Harima Shigetaka mei

[Ron M]

Hello again, I am looking at this katana, mei is obviously Harima Daijo Fujiwara Shigetaka. Echizen Ju on reverse. So far it does appear to show the basic “up sweep” in the atari points. Also, it looks as though it is written well and comfortably with nice shaping.

please share your thoughts and thank you

[Geraint]

Dear Ron.

 

What follows is purely personal observation, take it with a pinch of salt.  There are quite a few Shigetaka blades available to check this with.  As I understand it we are essentially looking at first and second generation Shigetaka, sources mention that the Harima Daijo title lasted to the third but I have not come across this third generation.  The mei of the shodai is described as wide, in other words the kanji are rather spreading sideways, whereas the nidai is described as more vertical.  Both have distinctive 'handwriting', I find the nidai especially notable in this case.

 

So, to your sword.  First off we don't have the whole sword or even the whole nakago to work with so any clues from them are absent.  First observation, the nakago appears to have quite a bit of age to it and the mei seems rather faint in its cutting, I can't see any tagane makura.  There may be yasurime but I can't make them out.

 

Second, as you look at papered mei note that they seem to be pretty uniform in starting just next to the mekugi ana, some swords exist with rather a lot of information on the nakago but in your case I would expect to see the mei starting just to the lower right of the mekugi ana.

 

Third, the handwriting.  Yours certainly does not look like the nidai to my eye.  I am looking particularly at the Taka kanji as it's the one I can see clearly.  The lower section is quite distinctive in the ni dai with a consistent curve to the stroke at the right; this as absent in yours.  The shodai tends to have a very straight horizontal stroke here, again yours does not.  

 

My conclusion, and please remember it is only mine, would be that this is not what it purports to be.  As always this does not mean it is not a good sword.

 

I am sure that others will chime in here and of course the ultimate test would be to send it for shinsa, personally I would save my money on that idea with this sword.

 

All the best.

[DRDave]

 Here is a Shigetaka (2 gen) listed by Aoi Art years ago that was said to have been owned by Takasugi Shinsaku.