Yasukuni Yasuhisa

[Lee Bray]

Apologies if this is the wrong forum section.

 

I'm looking for information on Onuki Hisashi. Smith name was/is Yasuhisa, of the Yasukuni tosho.

I've read about him in the Yasukuni book by Tom Kishida and any info on him seems to end in 1954 when swords were allowed to be forged again.

Managed to find these references to him in Hawleys and the Toko Taikan but my Hawleys is the 1966 version and doesn't contain this reference and I don't own the Taikan.

YAS-812 and TK-697. If anyone can post the relevant info for these, I'd be very grateful.

 

My reason for this search is because of a strong possibility of buying a katana in officers(I assume because of the sukashi gunto tsuba) gunto koshirae here in Hong Kong.

I've only seen it briefly but it has an interesting mei. It's in the upper left corner of the ura nakago, starting just below the yasurimei demarcation and seems a later addition. I'm assuming it's some form of dedication/shrine - I don't think it's Onkashi-to as Yasuhisa 'qualified' too late.

The Chinese seller says the additional mei is some form of polishers attribution. I've never heard of that, but...

 

Slough' only rates the smith at 1M yen but it seems a good sword with interesting mei. Yasuhisa seems to have been a star sakite at the NTK as he was chosen as the only sakite to go with a couple of top smiths to open a new 'school'.

 

So, I'm a little confused... The rating doesn't speak highly of him but there are indications that he is/was good.

Therefore, I'm trying to find out more but seem to have run out of sources.

 

If anyone has anything more on him, I'm all ears.

 

Cheers fellas.

[Lee Bray]

Nobody wants to look at a newer Hawley's for me?

 

Ah well...

[Stephen]

dont think there is a newer Hawley the two copy is same as the big brown

[Mark Green]

Hi Lee,

I'm holding my newer Hawley's

Yasuhisa 812 says, tk697 Echizen 1966-70 8pt Itame, gonome-midare

' Echizen kuni tangon dohen ju Yasahisa saku kore'

 

Hope that helps

[Lee Bray]

Thank you very much, Mark.

Something more to go on. 8 pts is not very promising though.

 

Stephen, the 1966 Hawley's is somewhat lacking compared to the 80's edition.

My mentor, Mr.Robertshaw, keeps threatening me with a PDF version but hasn't got round to sending it yet.

 

I was starting to think I should have kept quiet about Hong Kong.

There are some genuine collectors and enthusiasts over here.

[Henry Wilson]

I think the rating that Hawley's gives for gendaito smiths is sligthly out dated and should be taken with a pinch of uchiko IMPO as opinions etc have changed a lot over the years concerning gendaito.

 

Regardsing Yasukuni to in general, if the nakago has been mucked with in anyway I would stay away from it. Even a heavy kind of rust devalues Yasukuni swords (sort of) which Is a problemI Iencounter when selling my Yasutoku last month.

 

As far as getting a good Yasukuni sword, I would try to stick to either of the two Yasunori's and go for something with a choji hamon. If miltary koshirae is what you are after too that might be a bit tough but I believe that generally any Yasukuni smiths other that the Yasunori's are not that highly rated.

 

Just my pennies worth.

[Stephen]

Lee the two blue books of the 60s was revised by the big brown which is the same of the two paper back books re released in the late 90's,

[Lee Bray]

Either way, I have the two blue books of the sixties and they do not contain the above information.

 

This will be a long shot but is there anyone with an oshigata of Echizen Yasuhisa?

[Mark Green]

Just leafing through, 8 pts. seems to be the 'norm' for gendi smiths in Hawley's

Mark

[Lee Bray]

Yes, I forgot that Hawley is not the be all and end all of ratings and that for Gendai blades his ratings are less than helpful.

That won't affect my decision.

 

Anyone have any idea as to what "tangon dohen" means?

[Mark Green]

Lee,

have you looked here

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/gendai.htm

[Lee Bray]

Yes, and aside from a small section by Chris Bowen on the Yasukuni smiths that does not include Yasuhisa, I find nothing relating to Yasuhisa or "tangon dohen".

I may well have missed the relevance though. Wouldn't be the first time...

[Kevin]

A good page on Yasukuni swords:

 

http://www.jp-sword.com/files/yasukuni/yasukunito.html

 

Unfortunately Yasuhisa isn't mentioned, but the author does give several rankings, including one based on value at market. Yasuhiro comes ahead of both Yasutoku and Yasunori. Actually four or five smiths are ranked ahead of Yasunori.

 

From a quick bit of looking around, I suspect that Yasuhisa didn't make many Yasukuni-to, this being rather late in the way.

 

Kevin

[Lee Bray]

No more confusion with this blade...

 

Went again today and it is signed, "Toto Ju Nin Ikkansai Kunemmori Kin Saku."

[pcfarrar]

Went again today and it is signed, "Toto Ju Nin Ikkansai Kunemmori Kin Saku."

 

What's wrong with that? Yasuhiro is a good smith.

[Lee Bray]

Yasuhiro was a very good smith but it seems the work signed Kunemori is judged inferior although it is later.

The sword is in need of a polish so unless the seller offers it for a good price, I'll not be buying it.

Saya is damaged and seppa are mismatched so it's not ideal.