Modern Swords and Fittings

[tetsugendo11]

For Mr. Jean:

My take on modern swords and tosogu.

Personally I love all swords and kodogu, regardless of age or school. However, I prefer Koto Soshu, and Higo Kinko as some of my favorites, bit that doesn’t deter me from appreciating or collecting modern swords or fittings. In turn, I was probably one of the top importers of modern swords in the US in the past 5 years. I even bought the tokusho (NBTHK contest winner sword for modern Tosho) of Okubo Wahei (Kazuhira) that was polished by living national treasure Honnami Nisshu. And yes it is true that I also feel that modern artist are under appreciated in the sword world, especially outside of Japan. So I have spent the last 6 years or so trying to show people outside of Japan the high quality that the shinsakuto makers have achieved in making their blades. I have not yet have had the time to fully appreciate the modern fittings makers as much as I would have liked to yet, but I do own 2 pieces in my collection as examples of good work by a modern fittings artist. One tsuba (pic uploaded) is by Naruki Issei, iron sukashi with Bonji, iron resembling that of good Owari. The other is by the well known Tosho Yoshindo Yoshihara (a friend of mine), a Tosho tsuba made with excellent iron with fantastic sukashi work. I received this tsuba as a prize at last years convention when I placed 2nd in the NBTHK Ippon nyusatsu kantei challenge. I really like this tsuba and it rivals any other Tosho tsuba that I have had in hand. I wish they gave tsubas as prizes when I won the contest in 2001!!!! I have since given this tsuba to my oldest son as he has shown an appreciation of tsuba recently. I have also just bought a sword by Nisshu Kunimasa for his 15th birthday done in the style of Osafune Chogi. A very beautiful sword that I used for a kantei challenge at the local club meeting. Many thought the blade was a Juyo Koto blade. I own presently 5 modern blades and 2 tsuba, but I hope to buy something else in the near future.

Ok, here we go…I believe that modern artist cannot become exceptional in their work if they continue to do utsushi (copies of older masterpieces). By keep doing this, they will lack the life they need to input into an original piece of their own. Masters such as Ichijo, Natsuo, Somin, who broke away from the stiff tradition made by the mainline Goto, to do their own pieces their way, with their ideas are masters because they did what they did. Japanese have always been known to take something good, and make it even better. This I believe are the ideals of a master.That is why Sukehiro is considered a master when one see his original hamon of toranba., Masamune, by creating his own original style…pioneers, all of them, the modern artist need such a thing in their ranks, they have the talent, I believe they are skilled enough, but can they once again break from tradition to create a new original style? One thing that I have noticed in my studies of the sword and fittings, is that masterpiece works do have “life” to them, that is what separates them from all the rest. That is why I also believe that there has only been one Ningen Kokuho (Living National Treasure ) modern tosogu artist.

I also wonder how many members of the NMB Actually, have modern pieces in their collection?

A good sword is a good sword!

Mike Yamasaki

[Jean]

Mike,

 

Foreword : One cannot generalized saying that craftsmanship nowadays will never equals the past one. There are thousands of counter examples, because people mistake craftsmanship for mastery

 

I entirely agree with what you are saying and there is no contradiction with what I said.

 

Modern Craftsmen can be very good/excellent and equal masterpiece in there tecnical making, it has been done in all art sections and all countries -

 

Opinions on whether, copy/fake are art or not, are controversary. Some says that to be able to achieve perfect fakes (misleading even experts upto certification) of great names makes a faker a great artist because he has not only mastered the technic but also the spirit of the master he has copied, other says no.

 

My feeling on the subject is that technically, nowadays top craftmen are no better or worse than in the past and I agree with you that best craftsmanship does not necessarily make someone a master in terms of creativity.

