Special Order Akihide blade with horimono by Akitada 1941 - made same-ish blade twice?

[waljamada]

Saw this beautiful blade for sale and just found it interesting.  Lead me down a research rabbit hole.  It appears to me there are two blades incredibly similar yet slightly different.  One has had hozon papers issued and one doesn't.  According to the write ups the one with Hozon papers is listed as 1940 and the one without 1941.  The earlier 1940 version was attributed as a gift to Hirohito and was in an awesome koshirae.

 

At quick glance they appear the same blade, the horimonos are of the same poetry and imagery yet differ in the details and the hamons are different. 

 

Perhaps the team got back together for a second go or a special order of a near duplicate version?  Either way found it interesting there are two versions of a gift sword. 

 

Almost made a hard go for this blade but decided I didn't know enough to stick my neck out.  Congrats to whomever the buyer was!

 

[NewB]

Fine piece!

 

J&U

[PNSSHOGUN]

Two different swords, for these special presentation Tachi with silver mounts it appears a few were made over the years. There was a similar example by Miyamoto Kanenori the same seller had with these special silver Tachi Koshirae, a virtually identical Tachi by Kanenori dated and using his later Imperial Artisan Mei was listed in Japan with the same silver Tachi Koshirae. Both Kanenori Tachi were papered for sword and Koshirae, it is interesting that the Koshirae and blade were made at different times. This went very low for a special presentation Akihide with fine Horimono.

 

Imperial artisan Mei Kanenori Tachi: https://ginza.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/r3/005/02_kanenori_miyamoto.htm

 

Second Tachi:

 

 

 

[Brian]

For high level commissions, smiths often made more than one duplicate sword in case one failed. After they were finished the best one was chosen for the presentation and the other was sold off. Very possible this is the case here and it was sold off the following year.

[Andrew Ickeringill]

I believe these two swords have been discussed before in one of the FB groups, the topic was raised by Chris Bowen.

 

They’re actually both dated 1941, in fact the inscriptions are exactly the same on both swords, though clearly made by different hands.

 

The one with the hozon paper is of course legitimate and quite a well-known sword by Akihide, the other is an elaborate fake, so maybe not congratulations, but commiserations to the buyer 

[Brian]

Wow

[waljamada]

One of the reasons that my brain attributed to "logic" that made me hesitant to buy was my experience as a collector in other art fields. 

 

In my experience in the other art fields personal commission pieces and especially high level gifts are not kosher to duplicate and sell by the same artist.  Reason being it diminishes the uniqueness, importance and value of that original piece.  There's some examples of works being copied by the original artist but usually after some solid amount of time has passed.

 

For example if you crafted a specially made blade for the purpose of gifting to the Emperor but then sell other versions of the same sword it seems you risk offenses.  Especially when it's the Emperor....

 

The making of multiple versions to work on side by side in case of mistake and presenting the best version makes sense.  Then over time the "2nd version" finding its way to market also makes sense.  

 

The thing with these two blades that also made me uneasy is that the carvings used different styles to depict certain aspects.  The water waves/ripples etc...was done differently.  The ships siding was done differently, the hair differently, the mountains....and the hozon one simply looks more expertly carved.  The water effects and scale/perspective stand out most to me as the largest difference in artistry.  Just gave me pause that it was done by the same hand but also could just be experimenting between versions to find the best effect...

 

The sword, either way, is quite impressive in its own right but the process, kosher-ness of selling duplicates and high level gifting culture questions are what popped in my head beyond the fun I had of really studying, researching and comparing each one.

[Andrew Ickeringill]

Yes, there are many differences in the horimono both in terms of style and quality which raise suspicion… actually, a huge gap in quality! As well as many differences in the deki of the sword, which wouldn’t be so if it were a shadow sword made at the same time as the original by Akihide.

 

But to me, the big giveaway is with the nakago. The original has some minor openings in the nakago just to the left of the mekugi-ana which appear as a sort of scarring, the faker has attempted to reproduce this scarred effect in their sword, but the angles are incorrect, it goes off in a different direction. Which logically points to the 2^nd sword being an attempt at a direct fake, rather than a shadow sword by Akihide.

 

(Original to the left, fake in the middle)

 

 

Once this is clear, and you start to really analyse the tagane and yasurime, the differences start to jump out at you.

 

No sword should be assumed shoshin simply because of the supposed period or maker, wherever there’s money to be made, there are fakes to be made.

[vajo]

scary!

[Sansei]

1 hour ago, vajo said:

scary!

I'll say. In the fine art world many fakes have existed and have fooled even some top experts. Eventually they get exposed but not before the initial investor gets ripped off. Buyer beware.