Tohagi Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 Hello everybody, Here some (bad pictures) I took at Nijojo Castel. I suggest a little challenge finding Who is Who from the top 1 to the bottom 6, I'll put futher picture to help finishing with nakago... You will have to find which one is masamume, muramasa, nagazone kotetsu, Ikkansai Shigetsugu, and a last mystery one you have to find (extra point). Maybe easy for some, maybe educational or fun for others. I will give the rate of correct by MP, as many trys as you like. Hope you'll enjoy... 1 1 Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 (edited) 2,3,4 the first have a bad angle, I'll provide à better picture... Edited August 19 by Tohagi 2,3,4 Quote
PNSSHOGUN Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 1: Kotetsu 2: pictures not good enough 3: Shigetsugu 4: Muramasa 5: Masamune 6: Bizen Tachi Kamakura period Quote
Brian Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 1: Kotetsu 2: Don't know. 3: Looks fresh. The Ikkansai Shigetsugu? 4: Muramasa 5: Masamune 6: Rai School Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 (edited) You guys are impressive! Here better picture of the 3,4,5,6 Edited August 19 by Tohagi Quote
Lewis B Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 You only list 4 makers plus the mystery. And there are 6 blades. Here's what I've got so far 1. Kotetsu 2. 3. Shigetsugu 4. Nakago looks very Muramasa like. And the Hamon (Hitatsura?) 5. Masamune 6. Yamato, possibly Taima Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 @Lewis B You are absolutely right! My mystake. Do you wish another name or the last pictures may be significative enough? One is very caracteristic and the other almost out. Let me know... Best regards, Éric VD Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 I can although provide a close up of any sword you wish! Quote
Lewis B Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 I think the numbering is a little confused. Eg blades #3 and #4 (with the Futasuji-hi) are mixed up in different photos. Maybe start again? Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 @Lewis BYou are of course right again! I'm a mess ... A close up of the 2nd sword... and the last... Quote
Jussi Ekholm Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 My guess for N.6 would have been Bizen Saburō Kunimune but I know that is wrong answer, now that I know what the sword actually is. Quote
sabiji Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 1. Kotetsu 2. Magoroku Kanemoto 3. Ikkansai Shigetsugu 4. Muramasa 5. Masamune 6. Rai Kunitoshi 1 Quote
Gerry Posted August 19 Report Posted August 19 10 hours ago, Tohagi said: Hello everybody, Here some (bad pictures) I took at Nijojo Castel. I suggest a little challenge finding Who is Who from the top 1 to the bottom 6, I'll put futher picture to help finishing with nakago... You will have to find which one is masamume, muramasa, nagazone kotetsu, Ikkansai Shigetsugu, and a last mystery one you have to find (extra point). Maybe easy for some, maybe educational or fun for others. I will give the rate of correct by MP, as many trys as you like. Hope you'll enjoy... My 2 cents, top to bottom: 1. Kotetsu 2. Magoroku Kanemoto 3. Ikkansai Shigetsugu 4. Muramasa 5. Masamune 6. Rai Kunitoshi Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 The last answers were the right ones. Congratulations to NMB members, you really are impressive. I'll put detail picture of each sword soon on this topic for document. Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 Maybe you could share what were your Kanteï points of decision ? 1 Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 For anyone passion at Kyoto theses days, this exhibition is mind blowing! 1 Quote
Tohagi Posted August 19 Author Report Posted August 19 This is an extra: stolen photo of The Bizen Kiyomitsu. I could'nt take more without going to the same jail cell than Carlos Ghosne.... 1 Quote
sabiji Posted August 20 Report Posted August 20 7 hours ago, Tohagi said: Maybe you could share what were your Kanteï points of decision ? Honestly? I definitely couldn't have made a Kantei just from the pictures. But I know the swords from previous visits. Most of the swords have already been mentioned by the others. I still remember the Kanemoto and the Kunitoshi. I find the presentation of the swords in Nijo very sad and unloving. You can hardly see anything under the lighting on site. We've already covered this topic. In the Tokyo National Museum, the lighting was so good that I was able to stand far enough away from the glass so that I couldn't decipher the lettering straight away. Here you could actually do something like a little Kantei because you could see quite a lot. 1 1 Quote
