Some boshi thoughts

[Roland]

Dear NMB fellows,

 

A friend of mine in Great Britain offered me a Katana. At a first look it is Sue Koto, Muromachi era, Mino Seki, typical Gunome Midare Hamon. (Yep, I know, I'm a Mino sucker...). Ubu nakago with one mekugi-ana, mumei. Ha-watari 67 cm, Sori 2,2 cm, Kissaki 3,5 cm. A nice blade with a very pronounced irregular hamon of mostly rounded tops, but not everywhere, in between the one or the other togari-ba can be seen, possibly a early attempt of sanbon-sugi. He send me some photos of not the very best quality. Nevertheless they are precise enough for a quick first look. Especially the boshi leaves me a little bit irritated – may be just because of my minor knowledge. It seems to be a Chu-kissaki, Midare komi, i.e. the Gunome Midare hamon continues in the boshi – on one side ending in a small kaeri, on the other side without kaeri but a hint of hakikake.

 

 

 

 

Now I'm contemplating about this boshi... One of the countless Kanemoto smiths?

 

The blade was handed over by the mayor of Mukaishima to a British officer when Japan surrendered in 1945...

[Ted Tenold]

The gunome are a bit more rounded than I'd expect for Kanemoto and especially so for generations after the 2nd (Magoroku), because they became increasingly pointed and sharp looking. Earlier Kanemoto also stayed closer to the edge, with valleys nearly touching or dropping off in some works. Maybe take a look toward the smiths in Kanefusa or Ganmaku schools. Mino can be tough to pin down one guy sometimes due to their transience and shear numbers.

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

 

On Kanefusa blades, the kaeri is usually long, seeing the whole blade with close-up of hada and hamon can be helpful.

[george trotter]

Hi Ted,

I hope you won't think my comments way off track...but the pic you show of the continuation of the gonome hamon into the boshi is identical with that of a wartime gendaito owned by a friend of mine. Before you delete me (joke) I hasten to add that the details you give could actually be used to describe his sword! The blade is by modern tosho Kaneko Magoroku. He signed "27th Generation Kanemoto" and is/was considered to be the continuation of Magoroku Kanemoto line in Seki. My point is...although your blade is so much earlier, it is a close fit with the work of a smith who presumably studied examples of, and worked in, the Magoroku Kanemoto tradition...so your estimation of possible Magoroku Kanemoto is quite understandable to me. I also hasten to add, that my friend's sword is the only example of 27 Kanemoto I have seen like this...his illustrated examples (eg Gendai Toko Meikan p.45) are suguba or slight notare with ashi.

I hope this comment is not considered too inappropriate to Nihinto studies.

Regards

George Trotter

[george trotter]

oops, sorry Ted, meant Roland...

Regards, George.

PS. love the boshi Roland

[Roland]

Hi Ted,

 

thanks a lot for your response. You are right about the rounded tops. And it's a pity that I have not yet received morte photos for appraising the hamon like this detail shot...

 

 

 

The others are more like this:

 

 

 

Even these bad pic show especially in the lower part of the hamon the valleys coming closer to the edge and a strong tendency to more pointed tops. But nevertheless the best idea would be to fly to Cornwall and inspect the blade personally! My friend is quite old and not able to handle a modern camera in the way a Nihonto addict is hoping for.

 

Hm, late Koto early Shinto Den Ganmaku indeed is a possibility I should think about.

 

Thanks a lot for your advise :-)

[Stephen]

it would be great to see the nakago.

[pcfarrar]

it would be great to see the nakago.

 

http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/swd6.html

[Stephen]

Thank you peter, Roland i think you should consider George's theory.

[Roland]

Hi Stephen and George,

 

thanks a lot for the advise again. So it would be the same as this blade at Nihontoantiques made by Kaneko Magoroku, one of the elders of sword smiths who inherited the Mino-style (especially the one of Magoroku Kanemoto) in modern times?

 

http://www.nihontoantiques.com/fss271.htm

 

Though it is just a theory at the moment, I have to consider this, indeed...

 

Hm, did modern Gendaito smiths dispense with signing their work and just produce mumei? I remember to have seen solely quite long and precisely chiseled mei like the one on the nakago of the Nihontoantiques' Kaneko Magoroku. Any idea about that?

[george trotter]

Hi Roland,

Yes, the link you give is this same smith, 27th Generation Kanemoto. He is in most modern books. Toko Taikan p.138 (million yen), Hawley KAN 1560/MAG 9 and Slough p.44. This modern smith is a graduate of Watanabe Kanenaga of Seki. His personal birth name was Kaneko Tatsuichiro , but he changed it to Kaneko Magoroku. He signed simply KANEKO, also MAGOROKU and also KANEMOTO and from 1944 he was made and signed 27th Generation KANEMOTO. Slough quotes a source that says he is a direct descendant of the TOKUIN School's KANEKO MAGOROKU (I don't know this reference/group) .

 

As to the matter of my "theory"...I mentioned this Kaneko to you based only on your boshi pic as you had originally thought your boshi pic looked possibly like Magoroku Kanemoto, I pointed out the similarity with the boshi of this modern Magoroku Kanemoto and that the blade details you gave sounded the same also. (I did not mean that your blade was modern, by this smith). ALL the wartime swords I have seen (4) are the same boshi/hamon as your first pics and this link you give here.....it also appears from your later pics that the hamon seems to be similar also, and also tang shape. This suggests that the wartime 27 Kanemoto was working from a similar tradition as your sword...I presume the Magoroku Kanemoto style... which was your original thought. Whether the sword you are interested in is by this modern man, I can't say from photos...but you need more study of both makers to check similarities or differences there. If your sword is definitely old, you need to check the Madoroku styles and if not them, then the other guys have made sound suggestions to check in the MINO tradition....a very big field.

 

Finally, it is always possible that a maker will not sign a sword...there are a lot of unsigned swords from all periods, including Showa. When I see good quality mumei swords I always wonder why it was not signed. I can't explain why.

Regards,

George.

[Roland]

Dear George,

 

your hint is absolutely correct and useful. And I now have a lot of interesting points for further investigation. As always it is fascinating to follow the historical development especially of the Mino style through the centuries. We'll see. The by Kanemoto inspired style had so much followers – Jumyo, Tashiro Gen-ichi Kanemoto, Tashiro Gen-ichi Kanenobu, Tashiro Kakubei Kanenobu, Mutsu no Kami Kanenobu, Mutsu no Kami Kanenaka, the Darani Katsukuni school in Kaga, Takada Yukinaga in Bungo and much more. The chance is big to get lost )

 

Thanks again for your inspiring look at this topic.