This triggers my spidey senses

[Lewis B]

A signed Mitsutada from middle Kamakura era. Nagasa is 69.5cm so likely o-suriage yet it's zaimei. The area with the Mei looks very different to the area above the division line that transects the nakago (line is only visible on the omote side) suggesting the piece with the kanji is much older? I have seen gakumei which obviously looks very different. If the mei was relocated after a shortening how would the swordmith have done this? Welded a large section of the original nakago onto the shortened one?

 

 

 

[Brian]

You'd need to see it from the side, but in this case I suspect they cut the mei out as a "slice" and inlaid it into the new nakago by cutting a slide out of that. Looks ok to me. If they were trying to do anything suspicious, they wouldn't have made it so obvious.

[Lewis B]

Yes this is how I would have explained it too and could account for why one of the angled elements in the lower kanji is partially missing. I imagine it was quite an expensive process to have this done but clearly even historically, there was a desire to retain the Mei, albeit infrequently.

[Andrew Ickeringill]

Nothing unusual, the nakago has been completely re-shaped/filed down during the suriage/machi-okuri process. The line you see on the nakago is where the re-filing stops to preserve the mei, you’ll see this every now and then.

 

Actually unusual is the migaki, or lack of migaki in the shinogi-ji… bizarre.

 

https://eirakudo.shop/999434

[Franco D]

Appreciate bringing this sword to our attention, and for the follow up comment/explanation/link.

 

Grazie

[Lewis B]

Kimura-san thinks highly of it. Priced at 20mil Yen (TH papers from 2022 only). I wonder if it was submitted for Juyo and failed. Wouldn't a signed blade by such a big name waltz through Juyo Shinsa?

[PNSSHOGUN]

There may have been a better example of Mitsutada at the session, or it was thought TH and a Sayagaki by Tanobe was sufficient enough.

[nulldevice]

8 minutes ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

There may have been a better example of Mitsutada at the session, or it was thought TH and a Sayagaki by Tanobe was sufficient enough.

Would a good sayagaki by Tanobe have any impact at Juyo shinsa? 

[Hoshi]

Remember that If Tanobe-sensei didn't agree with the mei, he would not have made the Sayagaki. The mei varies, has distinct phases through the smith's career, and Tanobe wrote extensively on the smith in the past. In fact, he's singlehandedly push the the frontiers of knowledge on Ko-Osafune substantially. So you are good. 

 

That said, it's absolutely the good approach to analyze it for yourself. That's how one learns. 

 

You are dealing here with one of the unicorns of Nihonto. There is a grand total of 29 zaimei Mitsutada tachi. Out of these, 13 can be legally exported out of Japan. Out of the 13 that can be exported, half are going to be locked up permanently in museums or whale collectors that intend on creating museums. 

 

So that leaves about 7 Mitsutada Tachi. 

 

Out of these 7 that are not in quasi-permanent lock-up, probably 2 are closer to the early style of Nagamitsu and hence late work or even Daimei, and 2 other are likely in Ko-bizen den.

 

They are all wonderful and important, across all style. That said, If you're looking for the archetype Osafune Mitsutada, you can count them on the fingers of your hand, at best. This one is close to the zaimei archetype, which is on the quiet side, with less of a Ko-Kyomono kitae. The mumei archetypes are the super flamboyant ones with Kawazuko choji and Ko-Kyomono jihada that is at the level of Awataguchi, plus prominent midare utsuri to top it all. 

 

It feels midway into his transition from Ko-Bizen to his prime style, with still some Ko-Bizen vibes and executed of ko-nie, with lots of gunome and activities such as Kinsuji and tobiyaki. Of course, it was more flamboyant out of the forge, and lost some width, the shape of its kissaki went on the chu-side of things, and overall it's fair to say that part of its shape, due to polishing and repairs, was diminished somewhat. Remember that it's 750 years old so, it's a miracle that it is the way it is, still. 

 

The jihada has taken a hit as a result and it's not representative of his skill, but it must have been lustrous back in its glory days. Is it the amongst the best? No. but is it a legitimate Mitsutada? yes. Is still a good sword and important sword, including as a historical reference? No doubt. It's also better in hand than in the photos. 

 

At 20M yen it's the lowest priced legitimate Mitsutada tachi. The gravitational pull of Ladder theory is exerting its influence on the price. 

 

Pass Juyo? Absolutely, one day, no question. Maybe this year, maybe in five years, maybe ten, but it will pass. I think there are worst Mitsutada at Juyo than this one. Now, there is an oscillation at the NBHTK between "all mastermiths go juyo automatically" and "let's have some differentiation and make TH meaningful for mastersmiths also" - it just ebbs and flows, and patience is certainly required. 

 

Good sayagaki don't have a 'causal' impact on Juyo. In fact, according to some, it irks the judges. There are people that deliberately submit without Sayagaki. Now, it could also be a superstition and the effect is neutral, or even positive. But it's not strong. Does it correlate highly with Juyo? Yes, for obvious reason. But then again Tanobe-sensei focuses on the best aspects of the sword in his Sayagaki, it's not easy to ascertain what a truly positive sayagaki is or isn't, there are clear cases sure, but there is also a grey-zone. That's just the way of things and It's normal. He must have been very happy to see this piece, as he's been assiduously collecting all known signatures in his studies. He wrote a long sayagaki, because its a topic that interest him deeply. 

