studying them and trying to help here when I get some better reference books.

 

It's sad really, that these works of art are getting damaged every day by people that don't know how to take care of them properly.. by smearing motor oil all over them.. or grinding an edge back on them and polishing cost so much that no one will polish them back to true beauty.

 

personally i would pass on this due to the diy engravings.....just my opinion

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0610_1057syousai.htm

That is a beautiful sword... How much is that priced at?

 

 

I guess I need to look at more, better swords. The engraving looked funny to me, but I wasn't sure it wasn't right.

 

Anyway, I really do appreciate all of your advice so really.. Thank you all.

 

I hope in time when I learn more I'll be of use to this forum :lol:

[Grey Doffin]

Tyler, you're providing tremendous use to the forum already. Without beginners like you us old farts wouldn't get to act like we know something.

Grey

[YukouYukimura]

Tyler, you're providing tremendous use to the forum already. Without beginners like you us old farts wouldn't get to act like we know something.

Grey

 

Well I am really glad you are all here sharing your knowledge with beginners

[paul V]

Tyler

Since a few years I am interested in swords made by this Kunitsuna from Echizen. I have three of them for the moment.

It is important to judge every sword on its own merits because there is a big difference in quality. You can find some real good swords with this mei but also some that are of a rather low quality.

In Fujishiro's Shinto Hen you find only one Kunitsuna from Echizen and he is rated Chu saku. In the Toko Taikan you can find two Kunitsuna's with this mei.

So perhaps there was only one Kunitsuna in the Shimosaka school who could make good swords but sometimes had an off day or there were two Kunitsuna and one of them was more skilled than the other.

In this case, it is difficult to judge the quality because of the condition of the sword but I wouldn't expect much. And the horimono isn't one you normaly find on a good blade either, so I would advice against buying.

Even if you had the blade polished and it would turn out to be a decent blade, it would still have an ugly horimono and that would always be the first thing you would see whenever you took the blade in your hands.

Of course, this is only my opinion and I am far from being an expert.

Best regards;

Paul V

[Markus]

Hi Tyler,

 

FYI: the other side of the tang starts with "makari-mochi Hosoi ...",

the rest is unfortunately illegible. "Makari" is a prefix which emphasizes the

following verb, therefore the fragments of the beginning could be translated

as "proudly owned by [a certain] Hosoi ...", or "the proud owner Hosoi ...",

followed by the illegible part.

 

The left column is a date, namely "Meireki gannen hachigatsu-kichijitsu",

"a lucky day in the eighth month of the first year of Meireki (1655)".

[YukouYukimura]

So this blade was a special order for someone important? With the silver habachi and the inscription..

 

Thank you both for the added information

[Markus]

So this blade was a special order for someone important?

 

I wouldn´t insist upon that the person in question was important.

[Jean]

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0610_1057syousai.htm

 

That is a beautiful sword... How much is that priced at?

 

Tyler,

 

It is sold. Could you tell us why is it a beautiful sword, to your eyes?

[YukouYukimura]

Tyler,

 

It is sold. Could you tell us why is it a beautiful sword, to your eyes?

 

Well the first thing I notice when I look at that sword is the just the color of the blade! That is a very rich deep color and is just attractive to my eyes. The shape of the kissaki is also very nice. The hamon, It looks like fire! I like that style. The Koshirae compliments the blade very well, and I like how beautiful the whole package looks together! The saya and habachi especially, just by looking at the sheathed blade in person I'm sure it has a great presence, even before you draw it!

 

All in all it just looks complete from Kissaki to Kashira

[Jean]

Tyler,

 

Pictures give wrong impression of the blade colour. That is the scan effect. You cannot based your judgement of the steel colour on such pictures, furthermore with Photoshop, steel can have any colour : bright, Dark ....

 

What do I see : A kanbun katana suriage/machi okuri, hadori polish making a suguha from a gunome one. Hada ware.

Koshirae : Kashira and menuki seem to picture dragons, Fuchi/kojiri/kurikata representing flowers.

 

 

To sum up, I see : a suriage machi okuri kanbun katana with some ware, a poor polish, a curious flashy koshirae - medium quality same.

 

Whatever the price, I let it pass

 

Just to say that I am much more selective than you. I can pass on the polish, the koshirae, but not on the suriage, machi okuri and ware (for a shinto blade)

[YukouYukimura]

Tyler,

 

Pictures give wrong impression of the blade colour. That is the scan effect. You cannot based your judgement of the steel colour on such pictures, furthermore with Photoshop, steel can have any colour : bright, Dark ....

 

What do I see : A kanbun katana suriage/machi okuri, hadori polish making a suguha from a gunome one. Hada ware.

Koshirae : Kashira and menuki seem to picture dragons, Fuchi/kojiri/kurikata representing flowers.

 

 

To sum up, I see : a suriage machi okuri kanbun katana with some ware, a poor polish, a curious flashy koshirae - medium quality same.

 

Whatever the price, I let it pass

 

Just to say that I am much more selective than you. I can pass on the polish, the koshirae, but not on the suriage, machi okuri and ware (for a shinto blade)

 

I thought something of that sort, but I'd like to see that blade in person none the less to see its true color! Clearly I have much to learn, but as my collection stands now the sword we are discussing blows my swords out of the water! Maybe not so much in respect to single attributes, but as a package(just from my perspective).

 

But I can say without a doubt that you can be much more selective because of your greater knowledge of this art And thank you for asking me why I thought that blade was beautiful and then stating what you saw. I learned a lot from that

[Jean]

Hi Tyler,

 

We have all our taste and I shall never discuss them. I have a friend, Gilles, who is dedicated to shinshinto, Clive prefers Hizento, I like Yamashiro and Bizen. I am not a Nihonto specialist but I try to have people avoid the thousand mistakes I did in 30 years. If I do not know exactly what to do, I clearly see what I should not do - not meaning I don't do them

[YukouYukimura]

Hi Tyler,

 

We have all our taste and I shall never discuss them. I have a friend, Gilles, who is dedicated to shinshinto, Clive prefers Hizento, I like Yamashiro and Bizen. I am not a Nihonto specialist but I try to have people avoid the thousand mistakes I did in 30 years. If I do not know exactly what to do, I clearly see what I should not do - not meaning I don't do them

 

 

Haha well Thank you Jean, for your experience! I am too new to this to know my taste yet, I know most people on this board have very specific tastes. Unfortunately I am still working on trying to recognize the differences between them