Kamakura Period Kodachi with Sayagaki by Hon'ami Nishu

[Zoglet]

[Zoglet]

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 9:26 PM, Rivkin said:

At 1100 you should be good, at least I would buy it if you are selling. It looks like an interesting blade and in 1970s it was simply judged optimistically. There is something weird going on with kissaki, as if it was shortened and there is a question what's happened with hamon there.

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I added extra photographs. Is there anything that can be made of them?

Thank you so much!
Nicholas

[Rivkin]

No, its very consistently shows the same thing. 

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 9:40 PM, Rivkin said:

No, its very consistently shows the same thing. 

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So, primary styles are either Ko-Ichimonji or their imitators?

[Lewis B]

This is one of the best images you've taken so far. Interesting activity in the hamon. The midare utsuri is really nice to see. 

Sometimes the clearest pics are taken with the light source off to side. Move the camera around so the feature you want to capture is highlighted. This is most useful for the boshi. So far the kissaki images are devoid of anything noteworthy. Alternatively you could draw a picture of the kissaki in pencil as you would find on an oshigata, shading in what you see with the naked eye. 

 

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 9:45 PM, Lewis B said:

This is one of the best images you've taken so far. Interesting activity in the hamon. The midare utsuri is really nice to see. 

Sometimes the clearest pics are taken with the light source off to side. Move the camera around so the feature you want to capture is highlighted. This is most useful for the boshi. So far the kissaki images are devoid of anything noteworthy. Alternatively you could draw a picture of the kissaki in pencil as you would find on an oshigata, shading in what you see with the naked eye. 

 

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Thank you. Boshi's a bit hard to take a picture of. Any tips?

[Rivkin]

  On 3/16/2025 at 9:41 PM, Zoglet said:

So, primary styles are either Ko-Ichimonji or their imitators?

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I would bet 3 to 1 its a high class imitator, but it is ko ichimonji style.

[Jacques]

I wonder if this sword has not been suriage

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 9:45 PM, Lewis B said:

This is one of the best images you've taken so far. Interesting activity in the hamon. The midare utsuri is really nice to see. 

Sometimes the clearest pics are taken with the light source off to side. Move the camera around so the feature you want to capture is highlighted. This is most useful for the boshi. So far the kissaki images are devoid of anything noteworthy. Alternatively you could draw a picture of the kissaki in pencil as you would find on an oshigata, shading in what you see with the naked eye. 

 

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Might these photos be a bit better?

 

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 10:12 PM, Jacques said:

I wonder if this sword has not been suriage

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That's actually a major suspicion of mine, especially after seeing the suriage Yoshihira on the market—similar nakago, nagasa, and same sori.

[Lewis B]

  On 3/16/2025 at 10:12 PM, Zoglet said:

Might these photos be a bit better?

 

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Unfortunately not. Try taking some pics perpendicular to the curvature of the kissaki. 

 

I took this image of my first blade with a Fujifilm XT2 and standard kit zoom lens. Zero experience back then (hence the dust particles) so if I can do it anyone can. 

 

[Zoglet]

Are these any better?

 

[Zoglet]

[Lewis B]

Part of your problem is that the images are very low rez. Can you get high rez images and then zoom in to reduce the file size. Or upload to Google Drive without compression/pixelation issues which are evident here. It kills the fine detail. 

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 10:40 PM, Lewis B said:

Part of your problem is that the images are very low rez. Can you get high rez images and then zoom in to reduce the file size. You can also post to Google Drive without compression/pixelation issues which are evident here. It kills the fine detail. 

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Forgive me. I'm trying to do what I can with an IPad camera.

[Zoglet]

Do these work?

 

[nulldevice]

Photos of the Boshi can be difficult. Having the blade laying flat on a cloth in a table and then having a portable light source such as a table lamp that you can position and then angle your photos is probably the next bet. 
 

Capturing high resolution photos will also aid in identifying the boshi pattern. 

[Jacques]

To see if the kissaki was reshaped or not 

 

yokote lenght = lenght from end of ko shinogi to tip of kissaki

Fukura must be parallel to the ko shinogi

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 11:13 PM, nulldevice said:

Photos of the Boshi can be difficult. Having the blade laying flat on a cloth in a table and then having a portable light source such as a table lamp that you can position and then angle your photos is probably the next bet. 
 

Capturing high resolution photos will also aid in identifying the boshi pattern. 

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[nulldevice]

Is that  last photo showing maybe some of a boshi?

 

Since the kissaki is small, you don’t want the direct glare in the photo. Usually you can see the boshi best with the glare (direct reflection) just off the blade and having the angle just right to see the temper line where it transitions to the tip.

 

Some blades have a boshi that runs very close and may be touching the cutting edge or they may have a reshaped kissaki where the boshi runs off indicating previous damage to the tip that was reshaped. 

[Zoglet]

  On 3/16/2025 at 11:41 PM, nulldevice said:

Is that  last photo showing maybe some of a boshi?

 

Since the kissaki is small, you don’t want the direct glare in the photo. Usually you can see the boshi best with the glare (direct reflection) just off the blade and having the angle just right to see the temper line where it transitions to the tip.

 

Some blades have a boshi that runs very close and may be touching the cutting edge or they may have a reshaped kissaki where the boshi runs off indicating previous damage to the tip that was reshaped. 

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Took closer pictures using your advice. I see very little boshi in the 2nd picture, and more on the other.

[Rivkin]

Bizen boshi is photographed by laying down the blade and pointing light from a side (i.e. sword on the left, light on the right), the light source needs to be about 2-10 inches above sword's plane and as far on the side so the boshi does not get blasted by too much light. Then boshi comes out as dark contour.

[nulldevice]

I guess a good question to ask is, do you see a clear boshi in person when inspecting the sword? 

 

If you can see the boshi you're trying to photograph, it makes the photography much easier as you'll know what you're looking for. Someone else here mentioned drawing an oshigata of what you see and then you can compare that to your photos. 

[Zoglet]

  On 3/17/2025 at 1:09 AM, nulldevice said:

I guess a good question to ask is, do you see a clear boshi in person when inspecting the sword? 

 

If you can see the boshi you're trying to photograph, it makes the photography much easier as you'll know what you're looking for. Someone else here mentioned drawing an oshigata of what you see and then you can compare that to your photos. 

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Here is an oshigata of the boshi (very faint, almost looking like yakizume or komaru).

 

[Zoglet]

Here are photos I took. Only the faintest amount of boshi can be seen.

[Zoglet]

What do you guys think?

[Schneeds]

Photographing is infinitely easier if you place the blade on an acceptable dark surface, rather than trying to hold it and take pictures.  Shine a lamp/flashlight onto the blade.  Put the camera/phone in manual focus, set the focus to the absolute minimum focal length (.3 meters for example), place the lens close to the blade and slowly back it out until the hada comes in to focus.  

[Lewis B]

  On 3/17/2025 at 4:22 AM, Schneeds said:

Photographing is infinitely easier if you place the blade on an acceptable dark surface, rather than trying to hold it and take pictures.  Shine a lamp/flashlight onto the blade.  Put the camera/phone in manual focus, set the focus to the absolute minimum focal length (.3 meters for example), place the lens close to the blade and slowly back it out until the hada comes in to focus.  

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One of the biggest problems is Nicholas's use of the iPad camera to take pics. More manual control of aperture and focus is preferable. A macro lens works wonders but in lieu of that perhaps the use of a camera app that emulates a macro function. 

[Zoglet]

I'll try your tips a bit later when I get home tonight. Thank you so much! Any recommendation on the angle of the light? Any diagram?