 

Very rare, very precious. 

 

[Rivkin]

This is above my paygrade since I am not good with early Bizen work, but here are my personal thoughts.

 

The good:

a. I think its really good polish. Polish above shinogi is unusual intentional choice, but I think it accents the steel very well.

b. Definitely Kamakura Bizen work and around 1240-1260 can be an appropriate guess.

c. Work style is a decent match for Mitsutada.

 

The bad:

a. Unusual sugata for Mitsutada. Kissaki in particular has much "longer" proportions then typically seen on his, usually conservative, works. Since hamon width does not change it does not look reshaped.

b. The signature sort of ok, but not a great match for his most well known examples.

 

Enough to give it some extra thoughts.

 

[Schneeds]

5 hours ago, Hoshi said:

Now, there is an oscillation at the NBHTK between "all mastermiths go juyo automatically" and "let's have some differentiation and make TH meaningful for mastersmiths also" - it just ebbs and flows, and patience is certainly required. 

That is a very interesting point you raise about boosting the prestige of TH, and one I'd not considered. Sucks for the person submitting it that session, but a good overall strategy on the part of the NBHTK to keep things interesting and TH relevant. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

The period where Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon was done in the same session severely reduced the significance of the TH paper. 

[Natichu]

11 minutes ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

The period where Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon was done in the same session severely reduced the significance of the TH paper. 

I know Jussi and I were briefly discussing this in another thread, and don't know that we ever reached a conclusion. Is it that previously you could submit for both in the same session, and now you can't? Or is it that previously you needed to submit twice to obtain TH, but now can submit only once? 

 

Any clarification anyone can provide around which way the process shifted and when would be greatly appreciated! 

[CSM101]

A few examples for Mitsutada. 

[Hoshi]

Quote

That is a very interesting point you raise about boosting the prestige of TH, and one I'd not considered. Sucks for the person submitting it that session, but a good overall strategy on the part of the NBHTK to keep things interesting and TH relevant. 

 

I'm of the opinion that "important" should be interpreted more "important in general in the field of nihonto" than "important within the corpus of Mitsutada" - so my bias weighs heavily towards passing them Juyo. People at this level can differentiate and don't need to rely on papers, and TH, unlike Juyo, is a private database. This means outside researchers miss signature style, nengo, etc, because blades are Saiha or otherwise ruined but they are important references that can significantly affect the sholarship on a smith. 

 

It's already hard enough having to trace all the undesignated blades in various collection catalogues and word-to-mouth. 

 

This is a problem for me. 

 

Or, make a new publication "known nengo and signature styles on compromised TH blade". 

 

Quote

The period where Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon was done in the same session severely reduced the significance of the TH paper. 

 

The reason it was done this way is that clients complained that they don't like to wait and TH is "just a checklist". You can pass blades TH in your head with 99% accuracy by reading the requirements. It means something only for very recently made blades, and for fittings. For old swords, Hozon or TH, makes no difference if you have eyes. 

 

[KungFooey]

3 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

The period where Hozon & Tokubetsu Hozon was done in the same session severely reduced the significance of the TH paper. 

That combination is still an option, John - my brother managed to book my Shinto Kunimasa into the the next Hozon/Tokuho shinsa. My reasoning was that, as it's so difficult to get a place in shinsa nowadays, I may as well kill two birds with one stone.

 

Dee

[Gakusee]

Legitimate, although worn-down work with typical mid/late signature (albeit some of it wobbly) and priced where it is because of the TH and condition. Price already down from the 25m yen at the DTI to what currently I believe is a very good (even bargain) price for a Mitsutada long sword. Note, as CH mentioned above, that these are rarer than Masamune and in my subjective view more desirable. 

[Jacques]

Quote

 

The bad:

a. Unusual sugata for Mitsutada. Kissaki in particular has much "longer" proportions then typically seen on his, usually conservative, works. Since hamon width does not change it does not look reshaped.

b. The signature sort of ok, but not a great match for his most well known examples.

Enough to give it some extra thoughts.

 

This sword is tokuho 

[Jussi Ekholm]

This is very interesting and super rare item. However personally I would go for totally different direction with that budget.

 

I have been trying to track down locations of the swords, and it is tricky. Especially for NBTHK designated blades as pretty much the only possibility is if owner is mentioned on book or magazine, or display case.

 

As Hoshi mentioned seeing a signed Mitsutada for sale is super rare thing, as the possible blades to own are very few. However it seems like DTI24 last november there were 2 signed Mitsutada tachi. Still I am very surprised this wasn't sold, and I would assume this has been offered to the major Japanese collectors in private with first dips. Still could be few years until another one pops up for sale, could be 10 years, who knows. The opportunity for these is not always available. From books and various sources I have found that at least 2 of the gigantic Japanese collectors own a mumei Mitsutada katana, and I have seen 1 in the museum of the person. However I haven't so far found out if any of the signed tachi are owned by these massive collectors. Of course that is very private information, so I understand the ownership details are not brought out that often. Many books for example just note Private collection.