Question regarding NBTHK TH Papers on Koshirae

[Curran]

Two years ago I was looking at a tanto koshirae I found beautiful and in a great state of preservation. It had Tokubetsu Hozon papers. All the pieces were signed, and nice lacquerwork.

 

Question: If all the pieces are signed- the kozuka, kogai, fuchi, kashira, kojiri, etc- yes it was that sort of koshirae... do the papers authenticate all the signatures?

 

If I knew the answer to this, I've forgotten!

I'd appreciate help here from those more familiar with NBTHK papering practices.

 

 

Curran

[Grey Doffin]

Curran,

I don't know the official answer but I would be very surprised if the NBTHK were to issue any paper, let alone a higher level, to anything with what they considered a gimei. My guess is that all signatures have been authenticated. Anyone have a different answer?

Grey

[Ted Tenold]

As koshirae is more or less a sum of parts, anything that would be questionable would preclude issuance for the whole. Otherwise the koshirae is compromised and the whole koshirae is what is being papered. Whether the papers *specifically* document the signature or not, or how detailed the description of the items is another matter. But I believe it's safe to say that if there wasn't faith in the parts, then the koshirae would otherwise be viewed as unworthy of "special preservation".

 

Just my thoughts.

[Curran]

Ted and Grey,

 

Thanks for the replies. My reason for asking:

 

The menuki were solid gold and signed Mitsuoki (the big guy of the Otsuki school)

The fuchi and kojiri were also biggish names.

I forget the other signatures.

 

I was studying it at hand with no reference books to verify the signatures. Nice elegant but not overly flashy koshirae. With a pantheon of decent names on it, I wondered if papers where just that it was an original en-suite late edo koshirae or was _verifying_ all those signatures.

If so, then the koshirae was worth a fair more than the nice healthy c. 1500 Mino blade.

 

My memory isn't good enough to recall the details of the description on the papers, so I do not recall if it mentioned the Mitsuoki menuki at all.

 

I confess I liked the whole package. I just wish I'd gotten the chance to verify some of the signatures for my own mental satisfaction and WoW!

[Grey Doffin]

If the menuki were signed on the backs then the shinsa team wouldn't have seen the signature and the paper has nothing to tell us about the validity of that mei. Or were the menuki signed on the side?

Grey

[Curran]

Tanto koshirae.

 

The menuki were signed on the bottom(?) sides and mounted on the same. No wrap.

As stated, they were gold with a fairly high profile (thickness) to them.

 

Signature was clearly visible, though small.

 

All the fittings were very good. The menuki were exceptionally good- perhaps "plush" is a better word; but I don't know if I have seen Mitsuoki menuki before. I had no reason to doubt the veracity of the package. Just curious when there are that many signatures.