Akihide tanto

[lawlord]

Hello, guys!

Please have a look at this tanto which is said to be made by Kurihara (Akihide) Hikosaburo with horimono by his disciple Abe Akitada.

Any comments and opinions are welcome!

 

Yury

[cabowen]

Nice! Is this for sale on a Japanese dealer site? Seems I have seen it somewhere before....

[Eric H]

A fine and attractive Tanto with an unusual horimono.

 

Eric

[lawlord]

Nice! Is this for sale on a Japanese dealer site? Seems I have seen it somewhere before....

Yes, it was on sale, now I've purchased it

 

Regards,

Yury Emelin

[Brian]

I like it! Very nice indeed.

 

Brian

[lawlord]

Can you please comment on the horimono symbolic meaning? Is it a Hoo bird, and is true that by tradition not every master was allowed to picture it?

 

Regards,

Yury

[cabowen]

Yes, I think it is a Hoo bird (Japanese phoenix). Google is your friend. There is a lot of info available.

 

No rules about what could or couldn't be used for horimono subject matter, just tradition. The Hoo bird is rarely seen on swords. Akihide/Akitada made many tanto with unusual and elaborate horimono.

[lawlord]

Can you please translate the inscription?

 

Regards,

Yury

[Marius]

Hello, guys!

Please have a look at this tanto which is said to be made by Kurihara (Akihide) Hikosaburo with horimono by his disciple Abe Akitada.

Any comments and opinions are welcome!

 

Yury,

 

I am sorry, but the horimono is just awful. No precision in the carving whatsoever, and the composition is a mess. And, sorry to say that, this does not seem to be just a bad photograph

 

Sorry for being so blunt, but this is how I see it...

[Eric H]

To give justice to Abe Akitada's skill :lol:

 

Eric

[Grey Doffin]

I'm with Mariusz on this one; this is clumsy at best horimono.

Grey

[cabowen]

Can you please translate the inscription?

 

Regards,

Yury[attachment=0]3014ha_name.JPG[/attachment]

 

Why didn't you ask the seller, I am sure he knows....

[reinhard]

Any comments and opinions are welcome!

 

Yury, you better stay in your sandbox, i.e. in the "for sale and trade" section.

There's nothing wrong with your commercial interests, but spreading your silly stuff all over the board will eventually provoke reactions you don't want to be confronted with. Mine for example.

 

reinhard

[b.hennick]

I'm with Mariusz on this one; this is clumsy at best horimono.

Grey

I thought that it was just me in thinking that this is a terrible horimono. I was going to say nothing as the saying "If you have nothing good to say then say nothing." But I just want to agree with Grey.

[sanjuro]

I hate to be negative but this blade illustrates quite well, the fact that a less than well done horimono can turn an otherwise desirable blade into something less than desirable. Is it likely as it would seem, that this horimono was added somewhat later than the original finishing of this blade in order to tart it up for a non samurai owner, or to hide some defect that had become apparent?

 

I have a natural suspicion of all horimono and badly executed ones even moreso.

[John A Stuart]

Gendaito, Keith. John

[sanjuro]

Thanks John.

 

Sorry guys, I misread rather badly a handwritten and hasty reference I was using. I picked up Akihiro instead of Akihide. Dumb mistake!!! Its not much like Akihiro's work anyhow........

[Satsuma]

I think its quite charming. One must not forget that Akihide had Kasama Shigetsugu train these students and were amateurs and fresh off the boat. I would not knock it or him for this. This sword was made during the war by a twenty year old something.......not at all a bad effort.

 

James

[Eric H]

Kurihara Akihide, known as Kurihara Hikosaburo was

born at Sano in Tochigi pref. in 1879. He learned under Inagaki Masanori the Second

and Horii Taneaki clan. Akihide established Nihon-to Tanren Denshusho

at Akasaka in Tokyo and made efforts to train modern swordsmiths 50

strong include Amada Akitsugu, Akimoto Akitomo and Miyairi Akihira.

Akihide also went into politics as a member of the House of Representatives for Tochigi Pref.

He passed away in 1954, aged 76.

 

The pictured horimonos are the same of the Akihide blade. I agree the upper one is a irritating photograph whereas the other displays the details very well. To judge it as „clumsy, horrible, badly executed“ is most surprising... well to each his opinion.

Abe Akitada of Sanjo city wasn‘t a disciple of Akihide, he was an engraver as far as I have detected.

The Tanto was made for celebration of the imperial year 2601 (1941).

 

Eric

[lawlord]

Thank you, Eric!

Of course, guys could me mislead by first bad quality photos.

And I think we have to ignore immature comment from reinhard which only demonstrates his level of education and exasperation.

I have no commercial interests as far as this tanto is not for sale. I just wanted more experienced people to share their opinions and information relevant to it. I think that's the purpose this message board is created for.

 

Regards,

 

Yury

[Nobody]

FYI; here are more photos remaining.

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2009/0910_3014syousai.htm