 

 

Craftsmanship and mastery must not been mistaken

 

Concerning fakes : The perfect fake is the one nobody is aware of

[John A Stuart]

Hi Mike, I remember the presentation; a satisfying moment, eh? Anyhow I fully endorse the modern smiths and their endeavours and leave the art question for those who focus on semantics to discuss. For, if a craftsman or artist tries to innovate a new style and fails to bring his creative products to commercial acclaim does it mean he has failed or have we? Look at the appreciation some artists get only after they have died. That being said, can the derivative artist be denied the right to call his work art because it doesn't challenge established norms? Thinking of the Shirobei line for example. Anyhow that prize tsuba looks very nice. John

[Jean]

John wrote :

 

the art question for those who focus on semantics to discuss

 

Thanks John to give me the opportunity to clear things

 

I apologize to seem being semantic, probably due to my poor knowledge of English idioma but in French, we are very precised to avoid any misunderstading : a craftsman is merely an artist (whatever his level) in no way a master. In French, very very few craftsmen have the right to be called masters

[John A Stuart]

Hi Jean, No dig at you in my previous reply intended. An high level of artistic merit defines the master but, who ascribes this merit? Most art critics are failed artists (not all) and their expertise is used to sway our definition of high art sometimes with agendas of their own particularly when they themselves are a particular artists patron. Always has been the way of it. Current fashion in art and so on. My post was only to mention that some artists follow closely their teachers/ family/ school formulae and may thus be considered derivitive and still produce high art and be masters within their tradition. I think here of some masters who produced one formulaic type of work and could be considered derivitive of themselves for commercial reasons. Except for a few eccentrics, producing art for sale was a job like any other and the constraint of monetary success limited their producing work of imagination. Leaving aside the dilletante artist who had other sources of income. John

[Jean]

I know John but it was the occasion for me to precise my thoughts :D :D

 

Now I have a question (it is a question and I have no answer)

 

Artist ranking system (Mukansa ...) depends on the result of NBTHK yearly competition results over several years. What are the chances of obtaining a prize if the work presented differs totally from what is usually presented in the competition? In short, how total innovation would be welcomed by the Jury? Has it already been done and what was the result?

[reinhard]

I believe that modern artist cannot become exceptional in their work if they continue to do utsushi By keep doing this, they will lack the life they need to input into an original piece of their own.

A good sword is a good sword!

 

Bereft of its original purpose in modern society ShinsakuTo is an endangered species. From an artistic point of view ShinsakuTo must find new ways to go. Copying old masterpieces is obsolete. Composing like Mozart or painting like Rembrandt doesn't make sense in a time when artists are just a click or a phone call away from knowledge unavailable to old masters. All art is bound to its time and its limits. Great artists break these limits by ingenuity, not by collecting informations.

 

Considering NihonTo a weapon in the first place, even nowadays, it should be made of hitec material cutting through forged steel like butter. But then who cares.

 

reinhard

[Ted Tenold]

I agree with you on this subject Reinhard, and Mike, Jean, and John, all make good points as well. It's a difficult subject to address. By straying from the very pathways of what is considered "tradition", the craft does change and evolve. However, when one examines past evolutions, we might see a forecast of opinions that will be expressed if modern swordsmiths migrate toward (given the creative license) more contemporaneity in their works and start to emigrate out of the box. As mentioned by Mike, Sukehiro's toranba is considered to be mastery, but arguably there are still those that advocate Koto over Shinto. A smith today that attempts evolutionary individualism in a sword can be viewed with a furrowed brow. By example, The Craft of the Japanese Sword documents Yoshindo Yoshihara's so called "Pink Panther" horimono was a stray from traditional expression that drew some negetivity as it was not a design associated with swords. This was just a small step away in decorative design. Imagine what scrutiny might arise against unique forging or heat treating. While smiths do have the ability to experiment and research, it seems limited to the spirit and pursuit of lost knowledge, rather than discovery of new. Also, when put to the test as weapons, often the "new" and "new new" swords didn't stand up to the task, so the gain of new expression in craft could be seen as a loss in the function of the tool. Function vs. aesthetics was lost to a greater extent during the shinto and shinshinto periods because fashion did play so much part in the crafts. Old masters sought certain features that were testimony to the weapon's durability, and then strived to recreate them. Connoisseurs were then taught to seek these visible features as they comprised the elements of a good sword. Function, with notable exceptions in works such those by Kotetsu, Tadayoshi, Kaga smiths, etc., fell by the wayside with fashionable and individual expressions. I think the apprehension in fostering more contemporary…shall we say “deviation”…is predicated on this both position of function and traditional maintainance.

