Sashikomi polished yanone

[Gabriel L]

Hello all,

 

I just wanted to show off my recent acquisition (courtesy of NMB member Curran): a sashikomi-polished yanone.

 

I was immediately drawn to the yanone not only for the scarcity of polished examples, but also because I am not sure I've ever seen one polished in sashikomi. It also had a decent size (2.5" point, 5.4" ubu nakago) and a very cool "flame" hamon, so I decided to try and photograph it. It ended up being remarkably difficult to photograph—my tripod is currently in another state, so handholding macro images at 1/8th of a second really pushed my skills! But I'm happy with the results, which also show some of the hada.

 

Thanks very much to Curran for the cool item, and I hope you all enjoy!

[watsonmil]

Dear Gabriel,

Nice of you to share with us your latest acquisition. It looks to be a twin to one I own. Mine is signed Kiyotsugu saku.

Enjoy ..... it looks very beautiful. ... Ron Watson

[Bugyotsuji]

I am forced to agree with Ron, :D except for the part about owning a signed Yanone! :lol:

 

Well done Curran. Beautiful, Gabriel. Clever photography. No overall shots with the Nakago?

 

I have a handful of assorted Yanone/Yajiri from the owner of the keys to the Kura of Kameyama Castle, but as you intimate, they are like most, sadly rusted and pitted. Nevertheless I have had some fun evenings with very fine sandpaper.

 

Jealous in the Far East.

[Curran]

Wow. Wish i could take photos like that of the Morokage and tsuba. I never could capture the flame quality of the sashikomi polish. Morokage has it too, but way beyond me to capture it. *sigh*.

 

Thank you for sharing. I'm glad this went to someone who appreciates it and can share it better with the forum.

Good luck Gabriel.

[Jamie]

Great pictures.

That's is a nice piece.

 

I saw one recently but I couldn't see a temper in it at all. It wasn't rusted or stained, but no evident temper.

[watsonmil]

Dear Jamie,

The smiths didn't often bother with putting a hamon on Yanone. I think they simply found it too time consuming for something that may well not be recovered once used. More often I think they gave them an overall temper. Again only a few are signed, .... just too time consuming to try cutting those tiny kanji ... Ron Watson

[Jamie]

Thanks for the info, that makes sense. The one I saw was still attached in the arrow, so I am not sure if it was signed or not. It was in good enough shape and polish though, a temper would have been visible, if the whole thing weren't tempered. Again, Thanks

 

Jamie

[Gabriel L]

Piers, ask and ye shall receive. Not a great shot (weird mix of tungsten and daylight colors reflecting) but good enough for dimensions.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments!

[Bugyotsuji]

Many thanks, Gabriel. Nice little box too!

 

These arrowheads when they come up tend not to be cheap. Lots of fakes going around to catch the unwary, though...

[loui]

It doesn't always have to be an old Koto katana to make you stop and take a look eh. Very nice little piece!

 

Regards,

 

Louis

[Curran]

It was a favorite of mine for a long time. Glad it went to Gabriel and he could photograph it well.

The Oei Morokage I have listed also has an incredible sashikomi polish which I wish I was able to get photographed as well as Gabriel has done. I lament that it is increasingly rare to see works, especially Bizen works done in sashikomi polish. To see it done well on an arrowhead was a rare treat when I got this arrowhead from Japan many years ago.

[watsonmil]

Dear Gabriel,

Back in May, .... you posted some photos of a sashikomi polished yanone. I mentioned in that thread I had a twin to your yanone .... signed Kiyotsugu saku. I beleive it is of the Nio Chosu School and the smith from Nagato Province. Circ. 1688 - 1736. The point on mine is 2.5 inches, ... Nakago is 5 3/4 inches. Other than the very slight difference in Nakago length, .... as I said previously they appear to be near twins. Since my son was out today, I got him to take a couple of photos for comparison. .... Ron Watson

[Gabriel L]

Thank you for posting that Ron, it looks like a nice yanone as well. :-)

 

I'd love to one day own some polished examples of complex karimata and yanagi-ba yanone, but those are uncommon and expen$ive as we all know. In the meantime my simple togari-ba example will do nicely.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Nice one Gabriel. Once I was near to purchase it myself from Curran. Happy it's gone to you.

 

I'd love to one day own some polished examples of complex karimata

 

This and a good Jumonji yari are the two types of blades I badly want.