Please help.

[yf222000]

Hello.

I was wondering if your expertise could help me understand a bit more about this piece I have.

The nakago says "Dewa Kuni Gassan Mune Mitsu" There are clues on the blade that indicates

the traits of Yamamoto tradition. The hamon is Suguha and about 3 inches from the nakago,

it has this on the hamon, which indicates work from Mino. I have looked everywhere, but i could

not find any info on the signature at all. I really hope all of you gents could help. Thanks.

 

Neil.

[outlier48]

Neil - Not quite sure what you mean by "...understand a bit more..." - how 'bout pics of the nakago, kissaki, yokote and the entire blade, pehaps with a detailed description and some of the critical dimensions so there is something to go on?

 

Charlie Brashear

[yf222000]

Hi.

Sorry, i suck big time at photography and very new to Nihonto too, so bear with me. Here are the dimensions of the blade. There are no stamp of any type.

 

Length: 26

Sugata: Shinogi-Zukuri

Sori:Torii zori

Kissaki: Chu Kissaki

Hada: Masame

Hamon: Chu Suguha

Boshi: Kaeri Fukashi

Mune: Mune-Takashi

Nakago: Futsu Gata

Yasurime: Kesho Yasuri

 

Please excuse my not too good of the picture. Somehow, I just cant load more than one picture this time.. I would love to find out a little bit about this blade if any info is available. Doesn't seem to be the WW2 junk so far. Thanks again for the help gentlemen.

[Jean]

Neil,

 

Easier to enter your signature in your profile

 

You wrote :

 

Length: 26

Sugata: Shinogi-Zukuri

Sori:Torii zori

Kissaki: Chu Kissaki

Hada: Masame

Hamon: Chu Suguha

Boshi: Kaeri Fukashi

Mune: Mune-Takashi

Nakago: Futsu Gata

Yasurime: Kesho Yasuri

 

For someone new to Nihonto, and by the blade description you gave, you certainly learn faster than most newbies

 

I am a bit puzzled by the hada description Are you sure it is masame? pure masame is seldom encountered in Yamato tradition, if Gassan isn't it ayasugi? Except for Sendai school, Hosho school, pure masame is not frequently found

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

There are some who worked in pure masame during the Shinshinto era, such Gassan Sadakazu or Saito Kiyondo for example. However Masame does not lead towards Mino.

[pcfarrar]

I'm not certain its masame looks more like ko-itame

[John A Stuart]

This sword looks to have been rubbed hard with a low grade uchiko to bring out the hada since the polish is old. What appears masame look like scratches. I am not sure of itame, but, an itame/mokume hada seems possible when I squint hard enough. I surely can't see an ayasugi hada, although that is not definitive. This one may best be seen in hand due to condition issues. A look at the mei would be interesting. Backwards, I know. John

[yf222000]

Hello.

Well, the polish is not really that bad of a quality. However, since this is a study piece for me, so i won't

spend too much money on it yet.

 

Thank you for the compliment Jean. I am a newbie at this. I just spend a while and referred all the details and

physical characteristic of the blade to the connoisseur's book of Japanese swords by Kokan Nagayama. I know

it is extremely difficult to see the jihada. To the very limited knowledge and untrained eyes of mine, it seems like

Masame. When i look at it with the light shines at the Ji, the hada looks like thousands of straight lines running

from the nakago all the way to the yokote. I was just hoping to understand a little more about the maker of this.

Can't seem to be able to find anything about it. I had it looked at by a Japanese gentleman here and he says that

it may be made sometime in the late 1800 to 1900. No way to know or to confirm that. I just really hope that it is

not the WW2 junk that was stamped out of cheap steel for the war effort. Thank you for any and all the help gentlemen.

[Toryu2020]

I for one am curious to see the nakago,

The Meikan lists only one Gassan Munemitsu and he worked in the Tenbun era,

Doesn't mean some great grandson did not take the name in Showa.

 

Don't see anything wrong with your hamon, a fuchi does not always mean Mino and if I am not mistaken masame is the baseline hada that produces ayasugi so strong masame in the shinogi-ji would not necessarily be outside the possibilities.

 

What does the connoiseuers (sp?) book have to say about Sue-koto Gassan? I believe there is a small section on "other" schools...

 

-tom

[yf222000]

Hi Tom.

Here's the pic for the nakago. Hope it is clear enough. Thanks.

[pcfarrar]

Dewa kuni Gassan Munemitsu is a showa period smith. I don't believe he had any relationship to the Gassan school.

[Nobody]

From Showa Oshigata Database:

Ref. http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/munemit3.jpg

[Toryu2020]

Dewa kuni Gassan Munemitsu is a showa period smith. I don't believe he had any relationship to the Gassan school.

 

 

Thats pretty clear from the nakago,

one limitation of the Meikan there are few Showa smiths, obviously there was a revival of the earlier name as so often happened, I would have said a foreigner or a forger cut this mei if Moriyama san had not posted the link to another mei by this guy, very rough stuff...

 

-tom

[yf222000]

Hello.

 

Thank you for all of the help gentleman. Now that i know the blade was made by some unknown person.

At least it does not seems to be the mass made swords that flooded the county during the war.

[David Flynn]

(Yuki) MUNEMITSU, page 119 John Slough's book. Though it is signed the same, some characters and the shape of the nakago don't match. However, saying that, some smiths had more than one person signing their signature for them.