Tanto Gimei

[French nihonto]

Hello gentlemen. I recently acquired a tanto signed "Heianjyo Nagayoshi" obviously gimei, but the quality looked interesting. And a little bonus: a Torokusho Showa 26 certificate. 
The price wasn't too high, so I decided to take it as a study blade. 
Once in my hand, I have a feeling of Oei, or perhaps fine nanbokucho. 
I'm not in favour of signature overpressure but this time I think it could be beneficial for the blade (only fools don't change their mind). 
I'd like your thoughts on this piece? 
Nagasa : 28.1cm

sori : 0

[French nihonto]

[French nihonto]

[French nihonto]

[French nihonto]

[French nihonto]

[French nihonto]

[French nihonto]

[Brian]

Can see why you bought it, a really nicely made tanto in great polish.

[French nihonto]

Thanks Brian. Yes a tanto with a nakago with a nice black patina, a Showa 26, and a good polish. Despite the fake signature, the quality takes over. The question, is it so easy to remove the signature and what would be the result of a shinsa according to you? 

[Jussi Ekholm]

You made a nice find. I feel the research on the signature, and the whole item, is also warranted as there are several generations of Heianjō Nagayoshi. Here is quote from Seskos swordsmiths (I am not sure about the original source of this following information) for 4th gen Bunmei era Nagayoshi

 

  Quote

tantō have a rather narrow mihaba and no or very little sori, the jigane is a dense and beautifully forged itame which can also stand out, the hamon is a suguha mixed with ko-gunome in nioi-deki, but also a gunome-midare in ko-nie-deki is seen

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I know it is said in most (pretty much all) sources that there are no extant blades by 1st generation. However there is a 1339 dated katana in the collection of Kunōzan Tōshōgu Museum.

 

For me it is way too difficult to differentiate various Muromachi period Heianjō Nagayoshi. However there is some variation in signatures that are authenticated.

[Matsunoki]

To my eyes, that Mei looks to have been on that nakago for a very very long time. Personally I wouldn’t dream of removing it . Jussi’s advise above is spot on (as usual!)

[NewB]

I do see a lot of resemblance of Kinju in that hada. That’s just a total rookie statement 

 

I love the quality and I wouldn’t remove the signature unless shinsa is mandatory for you

 

j

[French nihonto]

  On 5/6/2024 at 5:31 PM, Jussi Ekholm said:

Vous avez fait une belle trouvaille. Je pense que la recherche sur la signature, et l'ensemble de l'article, est également justifiée car il y a plusieurs générations de Heianjō Nagayoshi. Voici une citation de Seskos swordsmiths (je ne suis pas sûr de la source originale de cette information suivante) pour la 4e génération de l'ère Bunmei Nagayoshi

 

 

Je sais qu'il est dit dans la plupart des sources (à peu près toutes) qu'il n'y a pas de lames existantes par la 1ère génération. Cependant, il y a un katana daté de 1339 dans la collection du musée Kunōzan Tōshōgu.

 

Pour moi, il est beaucoup trop difficile de différencier les différentes périodes Muromachi Heianjō Nagayoshi. Cependant, il y a une certaine variation dans les signatures qui sont authentifiées.

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Thank you all for your answers. 
Yes, indeed, Jussi. That's what I saw, and I have to admit that a lot of the characteristics match, the Jigane is really magnificent. 
As for the signature, even if it looks old compared to the patina of the whole, it seems clumsy to me. The problem is that there aren't many examples of signatures from any generation on the net. Does anyone have a book with more examples? 
Another interesting Kantei point that I hadn't noticed at first (shame on me) is that the Sengo school is known to have an identical or almost identical Hamon on omote and ura. 
After checking, can we talk about quasi-symmetry in this case? 

[NewB]

That’s why I love Muramasa

 

no pun intended

 

 

j