 

As far as collectors and connoisseurs are concerned, personal preference certainly is the major influence. I believe we could better define collectors and/or connoisseurs into catagories of "traditionalists" or "patrons". Traditionalists want expressions of the ancient to continue, and rightfully so because who would want to see yet another extinction of a craft? Patrons in general, want what the artist is not only capable of, but want what that artist wants to create, and be damned with everything else. Artists such as Ichijo and Natsuo could only come to full bloom with the support of such patrons that desired their inspired works that were enthusiastically created. Afterall, there was no shortage of makers willing to copy other old styles and masters.

 

 

Considering NihonTo a weapon in the first place, even nowadays, it should be made of hitec material cutting through forged steel like butter. But then who cares.

 

Well in short, martial artists do. As a person that wears “two hats” in this craft, I must say that martial artists overwhelmingly are most concerned with the weapons function and durability rather than its aesthetic qualities. There’s an attitude of “It’s pretty, but can it cut??” and this attitude is present inside as well as outside Japan. Collectors place far less emphasis on function and more on beauty, but if it’s rated as as “very sharp” or has a saidanmei then that’s an added bonus. :D The context of performance is where modern swords made outside Japan and traditional crafts have a distinct advantage. They are not held to rigid doctrine and conversely, are a product of modern materials and science that provide proformance characteristics that traditional crafts are incapable of providing. BUT, at a price, and this is where the rubber meets the road; they therefore sacrifice not only a major part (if not nearly all) of tradition, but also influence the tradition they aid to keep, i.e. the martial art of the swordsman. A sword that will not bend, and breaks under only extreme (in some, more than could be deemed “reasonable”) duress, changes the way the swordsman wields the weapon and by alleviating concerns ancient swordsman must always have connsidered. As a result, the modern swordsman may implement the weapon either conciously or unconciously, in a manner inconsistent with feudal practitioners. So the implementation of a change, imparts subsequent change(s), intended or not. Good?? Yes. Bad?? Yes. It’s change, meaning it’s give *and* take. But change for what? More beautiful things? Better weapons?? Both??

 

I can empathize with all sides. I love to see Shinsakuto recreations of fantastic works from the old masters, and have seen some absolutely brilliant achievements. I also like to see some individual expression on the part of any craftsman or artist and what inspires and drives them. Also, I enjoy watching the swordsman practice his or her art and do so with a durable and safe weapon that they can rely on for a lifetime, without compromising the old swords we all so hold dear that no longer should be a part of action, and have earned their retirement. Striving for all these things might be a bold endeavor, but that, in my opinon, is a change worth pursuing.

[Jean]

Ted, you are right in saying that swordsmithing can only progree/change/evove if there are patrons/sponsors.

 

How do you get a license to be accepted as sworsmith?

How do you make a living?

Why are swordsmiths competing in NBTHK yearly competition?

 

Smithing is drawn by the market/taste and the tendency is not for evolution/revolution considering that it is very difficult to make a living as swordsmith. Some very good smiths are doing swords on demand (always traditional). Compare the price of a shinsakuto to a TH blade. You' ll find it easier to get a TH koto blade that a shinsakuto that you'll have to wait for months and at a higher price.

 

Reinhard is right but it is not heading this way

[Ted Tenold]

Jean,

 

Very true, and I understand what you say. Some Mukansa works are priced higher than nice Juyo, and that also is a barrier, because I have heard this objection personally; "Why would I pay $65,000.00 for a copy of an Ichimonji when I could by an Ichimonji?" It's as much a problem with collectors and patrons as it is the craft itself. If a sword with unique characteristics and features is shown, perhaps it is too hard to place in the "catagories" that collectors are trained to see and seek by preference.

 

I don't have the answer. What I can say is that any smith that seeks to work in individuality, in a craft that resists radical change, and in a culture that seeks social cohesion over the independant nature, has a great challenge and must find a very big sweet spot to accomodate a greater acceptance (and thus authentication and validation) of their work. As an example, I listen to the Yoshida Brothers quite a bit. Some may recognize their Shamisen music from the Wii video game commercial (a piece called "Kodo (inside the sun remix) ). They are quite adept at the traditional pieces normally associated with Shamisen, yet opened a new generation of followers to the instrument by incorporating new music gendre with Shamisen to develop a radical approach to the instrument, while also regenerating faith that old ways can be carried on by new generations. Their concerts draw young and old alike and their music accepted by both, *and* other cultures as well. Twenty or more years ago, if someone were to say that Shamisen would be conbined with Blues, Rock, or Folk music compositions, eyes would roll. Yet, it was done in a manner of virtuosity. Radical, risky, and brave on the part of the brothers.

 

Anyways, I don't want to lead the topic astray from swords to music, but it is the nearest comparison I can come up with.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Anyways, I don't want to lead the topic astray from swords to music, but it is the nearest comparison I can come up with.

 

I don't think you're driving us off-topic. On the contrary, I find interesting the association music-swords.

It made me think about the audience and the mean thru which the artists express themselves.

I think, in some way, steel is an harder mean of expression then music. Expression thru a bar of steel forged as a sword following the traditional rules can surely give you a certain number of different combinations, but how many of these combinations have already been explored in 1000 years ? Damn, even with music we're now experiencing problems with the possible combinations.

Are the rules too stricts ? If we amend rules to help "changes", the traditional work (already endangered) may be at risk of extinction.

And as per changes... Are you sure they're not already happened *outside* the NihonTo world, to avoid such rules ? Surely, Rock-n-Roll would have been perceived as nonsense by Bach or Listz. So are now cable-steel based replicas of Katana with their "icy" appearance. Totally "Heretic" (sorry Ford :D ) nonetheless fascinating, even if not following the traditional rules.

The "pink panther"... We both know a "Ryu" hiding into an electric blue Saya... Fantastic work, new as idea but would it be considered an evolution or an heresy if made by a Japanese on a Japanese made Saya ?

Limits to changes are the rules, the audience or the mean ? Or all three ?

I've too much yet to explore in the traditional to worry about need of changes in this craft, so I'm quiet happy to call me out from your troubles.

[Bob M.]

Old versus new is a debate that has gone on probably since the days of cave painters . A few points that occur :

 

Pace of change appears to depend on popular acceptance - in music , compare the rapid changes occuring in the 'music of the people' through music hall, ragtime, jazz , etc etc., to the much slower changes in opera , the preferred option of the upper classes . This can be seen as a parallel to Nihonto where the elite of Japanese society more or less dictated ( by their patronage ) developments in sword style . The majority of sword users would have had very little say in the type of blades that they could either afford or were issued with .

 

Modern swordsmiths/fittings makers have the same problems as their predecessors - they have to produce commercially viable items . I am certain that a lot of the modern artists would be willing to make more experimental pieces but ultimately take the tried and tested route . There seems to be a strange paradox that those most able financially to take chances ( mukansa level and above ) are almost stopped by their status from doing so .

Also the amount of money that they would require for making a 'non-typical' piece means that this type of work would not be in the public arena - therefore much less chance of widespread acceptance .

 

Can we break out of the spiral ?

As collectors , do we want to ?

[Jean]

Ted and Bob, you are right, first mentality must changed - and it is a very slow process - unless some kind of revolution happens.

 

3 weeks ago, I went with Marc Broquin to an Arm fair dedicated to mostly knifes and axes.

 

I bought a small pocket knife from a Japanese smith, I had the choice between 5 different kind of steel and do you guess the one I choose : the one made traditionally as tanto .

 

I know, I am an old f..

