Gassan Sadakazu

[Brian]

All,

I believe Sadakazu sometimes ended his mei with a kokuin.

I have seen quite a few examples of pics showing a kao, but no pics of a close-up mei with kokuin. Does anyone have any examples of his mei signed this way, and any info when he used it?

 

Much appreciated

Brian

[cabowen]

Here's one....

[Brian]

Thanks Chris, but that is the one ending with kao. Looking for any pics of mei ending with a kokuin (hotstamp)

 

Brian

[Brian]

From a Google search, and from a past Christies auction, I have this pic.

Looking for any more pics showing this signature style, and any comments on it.

 

Thanks,

Brian

[Brian]

Think I answered my own question with this wonderful little find:

http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/j ... nnered.pdf

"A Study of the Works of Gassan Sadakazu in The Metropolitan Museum of Art"

A lovely little article about this smith complete with some veyr nice pics. Well worth the free download.

Any further pics or info welcomed.

 

Brian

[cabowen]

sadakazu and a kokuin and I give you sadakatsu and a kao! I should learn to read better.....Sorry about that....

[nagamaki - Franco]

From; Japanese Master Swordsmiths

The Gassan Tradition MFA, Boston

 

[Brian]

Thanks Franco,

This makes me even more curious. I am not 100% sure how these "hotstamps" were done, but I assume a punch was made, and when the metal was hot, they were punched into the metal? Maybe Ford will have an idea, but I suppose they weren't carved in.

Therefore a smith probably had one or 2 of these punches, and used them when he signed. This is all just theory of course. But if that were true, then these stamps should be fairly identical, with little variation. For example the top "squigly" horizontal stroke or the 2 bottom "legs"

Hence when seeing any variation in these, would that mean gimei, or am I missing something?

Even taking into account wear on these stamps, surely they were replaced by one fairly close to the original one, being part of a signature.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing a few pics together of these Sadakazu kokuin, and seeing what variations there are, or having a close up of a few.

 

Brian

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Brian,

 

The kokuin are indeed stamped into the metal using a die. So they should be identical, variations in depth and angles etc accepted. I've not seen it being done, I'll ask Pierre, but I would suggest the metal would need to be red hot to allow for such a deep and large imprint to be struck. I would imagine the yasuimei would be applied afterwards.

 

I have the Boston museum cat on the Gassan group if you need any more scans.

 

regards,

 

ford

[DirkO]

Brian,

 

I have a small collection of Sadakazu mei, but the ones with hotstamp (that I have) seem to be made 1869-1871. I have a gap in my collection from 1872-1887, so the timespan could be larger on that side.

[Brian]

If there are any pics with the kokuin, I wouldn't mind comparing them.

We have these 4 for now. 1 - Franco's likely legit image from that catalog. 2 - From Christies auction, no papers afaik, but think it was authenticated by a Gassan smith later. (Can't find the webpage where I got the image ) 3 and 4 from the NY Met article referenced above. So wondering where this leads us.

 

Brian

[Eric H]

Some pics

Eric

[cabowen]

I have seen kokuin applied. Hot stamped they were....

 

Sadakazu is one of the most copied smiths. There are loads of fakes. Again, it all goes back to the blade. Kokuin are much easier to fake than his quality workmanship...It is awfully difficult to apply the kokuin exactly the same every time, making slight differences common.

[Eric H]

Another pic. All examples are NBTHK Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon

Eric