Your Opinion on this Kanehide Katana. Real Gendaito?

[Odannrott]

Hello you all and thank you for taking time for me.

I've only been into Japanese swords for a few years and recently got a new katana from the US. It was offered as a Gendaito but I am not sure if thats correct and I would like to hear your opinion on the sword.

 

It is signed "Seki Kanehide saku". As far as I know Kanehide was a RJT smith. However, there are no stamps on the sword.
I would like to know as much as possible about it, especially if it is a real Gendaito from Kanehide and how old it is (WW2 or after the war).

I hope the pictures are ok. I am looking forward to your opinions. I uploaded a video on youtube as well for better overview.

 

Some data:

Nagasa: 72.0 cm, Sori: 1.5 cm, Moto-haba: 3.1 cm. 

 

 

(The sword was not that expensive, so don't hold back on any bad news. I still have a lot to learn).

 

 

 

 

[Brian]

My gut feel is that the nakago was scrubbed of patina and redone, and then a new mei added.
Was this from an eBay seller?

[Leen]

The mei looks very clean, no patina in the mei. I think I am with Brian on this one, also not dated…..Komonjo?

 

[francois2605]

The picture of the jihada really has the komonjo feel and doesn't look like a typical Japanese sword hada.

 

If the sword is supposed to be from Nakata Kanehide (2 million yen and high to superior-grade gendaito), the mei doesn't match. The 2 pages from John Slough's book about Kanehide for reference.

 

 

 

2 other Nakata Kanehide online at the moment:

* https://japanesesword.com/archived-pages/2017/9/14/star-stamp-gendaito-by-nakata-kanehide

* https://yakiba.com/kanehide-nakata/

[Bruce Pennington]

As to the blade itself, I’m a really bad one to speak, but I don’t see the telltale signs of a non-traditional blade. I would lean towards traditional on this one. But I have been wrong before!

[David Flynn]

Bruce, it's not about being traditional, more, did Kanehide make this?

 

[Bruce Pennington]

[Bruno]

It does not look like Nakata Kanehide's work, to me at least.

[Bryce]

G'day Lucas,

From these photos I can't tell if the blade was traditionally made or not, but I can see enough to know it wasn't made by the showa period smith Kanehide. It may be an optical illusion, but to me it looks like the munemachi and hamachi aren't aligned properly. If so this is a real red flag.

Cheers,

Bryce

[PNSSHOGUN]

It unfortunately looks like a Komonjo piece. These are at least significantly nicer than a chinese fake.

[lonely panet]

i personally dont this this piece was evan Born in Japan, let alone being from Kanehide

[Bruce Pennington]

24 minutes ago, lonely panet said:

i personally dont this this piece was evan Born in Japan, let alone being from Kanehide

On this side of the proverbial coin, I was initially bothered by the, almost, no taper of the nakago from top to bottom. 

[Odannrott]

Thank you all so far. So it was right to be skeptical after all .

[lonely panet]

its more than that,  the un-natueral apperance of the shinogi at the yokote line,  the funny kissaki Ha and the almost flat appearnce of the JI.  smells like trout

[SteveM]

Just popping in to say Kanehide lived and continued to make swords deep into the 1980s. He had a variety of signature styles. Here is one made in the year he passed away (1988). 

https://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/09320.html

 

Here is one he made in the 1970s

http://sanmei.com/contents/media/S65087_S5013.bak

 

Anyway, best to continue being skeptical for now, but be aware that there are some Kanehide swords that look rather new. 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

6 hours ago, SteveM said:

there are some Kanehide swords that look rather new. 

That very well may explain what we are looking at!

[Mark]

the 1970's sword linked by Steve M is dated...... it is my understanding that ALL shinsakuto blades must be dated. the example here is NOT dated.  maybe i missed the provenance but without knowing i would be skeptical

 

[Odannrott]

For more clarification, yes its from komonjo. So after all i've read so far online, this is most likely a gimei sword with unknown identity.

Also Bryce is right with this, i checked again and they aren't aligned properly on one side of the blade (wasn't visible on the original pictures from offering).

On 10/17/2022 at 1:14 AM, Bryce said:

G'day Lucas,

From these photos I can't tell if the blade was traditionally made or not, but I can see enough to know it wasn't made by the showa period smith Kanehide. It may be an optical illusion, but to me it looks like the munemachi and hamachi aren't aligned properly. If so this is a real red flag.

Cheers,

Bryce