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I'm always stunned when i see someone comparing a weapon, even a nihontô, with music or painting. Music says something my grandmother who was a concertist always said to me "close your eyes and listen attentively, you will see that music says".

When i look at a Van-Gogh (dear to Jean) for example i can see his tortured soul through his works.

 

 

 

Can it be the same with a nihontô? I don't *think* so.

 

Below, exactly that makes a compositor, are you able to savour it? :lol:

 

[paulb]

Dear Jacques,

As an old tortured soul I have to say I 180 degree totally disagree with you. I am a great lover of music, and especially painting. I am not ashamed to say that I have been moved to tears on occassion when hearing or viewing works I regard as particularly meaningful or powerful

I have experienced similar feeling when looking at some, certainly not all, swords. The craftmanship, the landscape created by the foriging and tempering can and do have a profound effect as can some abstract paintings and sculpture. I can name examples

1. katana blade by Shinkai where the steel created a 3 dimensional quality where you felt you were looking through ice on a pool

2. A shikkake blade that created an incredibly serene landscape as the activity ran almost organically through the hamon

3. A Chu-Aoe blade that was just beautiful

4. An Awataguchi Tachi that was as near to perfection as I am ever likely to see.

 

So I absolutely understand the comparison with art and music, particularly painting it is one I have and will continue to use without any concern or doubt.

There of course other swords that simply move one to tears for totally other reasons! but that is another story.

Regards

paul

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I understand what you mean.

But a compositor or a painter can describe an atmosphere, or to deliver a message through his work. He has an intention to show/say something that can be religious or political etc..., in an other side, the first purpose of a sword is efficacy (have you ever wondered yourself why Shinto smiths invented the straight yakidashi)? Yes some smiths highly talented can be called artists as well like the "meilleur ouvrier de France" (best workman in France), but they cannot be compared with painters or compositor or in this case we should compare them with writers too.

 

Personally in matter of comparison i find the "lace of Calais", cabinet-making or stone cutting more comparable with nihontô than music or painting.

[paulb]

I can understand your comparison. I think the difference in thinking relates to appreciating technical efficiency, and at what point if any that technical ability moves from competent craftsmanship to art.

A comparison in painting might be the superb technical victorian painters of the 19th century who while competent never transended the barrier to become true artists.

I think there are similar parallels in swords. However I am beginning to sound like the left wing aging hippy vegetarian dope addled thinkers I keep criticsing for hijacking threads!!

[Eric H]

...but can they once again break from tradition to create a new original style?

 

A curious request Modern Japanese swordsmiths, what's their goal?...to keep sword forging alive in the traditional ways, handed over hundred of years by the different schools and respective craftsmen. A life dedicated to master an art, requiring long years of hard work, striving to come close to perfection in this field. The frame of sword forging is narrow, materials and methods are known and should result in high performance of craftsmanship and artistic understanding. Anyone can master a technique if he makes the necessary efforts during the required time, but only a master can make a masterpiece. The sword as "the soul of..." plays a too important role in Japan's history, for which reason any dubious changements shoud be strictly avoided. The sword as a weapon and work of art in this context cannot be surpassed.

 

THE NIPPONTO IS SAID TO HAVE VIRTUALLY NO PARALLEL IN ANY OTHER FORMS OF ART MADE OF IRON

The shinsakuto is in no case "obsolete".

 

Eric

[Ted Tenold]

Jacques,

 

I disagree with your view on music and Nihonto, but despite that, you have missed the fact that I was not making direct comparison of sword to music. I did not say that one can hear Bach by looking at Yoshihiro. I was comparing the changes and development of a particular traditional artisitic medium that propogated a broader acceptance and encouraged it's continued cultural survival. Of course your Grandmother would also never dispute the changes in music over the centuries.

 

By the way, the score you posted is meaningless to someone who does not read and understand music. However, a trained musician, conductor, or composer will immediately understand the gravity of the piece, it's message, and the emotion it imparts without a single note played on an instrument. It's not the sheet that is the music. The sheet is a tool. It's the manner in which the tool serves it's purpose and how the message is delivered, and that is closer to the message here about Nihonto and what we're actually talking about. So with all due respect to your Grandmother, perhaps she never saw a Nihonto worth listening to.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

you have missed the fact that I was not making direct comparison of sword to music.

