Bryce Posted October 25, 2023 Report Posted October 25, 2023 G'day Guys, I have spent the last few years studying swords by Gassan Sadakatsu. I thought I might post about a few of the things I have discovered so far. The earliest blade I have seen signed by Sadakatsu for his father Sadakazu was dated 1897 (Meiji 30). The earliest blade I have seen signed by Sadakatsu for his father, but includes his own name was dated 1906 (Meiji 39). The earliest blade I have seen where Sadakatsu signed for himself was dated 1915 (Taisho 4). Below are photos of these mei, and also blades dated 1921, 1938 and 1943 to demonstrate the subtle changes in the way Sadakatsu signed throughout his working life. Most of the photos are from AOIJapan, but the 1915 blade was sold by Henk at Bushidoshop.nl. All of the blades have NBTHK papers. Gassan Sadakatsu was very consistent in the way he signed, but you can see that the way he signed did change over time. I am confident that all of these mei were by him and not by any of his students. Cheers, Bryce 6 Quote
Brian Posted October 25, 2023 Report Posted October 25, 2023 Wonderful research Bryce. And will be very useful. You don't want to put that into a brief pdf so that I can add it to the downloads section for people to find in the future? Quote
DirkO Posted October 25, 2023 Report Posted October 25, 2023 On 10/25/2023 at 2:07 AM, Bryce said: Gassan Sadakatsu was very consistent in the way he signed, but you can see that the way he signed did change over time. I am confident that all of these mei were by him and not by any of his students. Expand Hi Bryce - what makes you so confident? I'm not asking this in a mean way - just want to see what features in the mei you use for defining them as Sadakatsu. I have literally 100+ of Sadakazu/Sadakatsu mei on file (not including my library) and I might be able to help out with examples. 1 Quote
Bryce Posted October 25, 2023 Author Report Posted October 25, 2023 G'day Brian, I will try to put it into a PDF when I get time. G'day Dirk, Below are some photos of Sadakazu mei where I have highlighted the things he consistently did different to Sadakatsu. I made these a while ago for my own notes and they were never meant for outside consumption. Cheers, Bryce 3 Quote
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