Brian Posted August 20 Report Posted August 20 I am terrible at kantei. But this was more a process of elimination, knowing some of the smiths, and matching them to what we see. And then a little deductive reasoning to figure out one or 2. I don't claim kantei skills here, just some lucky reasoning and logic. But a fun exercise. 2 Quote
Lewis B Posted August 20 Report Posted August 20 I just translated the kanji on the display case. All 6 blades are from the private collection of one person, Zenjo Kazumori, CEO of Zero Home (hopefully Google Translate was accurate Quote
Tohagi Posted August 20 Author Report Posted August 20 6 hours ago, sabiji said: I find the presentation of the swords in Nijo very sad and unloving. You can hardly see anything under the lighting on site. We've already covered this topic. In the Tokyo National Museum, the lighting was so good that I was able to stand far enough away from the glass so that I couldn't decipher the lettering straight away. Here you could actually do something like a little Kantei because you could see quite a lot. Sorry for that, I agree these swords deserve better than a cofee shop or a souvenir boutique in poor case with 2 of them dropped in angle. TNM exhibit this summer was really not good (and were is the Dojigiri today?) They probably had to make room for a Buddha expo for Obon time, I guess. The Daihouden one was fanstastic but temporary and small, about 11 great swords listed on the picture above and a huge Nodachi with full koshirae. I realise that it is useles to put more (bad) close up of swords you already know... Kind regards, Éric VD Quote
Jussi Ekholm Posted August 20 Report Posted August 20 My guess was based on the length and shape alone, and reason for my guess is that Saburō Kunimune has relatively high number of 75cm+ tachi remaining. To me the sword looks to be a good bit longer than others that I would guess being c. 65-70 cm in length. Would be very interesting to know the measurements and more information of that Rai Kunitoshi tachi, as I was not aware of that sword and it could be the longest tachi by Rai Kunitoshi remaining, as the ōdachi (蛍丸) Hotarumaru is missing. Also the provenance on it is remarkable Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Tokugawa Family - Maeda Family. For the Muramasa the signature can be seen in your pictures, however based on the blade I would not have guessed Muramasa. Without your original listing of names I don't think I would have gotten any correctly. I would be very grateful on info about that particular Rai Kunitoshi tachi if anyone has it, or even more than that the ōdachi that was featured in Daihouden exhibition. I believe this might have been the ōdachi as I believe this is in the collection of the temple? Picture is from Twitter. https://x.com/honnou...495691476992/photo/1 Quote
Jussi Ekholm Posted August 20 Report Posted August 20 On the Tokyo National Museum display problem, they have so many amazing items that they will need to circulate items. I have fairly recently checked in the Bunkachō database and I believe TNM houses 18 Kokuhō swords and 56 Jūyō Bunkazai swords (number for JB can be bit higher as I didn't check Late Muromachi or Edo period stuff), along with hundreds of other amazing swords. It would be amazing if they could display huge amount of swords at once, like Tōken World in Nagoya. However the National Museum needs to display a wide variety of Japanese history and art/culture. 2 Quote
Tohagi Posted August 21 Author Report Posted August 21 @Jussi Ekholm I will post the Rai Kunotoshi with a very interesting sayagaki... The Odachi was really oustanding in many way.... Kind regards, 1 Quote
Tohagi Posted August 21 Author Report Posted August 21 @Jussi Ekholm Yes, it is this particulary Ôdachi: https://x.com/honnou...495691476992/photo/1 It belonged to personnal body guard of Shogun and was martialy used (not temple offering) with many marks of fights. I'm quite tall but I felt small... Best regards, Éric VD Quote
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