 

Ted, guess weren't you the target...

But I like alot the "Nihonto worth listening to" matter.

[Ted Tenold]

Eric,

 

Perhaps we should ask; "Where *can* it go?" Over those hundreds of years the sword has evolved, for better and for worse, the dominant context was creating a weapon. Smiths training and working in this tradition today seem tethered to expresssions of the past. Warfare, social, political, and economic changes drove the evolution of the sword to it's variety of styles as a weapon and symbol of status and/or social rank, but always as a weapon first and foremost. Today's world reorganizes the sword's priority to art over weapon, instead of the feudal priority of weapon over art. Today's world cannot influence a change in a weapon that has no real place in everyday society, so logically the function of this art (so to speak) is deminished to nearly zero. Arguably, smiths want to create excellent weapons that exhibit beauty, but again, hindered by any real demand to go in another direction, their approaches to their craft are somewhat limited to being held in the light of their forebears. Perhaps this is the very direction it will continue to go for a very long time. What some might call perpetuation, others might call stagnation. Personally, I think maintaining tradition and innovating techniques and styles are both important as long as the former is never sacrificed for the latter.

[Jean]

We could even open a new post : "Of the influence of Shintoism on swordsmithing evolution" ...

[nagamaki - Franco]

Warfare, social, political, and economic changes drove the evolution of the sword to it's variety of styles as a weapon and symbol of status and/or social rank, but always as a weapon first and foremost. Today's world reorganizes the sword's priority to art over weapon, instead of the feudal priority of weapon over art.

 

We have a B-I-N-G-O!

 

Nihonto are a product of its environment.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

What some might call perpetuation, others might call stagnation. Personally, I think maintaining tradition and innovating techniques and styles are both important as long as the former is never sacrificed for the latter.

 

I think this is entirely possible, but guess, in the ongoing global village, the subdivision in different sectors as "traditional" and "modern" might be unavoidable.

 

 

The Japanese situation is not the only one around the world, even if surely the most valuable in therms of cultural and economic importance. Italian bladesmithing is also endangered but still resists thru both maintaining traditions and historical accuracy for the purists and producing entirely new models for modernists.

 

 

 

 

But there is always a need for borders. Otherwise hybridation would kill the real thing...

 

 

 

 

[Eric H]

"Where *can* it go?"

Ted,

First, which opinion in regard of this have those who are directly involved, namely the modern swordsmiths?

New ways:

of what kind... eventually change the unique shape, always adapted in the history by practical constraints, or the unique feature of the hardened edge... these components belong inseparably to the sword, if modified, it's no longer a Nihonto. Creating new hada's? I don't believe that this would be possible or even desirable. Making a sword of stainless steel? Absurd.

innovating techniques and styles

The only concession until now made by modern swordsmiths is the use of a motor-driven hammer. In fact, the smith's work can in no way be replaced by a "modern technique" unless there is a robot in his place.

In the modern scientific metallurgy it's possible to compose steels in all nuances for every purpose, but this highly developed technique is not capable to create a Nihonto in all it's functionality and beauty.

Is there really a urgent want to abandon best practices obtained over hundreds of years? I think NO.

That panther horimono, though perfectly executed, could be considered as an approach to modern taste, perhaps it was made on demand. Next step could be a client who orders a Nihonto with horimono of a naked woman.

Carlo, thank you for the pics, a contrast bath of "newly felt" kinjal's, ken's, oriental daggers.

Eric

[Curran]

Mike,

 

Thank you for the interesting post. Attached is a modern I enjoyed owning for a while. It is a copy of a Tokubetsu Juyo Nobuiye.

 

I value these gentlemen expressing themselves in new forms, but in my particular case just wanted to own a very well done copy of something where I doubt I will ever see the original.

 

Curran