Shinto(?) Wakizashi signed "Masayoshi saku" - please comment.

[2devnul]

Hello,

 

Please share your thoughts about below sword. No papers, looking for any additional details. 

Nagasa 54,8cm; Sori 1,2cm; 

 

 

[2devnul]

[Shugyosha]

Hi Adam,

From the photos, it might be shinshinto, but certainly not koto: I think I can see kesho yasurimei, there's itame hada and I think yakidashi (which might be just the pattern of the hamon) which would point to later than koto. The only potential issue I can see is that the hamon looks to grow a little "shimi" - unclear in one of the photos (6th down near the top of the picture) but that might just be the photo and lighting. Other than that it looks like a nice blade with some interesting activity in the hamon.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Looks to be in decent condition and fairly well made, may be one of the minor smiths of the Hosokawa Masayoshi Den.

[oli]

There are a lot of smiths with the name Masayoshi in Sesko Book about Japanese sword-smiths.  I think it also can be gendai because of the short signature, but then it should be a little bit longer.

Nice sword, thanks for the photos.

[2devnul]

Thanks for the comments gentlemen, please keep them coming. 

 

7 minutes ago, oli said:

There are a lot of smiths with the name Masayoshi in Sesko Book

A lot of them (with good pictures of swords) in Internet too. I'm struggling to get even close in order to pin-point which smith/school it is. I wish this sword to be Hosokawa Masayoshi Den, but then it should look Bizen/Shoshu-den alike, which it isn't (as per my amateur judgment). 

 

[oli]

25 minutes ago, 2devnul said:

A lot of them (with good pictures of swords) in Internet too. I'm struggling to get even close in order to pin-point which smith/school it is. I wish this sword to be Hosokawa Masayoshi Den, but then it should look Bizen/Shoshu-den alike, which it isn't (as per my amateur judgment). 

 

For me it looks more like mino-den. Does it have a yakidashi?

[2devnul]

21 hours ago, oli said:

Does it have a yakidashi

Thanks Oli! Let me first check what yakidashi is and I will get back to you. In the meantime few more pictures. Maybe Hamachi or sugata can help. 

 

 

[2devnul]

Mr. Sesko helped with understanding what yakidashi is. Now the question is, which one do you see. 

 

[oli]

i am not a expert, but i guess Osaka Shinshinto ( of course not the Gassan Group). There was a smith:

MASAYOSHI (正義), Kaei (嘉永, 1848-1854), Settsu – “Ōsaka-jū Kuroda Masayoshi” (大坂住黒田正義),

“Masayoshi” (正義), real name Kuroda Sukeichirō (黒田助一郎), student of Ozaki Masataka (正隆), he also worked in

Harima

 

Question is, is this Osaka yakidashi?

[Shugyosha]

I can’t tell - for me it doesn’t seem to fit easily with either Osaka or Kyoto styles of yakidashi. 

[2devnul]

29 minutes ago, oli said:

Question is, is this Osaka yakidashi?

I have no idea, I just learned today what yakidashi is in general

 

Overall condition of the sword suggests either very late shinto or shinshinto, so that guess could be a good one. I will need to find some "papered" swords of this smith and compare the work. 

 

Thanks for the help gentlemen! I'm looking forward to any other comments. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hamon looks closer to the Yokoyama Sukesada Mon.

[oli]

2 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Hamon looks closer to the Yokoyama Sukesada Mon.

yes maybe also because of koshizori....`