Rai Kunimune Tanto

[leo]

Hi, all!

 

For anyone who likes to see an unusual tanto for sale here is a link to a JSA sale of a signed ubu RAI KUNIMUNE (son of Rai Kunitoshi) Tanto for small money:

http://www.l-wise.co.jp/super-jsa/aucti ... ode=detail

 

The bad news is in the Hozon paper(in brackets behind the mei)

 

But interesting anyway because you do not see this attribution in a NBTHK paper too often!

 

Regards, Martin

[John A Stuart]

甫刀 This? Not sure what that means. First sword? John

[Eric H]

The bad news is in the Hozon paper(in brackets behind the mei)

This Tanto is saiha. One of the signs of a saiha blade is the appearance of the nakago...in this case it is clearly pockmarked.

 

Eric

[W K Clifford]

再刃 = saiha, doesn't this disqualify the sword automatically in shinsa?

[Brian]

Not if the sword is considered significant or culturally important. We have discussed how fatal flaws are accepted in certain circumstances..usually where the smith is important or finding much better examples is unlikely.

 

Brian

[W K Clifford]

I see.

 

Actually, can anyone provide a (link of) detailed explanation of these tree terms: 烧落, 水影, 再刃, preferably with pictures!

[John A Stuart]

水影 mizukage, water shadow, is a line that is near the machi and can indicate re-tempering where a heat sink absorbs the heat from entering the nakago.

再刃 saiha, twice edged, means the sword has been re-tempered. Sorry, I had misread the kanji on the origami.

烧落 I can't read this one. John

[W K Clifford]

Thank you, John. I found the phonetic transcription of 燒落, it is Yakiotoshi, a type of 燒出 Yakidashi.

 

I roughly understand the meaning of these terms, but I am looking for a detailed explanation, with pictures, of (the interrelation) of these concepts. For example, it is not easy to do Yakiotoshi since it easily leads to 水影 mizukage, so I heard. But I would like to see an example of this, etc.

[Jamie]

Yimu,

 

There is an example on Usagiya of a Saiha blade and the shadow it can leave.

I hope this helps, if not what you were asking I apologize.

There is a picture of one somewhere- but I cant seem to find it now.

 

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/flaws.html

 

Jamie

[bluboxer]

Good day Martin and Yimu,

Here is a link to another forum,scroll down and there is an extreme example of yaki-otoshi.

IMHO; yaki-otoshi will not in itself contribute to the presence of mizukage. Miizukage is as John said; an artifact of keeping the nakago much cooler in order to maintain the patina. A proper saiha will require annealing (re-heating to 800C+ followed by slow cooling) of the entire sword blade.Then new clay applied and yaki-ire (quenching in water) followed by yaki-modoshi (tempering).

 

In the pics of the tanto I can not see mizukage and this would follow as the original patina has been altered as Eric states..

 

http://www.swordforum.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=92642

 

Hope this helps.

[leo]

Thank you all for the interesting contributions, particularly for the Usagiya article on flaws.

Alan, I think I have discovered the mizukage, if it is not my imagination. It is difficult to see on a photo, because it is short and the hamon is narrow. I include 2 pictures. The darker portion shoud be the masking of the yakiba dropdown.

 

Regards, Martin

[Eric H]

I think I have discovered the mizukage, if it is not my imagination

Well, I don‘t believe to see mizukage in your explanation...mizukage runs diagonally into the ji...example Tanto by Horikawa Kunihiro who is known for mizukage sometimes seen in his swords...but do not misunderstand, in his case it‘s not a side effect of retempering.

 

Eric

[leo]

Off course you are right, Eric. The diagonal line is missing. I meant the starting point of the re-temper line in safe distance from the nakago!

 

Regards, Martin