Hiromitsu Ko-Wakizashi

[pcfarrar]

Anyone have any thoughts on this mei?

 

I wondered if it could be a later generation Soshu Hiromitsu, 6th or 7th perhaps? The blade is a wide hira-zukuri ko-wakizashi with hitatsura hamon.

 

Sorry for the poor photos.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[outlier48]

Hi Peter - I am very new to all of this so I could be way off the mark. I found several smiths under this name but could not find one that was reported to have used a niji mei. I think one of the Hiromitsu smiths from Sagami (Soushu) used the mei - 相州住廣光作. Also, you may be correct about a later generation smith - the nakago seems to me be in nearly "pristine" condition. BTW - any pics of the other (ura?) side of the nakago?

 

Hopefully those on the board with more knowledge and experience than I have will comment on your question and thereby enhance my level of understanding.

 

Charlie Brashear

[Renato]

Hi Peter

I have a short blade with the mei Soshu Ju Hiromitsu, but the characters are a little bit different. Also the mei of first generation Hiromitsu in Fujishiro Nihon toko jiten is quite different.

I think Your blade is surely a Koto Soshu school for the hamon and the shape of nakago and Hitatsura is typical of Hiromitsu ( but there were several generations of this smith).

[pcfarrar]

Thought I'd bring an old thread back as I'm still no further understanding this blade. I suspect it is gimei but I'm not certain on the age, any thoughts of whether this could be Muromachi period?

 

The nagasa is 14.5". It was brought back by a British Colonel during WW2 along with an Osaka Sukehiro katana in gunto mounts that is now in the collection of the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds. It had been used for many years to chop firewood by the veteran and his family (no joke).

[Jamie]

Peter,

I have masahiro sunobi tanto with very similar nakago and sugata. It is muramachi. The patina on your nakago looks very similar to mine from pictures.

Hope that might help in some way

[Darcy]

I agree. Looks like Hiromasa / Masahiro / Tsunahiro work.

 

Should try to paper it regardless.

[Guido]

Judging from the pictures the Hamon is mainly Nioi-based, so this points either to Sue-Sôshû or Owari-Seki. The Nakago might be altered, but doesn't look Sôshû to me, and late Muromachi blades should also have a pronounced Sakizori. I therefore think it's a Gimei Owari-Seki sword, FWIW.

[Jean]

I tend to agree with Guido for other reasons, FWIW, the hitasura of this blade dos not look sue Soshu but rather Bizen or Mino. Taking into account, the suguta of the blade, I should go to Mino.

 

I had a Tsunahiro, I got from Big Mo, the hitatsura does not show these big rounded tobiyaki. Late Soshu hitatsura shows often crescent tobiyaki.

 

PS: As usual there are always exceptions.

[pcfarrar]

I was thinking along the lines of Shimada school so its good to hear that other people had similar thoughts.

[Darcy]

  Quote

I had a Tsunahiro, I got from Big Mo, the hitatsura does not show these big rounded tobiyaki. Late Soshu hitatsura shows often crescent tobiyaki.

 

Just bear in mind that Tsunahiro is any one of a grab bag of guys.

 

I was just looking at a Juyo one that had a pattern similar to this blade and quite unlike the one that Mo had.

 

Worth giving it a shot and when it fails, remove the mei and try again.

[Jorgensen]

Well... hamon and boshi leads my thought to the one I posted recently here on the board:

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12619

 

-Jimi

[pcfarrar]

Thought I might as well update this old post. I submitted it for shinsa in Japan as I didn't want to have the mei removed without confirmation it was definitely gimei, it failed but was advised to have it removed and resubmit. So after having the mei removed, I resubmitted and it came back as Sandai Soshu Tsunahiro.