Uda or not Uda

[doug e lewis]

This is the sword I "rescued" many years ago, mentioned mysteriously in my rambling posts. My 1st attempt to photograph a sword. My sayashi friend, Mike V., gave me a hilt from his reject pile that amazingly lined up prefectly with the top mekugi ana. He took a quick look at the sword -- he was busy making shiasaya for paying customer -- and said from the sugata it was Koto, Uda school, ca. 1560, a mass produced sword, over polished so some shingane or defects were revealed, and added the steel looked "wet". ?? "Nice old, tired, uchi-gatana."

 

finally felt I knew enough to describe the sword, take pix and see what the patient NMB members think --- dispite not being able to hold the blade in hand My reference books used for this are The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords by Kokan Nagayama, and A Primer of Japaneseword-Blades by B. W. Robinson 1955

 

sugata - looks like End of Muromachi as shown in Connoisseur's

tsukurikomi - shinogi-zukuri

nagasa - 65.5 cm.

sori - torii-zori, 2.1 cm. (shallow?)

 

Mihaba

motohaba - 3.2 cm.

sakihaba - 1.9 cm.

 

Kissaki - chu-saki size 2.1 cm. tip broken, about 1-2mm

Boshi - not visable?

Yokote - more visable on one side than the other

 

hamon - Uma-no-ha midare - hard to see now, but in the right light some is visible, and looks like that ha-mon illustrated in Nagayama's book

Iori mune

Jihada - Muji-hada

 

Nakago - Ubu, mumei

yasurime - none

2 mekugi ana

nakugojiri -- Ha-agari kurijiri

 

In the shinogiji there is a kukure yabure on one side, and an obvious unegane on the other. the nice solid copper habaki it came with is tight and dirty under it. I was advised to gently clean under the habaki, taking care not to clean any of the nakago; I followed Mike's instructions. the togodu were placed in the late Edo. The tsuba were identified as an imitation Soten when I posted them on NMB a long while back. But made for this katana, and the menuki carry on the theme from the tsuba. Not relevent, according to Mike. Probably has been mounted several times if really a Koto.

 

Hope the pictures are at least entertaining. I look forward to you comments.

 

thank you.

[doug e lewis]

Here are pix of whole sword.

[doug e lewis]

OOPS,, I am sorry. that is not the tsuba it came with; just one i like and had pix of . let me try again.

[Jean]

  Quote

Jihada - Muji-hada

 

Hi Doug,

 

what are the characteristics of Uda Hada?

[nagamaki - Franco]

  doug e lewis said:

and added the steel looked "wet". ??

 

Unfortunately, "wet" is one of those nihonto adjectives that is far too often misused, abused, and misapplied, and in some cases all 3 at the same time. If memory serves there was a very good write up on this topic of "wet" as it applies to nihonto in the Yamanaka Newsletters (revised). Not only does it take a special swordsmith to produce a wet looking steel, but it also takes a top notch polisher to properly bring it out.

[Henry Wilson]

The beer mat suggests a lot.

[Eric H]

  doug e lewis said:

He took a quick look at the sword -- he was busy making shiasaya for paying customer -- and said from the sugata it was Koto, Uda school, ca. 1560, a mass produced sword, over polished so some shingane or defects were revealed, and added the steel looked "wet". ??

The hada is obscured, no details are visible and I wonder that under these conditions an attribution to a defined school should be possible.

 

Left - hada of a Uda Kunimune Tachi, Oei days.

Right- hada of a Katana attributed to Uda, late Muromachi period.

 

Eric

[Jean]

Eric,

 

I agree with you that from the pictures nothing can be seen but we have to assume that Doug who have the sword was able to see that the blade had muji hada, which is surpring when one has seen Uda hada which is among the strongest in Nihonto with fantastic chikei.

 

Some examples are available on Aoi Art/Tokugawa websites :

 

http://www.sanmei.com/contents/media/N4 ... PUP_E.html

http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/ ... 7478-2.jpg

http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/04139.html

 

The wetness of a blade, if any, this being a subjective term, is invisable on an out of polish blade.

[Eric H]

Jean,

 

Even the sharpest eyes cannnot see more than a shinogi-ji and hiraji completely uniform in appereance, pitted and stained, no hamon is discernible. What to do is to open a „window“, if a proper restoration is desired...but that would have to think twice...just my opinion.

 

Eric

[Jean]

I agree with you Eric, but I thought that such a hada (Uda) even on an off polish sword could have left some trace,

 

- I was wondering : If there is no trace of any hada (muji) then how any kantei can have been done on Uda?

 

Perhaps there is nothing and this blade could be Bizen as well

 

All this to say, Doug, that nothing from your pictures/description supports the Uda kantei and above all the hada which is Uda kantei point

 

Sori and length could support end of Muromachi theory, that's all which can be said

[doug e lewis]

Thank you all.

 

Jean-san -- my Connoisseur's pg. 85 discribes "muji-hada" as "plain; unfigured ...'without grain'. Difficult to identify." Since my katana IS very out of polish I knew that it was a guess on my part. Muji-hada is supposed to be used by Uda smiths, I think. Very hard to find information on the Uda School. I have difficult time seeing hada even on the few swords in polish that I have had the pleasure of holding.

 

Nagamaki-san, I know nothing about "wet" steel. I will do my research. Just quoting what sayashi Mike said. I asked him and he just said he that cause he thought the sword was made of good steel. Very hard to get him to elaborate on any of his comments. Very impatient with newbies, and puffy sword egos of many old timers; stopped going to the So. Cal. club meetings because of that [and other reasons]

 

Ah, Henry-san, the Delirium Cafe is in Sierra Madre, CA, near Pasadena. Have not been there for couple years. great food and fine ales -- the beer mat is very prophetic if you stay too long. Note below my signature it does say "American Tanuki".

I was quite sober while handling and photographing katana, however.

 

Jean-san, several years ago, when I first got the sword, the ha-mon was more visable, sort of misty, and there was some faint "sparkle" to the ji. All gone now. To much oil? And had to gently clean with soft cloth and _-- shudder --- Brite Boy. The guys here said was OK if done gently. Sword was dirty and I thought it would help to stop any active rust. I did a bad thing, huh? This was 10 years ago I did this; know much better now from reading NMB posts.

 

I don't know if the sword is worth the expense of even opening a window. And full polish seems risky seeing the open sores on the blade. Plus the $$$$.

 

Eric-san, My Connoisseur's does say Uda smiths worked in both Soshu and Bizen traditions, so more reseach to do. Anyway, I am happy I got the end of Muromachi right. Either Tenbun or Tensho eras. The sword being mumei and lack of yasurime add to the difficulty. Could it be something other than a "mass produced" blade? Seems a Koto blade blade preserved this long must me more than just a cheap sword provided the ashigaru of the day to use and throw away?

 

Since Uda was in Etchu province I could start my elimiation process researching smiths from there. Bizen and Sagami provinces have so many smiths I think I would get frustrated and have to make a special trip to the Delirium Cafe :lol:

 

Thank you again for taking the time to comment

 

I will do my research and come back when I have come up something new to say about my tired, but still sharp, katana.

[Jean]

Uda school = Northern provinces: Smiths : Go Yoshihiro/tametsugu/Norishige. Exactly the opposite of muji hada. The strongest hada one can see, look at Eric's oshigata. Blackish hada.

[Jamie]

This may be another example.

[Amon]

Perhaps I'm out and riding a bicycle but I find it very hard to see any kind of muji hada on a blade that is out of polish, pictures or not.

If it is somehow difficult to spot on a polished blade how would it be on blade out of polish?

 

Kind regards,

[doug e lewis]

WOW!! Jamie-san.

 

Amon-san, you are right.

 

My katana is so out of polish it never showed a wisp of hada like those... and I have already mentioned my difficulties is seeing hada on swords in polish that I have held. Only in NMB member photos like those and in books have seen hada. My ji just looks like shiney steel.

 

The ha-mon, when it was visible years ago, looked very similar to the ha-mon in your bottom Uda example. There is a faint bit of it still visible, but my current attempts to photograph it failed. Will keep trying.

 

Gonna have to do as much research as I can on the web, though. If I buy anymore books on swords its KP for the rest of the year. Tsuba/menuki books would be OK. My wife is a real fan of tosogu. She just hates edged weapons like swords, knives, etc, and doesn't see what I see in them.

 

she does wants to get a shotgun for self-defense of our backwater, High Mojave Desert home. Go figure! And I dislike guns -tho I know how to shoot. Just doesn't much courage, or brains,to stand off a hundred feet and shoot someone. Very much the same distaste samurai had when firearms were 1st introduced in Japan. But am reminded of the answer my 9th Dan Shotokan sensei, Mr. Okazaki, said when I asked one day at the shooting range of our karate summer camp why he was practicing with a .44 pistol when he was an expert in foot techneques. "Sometimes legs not long enough"

 

thanks for the help all

 

I

[doug e lewis]

been some time since last postings on this, but anyone (Jean?) is interested here is a wrap up:

 

returned katana to brother -- hope he takes better care of it.

 

In Bizen style; late Edo; smith unkown.

 

 

just as you thought jean

 

doug e lewis

[Jean]

Thanks for the update Doug