Close pics of new sword

[Mark Green]

Ok took a few more of the nakago.

 

Someone did a very nice job on the finish work.

File work on the end

 

Is that a line between Jacket steel and core steel, that I am seeing along the mune side of the Nakago, or am I seeing things?

 

Just looking at the top and bottom of the 'now' nakago. I would think the original machi was close to the area marked by the wood. I will try to see where that line of jacket steel/core steel ends, (if thats what I'm seeing) that may tell us a lot.

 

I will try to get some good, full lenght shots tomorrow

[Mark Green]

What are ya'lls thoughts about that?

[raven2]

Hi Mark,

 

I am not sure about the Rai school attribution, but it certainly could be. No matter what, it is a beautiful hada and an impressive blade.

[Curran]

Mark,

 

Great photos of the nakago you posted today.

 

--Camera work and I mix worse than oil and water--

 

I expected Tom or Ted T. to come along and hit the nail on the head, but I think I will try and take a break from my gawd awful work to crack open the mini library and see if I cannot make sense of what I see. I still don't understand the hamon. Any Nie at all? If so, where and what sort of distribution?

[huntershooter]

Nice blade Mark.

Thanks for sharing it.

[Mark Green]

Hi Gang,

Yes, there seems to be a good bit of ura-nie running the length of the sword, just above the hamon, as expected.

There seems to be so much ji-nie, and much chikei, throughout the jigane.

The polish is quite scuffed up so it is difficult to get good nie pics.

Here are a few I have enlarged of the nie, and chikei

in the Boshi

[Jamie]

Good pictures Mark.

That's a nice blade.

[Mark Green]

I took a few more pics. My camera like to take close pics, but I haven't yet figured out how to get good long pics.

I've been doing a lot of research, I feel now that this sword may well have been 80cm or longer. With a 1.7 or so torisori. I'm starting to think it is much older then I first thought.

 

I tried to get a shot of the activity in the hamon.

 

I feel it should go to shinsa. Who has the Shinsa service deals going for SF show? I will be away that week.

[Mark Green]

And the sword papered: Etchu Kunimune school. Lots of koto generations, all the way back to Uda Kunimune, son of Kunimitsu. Cool.

[kbt]

Congrats !

[Darcy]

other than battle damage, or the non samurai clause, why else would a sword be shortened? A nice sword with bo-hi, cut nakago and several remounts seems to me to be a good candidate for some kind of action other than sitting on the mantle, overhearing politics.

 

Reasons to shorten a sword:

 

1. I'm short and don't ride a horse and this here sword is too long.

 

2. I want this sword, in those mounts.

 

3. Oops, I accidentally the sword in half.

 

4. Ooops, forgot to oil this one over the last century and too bad about that sukashi rust.

 

5. Oooops, I accidentally polished through your hamon. I fixed your tachi by turning it into a wakizashi. Your bill is for full polish of the katana plus o-suriage. If you want me to move the Sadamune mei into the new position that will be extra. Ah don't worry, I think you should just forget about it because most of his are not signed anyway, this way it will just blend in with the others. Save the money.

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

6. It is not fashionable.

[runagmc]

Mark, congrats on your papers. If you ever have this restored, it would be nice to see pics. Considering the apparent original length, and characteristics and quality of craftsmanship, my guess would be for the shodai.

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

my guess would be for the shodai.

 

Paper says *Den* Uda Kunimitsu, it is not a direct attribution, however, i don't know exactly that NTHK NPO does mean by using this term

[george trotter]

other than battle damage, or the non samurai clause, why else would a sword be shortened? A nice sword with bo-hi, cut nakago and several remounts seems to me to be a good candidate for some kind of action other than sitting on the mantle, overhearing politics.

 

I've come into this just now, but have to say there is one prime reason that old swords were shortened in more modern times...as this one seems to me to be... I've seen a few koto o-suriage Kyugunto mounted swords over the past few years or so and I must say the shape, style, placement of the last (top) hole and "freshness" of the this nakago shortening, and the overall shorter length of the sword, reminds me strongly of these o-suriage blades in Kyugunto mounts of Meiji era. So, would I be crazy to say this blade looks to me to be a prime candidate of a sword shortened for a kyugunto usage? The sword lengths of modern era (especially it seems Meiji era) military use were much shorter than of previous eras so this explains why the sword was shortened "recently" IMHO.

What were the fittings Mark...any clues?

Even if we never know...still a nice Den Uda Kunimune blade...congrats indeed.

Regards,

[Jean]

7 - Shogun decrees on sword length

[runagmc]

Hi,

Paper says *Den* Uda Kunimitsu, it is not a direct attribution, however, i don't know exactly that NTHK NPO does mean by using this term

 

It says 'Den' Etchu Uda KUNIMUNE, and I was assuming mabey the NTHK NPO were using the same logic as the NBTHK, that 'Den' as a prefix means the blade has some quality that falls outside of what's normally expected for the smith... but mabey not. Regardless, it still looks alot like the work of the shodai KUNIMUNE to me... and agian, that's just a slightly educated guess and not something anyone should put much faith in. :D

[Lance]

Below are links to some articles that explain anattribution of "Den" before a smith's name. I have the same thing on a papered sword, and from what I've read it appears they've attributed your sword directly to Etchu Uda Kunimune

(If that's a standard way of using that terminology across different groups ofsword study in Japan as Adam stated before me)

From Darcy's Nihonto.ca and Bob Benson's sites:

http://www.nihonto.ca/classification.html

One very important thing to note is that if Den is used before the name of a swordsmith, it is not talking about a tradition. For example, Den Kinju or Den Niji Kunitoshi means in regards to an example of their work that it is not exactly the sum of their known characteristics.

In the case of these smiths where many unsigned works have been attributed, the characteristics are formed from old written reports and what can be observed in the realm of the signed works left to us. For smiths with only few (or no) signed works left, it makes it hard to establish a complete reference to their overall style. Given that a smith could work for decades, and styles evolved, it should be clear how difficult it can be to make a perfect reference out of a handful of examples. When Den is used like this, the work may be considered to have a small number of features that are over and above the expectations for the smith, or it may be missing a small number of features. It absolutely does not mean that the work was made (or possibly made) by one of the smith's students and it is not a mark of uncertainty of the attribution.

 

http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/Den%20article.htm

 

Regards,

Lance

[Mark Green]

Hi Gang,

 

Thanks for all the info.

 

George,---- The fittings that came with this sword are these:

 

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7448

 

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6597

 

Mark G