Chikuzen Yasumune Gendaito Tachi

[Sutraken]

Gents, 

 

I am pleased to offer a beautiful and flawless gendaito tachi made by the late Yasukuni shrine smith Osaki Yasumune in 1978. I purchased this great sword not long ago from Grey Doffin. Unfortunately I have to part with it, because off personal reasons. You can find the former listing on Grey‘s website. Here are the information about the sugata: 

 

Nagasa: 79,5cm

 

Sori: 2,8cm

 

Motohaba: 3,4cm

 

Motokasane: 0,8cm

 

Sakihaba: 2,1cm

 

Sakikasane: 0,55cm

 

Nakago Nagasa: 20,6cm

 

Overall in Shirasaya: 110,5cm

 

The mei reads: Chikuzen Ju Yasumune Saku. Showa Go Ju San Nen San Gatsu Hi ( a day in March 1978 )

 

Besides there is a soemei, that translate as: Owned by Masuiyama Daishiro. He was a sumo wrestler born in 1948, who achieved the second highest rank of Ouzeki. It is a long tradition in Sumo to offer fine swords to the stars of the sport. 

 

This Tachi is constructed in shinogi zukuri and has a strong koshi zori. It has a iore mune and also a chu kissaki. Both sides of the blade have a bohi. The hada of the sword is a fine, tight ko itame hada. The hamon is a suguba 

made of small choji gunome, nioi guchi with fine nie and subtle hataraki throughout. The boshi is a slightly swept o maru with a short kaeri. The Yasumune comes in a well made shirasaya and has a gold foil single habaki. The blade is flawless and has a quality Japanese polish. Although this sword was made long after WW2, it is made with the same characteristics as the swords made in the Yasukuni shrine during the war. The Tachi is in Germany, but I offer international shipping with DHL premium. My asking price is 3900€ obo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sutraken]

Here are more pictures. 

[Sutraken]

More pictures

 

 

[Sutraken]

My name is Stefan. 

[Sutraken]

Gentlemen, 

 

I have to correct my listing. This particular Yasumune is not related to the yasukuni shrine. I apologize for the misinformation. Anyway this tachi is really gorgeous and a joy for any nihonto enthusiast. 

 

PS: This smith also has the mei Chikuzen Ju Yamaguchi Yasumune. 

 

The new price is 3700€ obo

 

[Sutraken]

The new asking price is 3600€ obo.

[jeremy]

If I may ask, what is the weight of the bare naked blade ?

[Sutraken]

The weight of the bare blade is 850 grams. The weight in shirasaya is 1135 grams. The balance is very good. The utility aspect as a weapon is also given. This is not very often seen in swords made after WW2. 

[jeremy]

Thank you for that information. 

[Sutraken]

No problem. I am still open for reasonable offers. 

[Sutraken]

Still available. The next owner will be more than pleased with this great tachi. 

[Sutraken]

The new asking price is 3300€.

[Sutraken]

The last price reduction: 3000€

I paid far more than this. 

[Sutraken]

I reduce the price again. The new asking price is 2800€. 

[Lee997]

Lovely blade Stefan. Would certainly ,ale a very nice 1st blade for me but unfortunately it’s a little more than I’d want to pay out right now. And would probably be a lot easier to get into the Uk than it is from the US or Aus as they all seem to be located?

 

Lee.

[Sutraken]

Lee, 

 

the blade resides in Germany. Everyone loves this tachi, but nobody has the money to buy it… They prefer to buy garbage on ebay for 3k or more. It is a shame that I have not received a reasonable offer for this sword in the last weeks. Greed and stinginess everywhere. 

[DaveFarr]

Insulting potential buyers isn't advantageous to the cause.

[Sutraken]

Well, I spoke in general about current behavior on the market for nihonto. I know a lot of collectors, who tell me the same thing. A large part of the blades, which were offered for sale remains unsold for a long time, because nobody makes reasonable offers. It seems the majority of customers only want to spend around 50% of the real value. I don’t speak about lower quality pieces. I refer myself to solid quality pieces in near mint condition. Finally I don‘t blame anyone here in person. I only speak about general tendencies, which cause damage to the whole nihonto community. 

[vajo]

Stefan its not easy to find a collector for shinsakuto. The reason is that these are pure art swords or for iiato or something else.

I have two shinsakuto in my collection. These are beautifull swords no question.

But at the moment you get for the money of a shinsakuto very nice wartime gendaito from high rated smith or older stuff up to nambokucho era.

The market is not easy - to many offers.

[Sutraken]

Chris, 

 

 when you look at regular shinsakuto, you will notice that my asking price is more than fair. Especially because it is an art sword in prestine polish made for a prominent sumo wrestler. In addition you won’t find blades made in the WW2 era with such a sugata for less than 10k. If you look into older periods, you will notice that you can’t purchase antique swords in near mint condition for something below 3k. The exceptions are swords without papers, which could be gimei. 

[vajo]

Yes Stefan, shinsakuto costs 4 times more when you buy it new. But... the market.

[Matsunoki]

Stefan, if this sword was in the UK I would buy it from you. It’s a good solid shinsakuto plus I really enjoy Sumo so that would be a bonus. The trouble is we are having some problems with shipping and also with our own border force/customs people which is making some of us very cautious about importing swords. It is very annoying and I do sympathise with you. Plus of course we have +20% to pay on top now that we are out of the EU. It is very frustrating. 
I wish you better luck.

[Sutraken]

I don’t buy it from the smith, so I didn‘t pay the price Yasumune wanted to get. My point is that you get a high quality tachi for little money, because it is a shinsakuto. 

 

-Stefan 

[Sutraken]

3 minutes ago, Matsunoki said:

Stefan, if this sword was in the UK I would buy it from you. It’s a good solid shinsakuto plus I really enjoy Sumo so that would be a bonus. The trouble is we are having some problems with shipping and also with our own border force/customs people which is making some of us very cautious about importing swords. It is very annoying and I do sympathise with you. Plus of course we have +20% to pay on top now that we are out of the EU. It is very frustrating. 
I wish you better luck.

 

Thank you, Matsunoki. 

 

Unfortunately we have to pay 21% of the declared value, too, when we import items from countries outside the EU. The custom office here in Germany is also very horrible to deal with. I think these issues are known all over the world. 

 

Kind regards 

Stefan

[Lee997]

Stefan I think you also have to factor in the very volatile situation we find ourselves in in the UK at the moment. What with increasing prices, rent / rates / mortgages and overall increase in cost of living equals a very uncertain future and tji# in turn mens people are far less likely to be willing to pay out on no essential luxury items! 
( of course swords are essential to me, but I’m the exception)! 😜

 

good luck, it’s a beautiful sword.

[Sutraken]

Lee, 

 

following your passion is always a path through uncertainty. Building a collection can be quite fatalistic. 

 

Kind regards 

[Sutraken]

Bump 

[Edward Mahle]

Wow the shape of this blade is stunning. At that price I can't believe this is still for sale. Massive Tachi, in polish with a gorgeous Harmon line & shape. It definitely checks a lot of boxes for my collection. Good luck with your sale. If it's still up for grabs by the end of the month I'll send you a message. Maybe we can figure something out with this one. 

[Sutraken]

Hello Edward, 

 

thank you for the kind words. 

[Sutraken]

The Yasumune tachi is sold. Thank you folks for the kind words.