Looking for high rez pics of Soshu Yukimitsu (Kamakura) katana/tachi

Lewis B · June 5

I've looked everywhere online and I can only find low rez pics of his long swords. Tantos are quite common but of limited use for study. I would like to find some pics showing Hada and hataraki as part of my due diligence into this smith. Darcy had some but those are currently unavailable. If anyone has a link it would be much appreciated.

Ray Singer · June 5

https://web.archive....yukimitsu/index.html

Ray Singer · June 5

https://web.archive....kimitsu-2/index.html

Lewis B · June 5

Thanks Ray,

Good detailed descriptions but pics were not available to me. Are you able to access them?

Tsuku · June 5

Quote

Tantos are quite common but of limited use for study.

I am not sure why you think this.

Regardless, you could do worse than starting with Dmitry Pechalov's Sōshū-den Museum page for Yukimitsu.

Lewis B · June 5

4 minutes ago, Tsuku said:

I am not sure why you think this.

Regardless, you could do worse than starting with Dmitry Pechalov's Sōshū-den Museum page for Yukimitsu.

Well obviously sugata and boshi characteristics are very different and these are often characteristic for the smith. Thanks for the link. Thats another book I need to acquire, but it's so expensive.

nulldevice · June 6

Ive got a number of good reference pics in my library but they’re not digital. Let me look at them when I get home

nulldevice · June 6

@Lewis B

I don't have a way to get the high quality photos from my books on here and preserve the resolution. But aside from the link from Lewis above, I have 4 katana references to Yukimitsu that are unique from the 3 in that link.

I'll attach the pictures for one of the entries and if you want the rest, just let me know and I can get them to you.

In the 4 references I have, 2 of them refer to Itame-hada and the other 2 refer to Konuka-hada with all 4 mentioning ji-nie and 2 of them referencing jifu.

Hope this helps a bit.

Ray Singer · June 6

I have a photo of one sword from my archives of Darcy's website

Jussi Ekholm · June 6

Unfortunately I am not aware of single signed tachi by Yukimitsu. It is super common Sōshū problem that signed tachi are extremely rare.

There is actually a signed and dated (1271) Yukimitsu tachi but I do believe it is not "the" Yukimitsu the famous one but an earlier smith. Unfortunately I have very little info on this sword.

For me the problem in this case is that the reference works are already unsigned to begin with.

nulldevice · June 6

1 hour ago, Jussi Ekholm said:

Unfortunately I am not aware of single signed tachi by Yukimitsu. It is super common Sōshū problem that signed tachi are extremely rare.

There is actually a signed and dated (1271) Yukimitsu tachi but I do believe it is not "the" Yukimitsu the famous one but an earlier smith. Unfortunately I have very little info on this sword.

For me the problem in this case is that the reference works are already unsigned to begin with.

I've got 6 references of Yukimitsu work. 2 tanto that are both signed, 4 tachi/katana that are all mumei

Rivkin · June 6

I think accepted dated works are all from books (oshigata). Typically 1304-1338 range is being cited.

It is not well understood how to interpret Den examples with o kissaki and wide mihaba which might suggest 1350-1360 range: there are no second generation signatures known.

Brano · June 6

If it helps, here are HiRes photos of the blade that is Den Soshu Yukimitsu

https://eu.zonerama....ihonto/Album/8848611

Lewis B · June 6

Those images are exactly what I'm looking for , especially the detailed shots under different lighting conditions. I wonder what aspect of the blade moved it into Den territory.

Brano · June 7

"Den" occurs much more often than many might think
First of all, it is necessary to understand what Den actually means
This topic has been here several times
However, many still perceive it as something negative
I hope this article by Robert Benson explaining Tanobe-sensei's interpretation will help

Den - Tanobe point of view.pdf

Brano · June 7

Back to this particular blade
I bought the blade from a prominent Japanese collector who had it in his custody for over 50 years
I know from him that he bought the blade in the late 60's with Tokubetsu Hozon papers and Taima attribute
Then I found this blade in Kanto HibiSho and that helped clear up what happened
In 1970, Dr.Homma sayagaki wrote Den Yukimitsu

His private notes are as follows:

normal mihaba and kissaki, high shinogi, noticeable hira-niku. The kitae is an itame that features ji-nie and prominent chikei. The hamon is a nie-laden suguha that is mixed with some notare, ko-midare, ashi, strongly sparkling ara-nie, many hotsure and sunagashi, and kinsuji, which tend to nagare. The bōshi is nie-laden as well, runs out as yakitsume, and displays some nijūba and hakikake. In terms of sugata and hamon, the blade would attribute to a top tier Yamato smith, but because of the so prominent chikei, also Yukimitsu (行光) comes to mind. In case the blade is indeed a Yamato work, there existed a tendency in the past to attribute such works to Taima (当麻), but signed works from this school, e.g., by Kuniyuki (国行), do not show that many hataraki in the jiba as seen here. The blade is certainly a meitō, and I would like to consider my attribution even more carefully at some point in the future

In 1971, the blade was presented to Juyo Shinsa and passed Den Yukimitsu

Subsequently, in 2004, it was presented to TJ Shinsa and the setsumei states the following:

Keijō: shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, relatively wide mihaba, high shinogi, due to the ō-suriage a shallow sori, chū-kissaki

Kitae: overall excellently forged itame with nagare towards the ha and featuring plenty of ji-nie and much chikei

Hamon: ko-nie-laden chū-suguha-chō with with a wide nioiguchi that tends slightly towards a gently undulating notare and that is mixed with gunome, hotsure, nijūba, kinsuji, and plenty of sunagashi

Bōshi: sugu with hakikake and running out in yakitsume manner

Nakago: ō-suriage, kirijiri, kiri-yasurime, two mekugi-ana, mumei

" This blade is ō-suriage mumei and was handed down as a work of Yukimitsu. The kitae is an overall excellently forged itame with nagare towards the ha that features plenty of ji-nie and much chikei that are interwoven with the forging structure. The hamon is a ko-nie-laden chū-suguha-chō with a wide nioiguchi that tends slightly towards a gently undulating notare and that is mixed with a abundance of kinsuji and sunagashi. Thus, we clearly recognize the hand of one of the early Sōshū masters ( Soshu Joko no Saku ) and a direct attribution to Yukimitsu can be considered as appropriate. This masterwork is outstanding among all blades attributed to this smith, particularly when it comes to the quality of its exquisite forging. "

It is really important to learn reading comprehension
And even more important to have a perfect translation - here the work of Markus Sesko is invaluable

Darcy Brockbank had some great posts here on " Den" and also "Soshu Joko no Saku"
You can find some here: