Muki Posted February 20, 2011 Report Posted February 20, 2011 I have been looking at this katana for a bit in a sort of self-study to see if I could use what resources I have and determine where and who might have been the smith. I believe the mei is Kunishige but I cannot for the life of me match sugata and hamon of the actual sword to matching references to a "kunishige" smith. My belief is that the sword is a koto blade that may be from the Fujishima school from the hamon but am still not sure. Any help or insight would be helpful and greatly appreciated! Also, if someone does have an answer would it be too much to ask how that answer was arrived at or what resource was used? I am trying to learn as I go as this is fascinating to me and I appreciate not only the answers but also how they were arrived at! Overall sword photo The nakago to my untrained eye seems to be ubu and the blade may be machi-okuri from the placement of the futasuji-hi. Nakago photo The mei seems a bit sloppy but then my own handwriting looks bad too. I find a number of Kunishige smiths but cannot seem to pinpoint one to this particular sword. Mei photo Jim Quote
Muki Posted February 20, 2011 Author Report Posted February 20, 2011 Last two photos are of the boshi and a picture of the hamon. The hamon to me looks gorgeous. The nioi deki line looks like a bolt of lightning running down the blade in the vertical and from the horizontal it looks like snow blowing off a mountain peak in the form of utsuri (?). Sorry if I get carried away, I just love lots of activity in a blade! jim Quote
mizuta Posted February 20, 2011 Report Posted February 20, 2011 very nice i think we can rule out the Mizuta school .How do you take the very good pictures? Bernard Quote
Veli Posted February 20, 2011 Report Posted February 20, 2011 Please note that this blade is currently for sale (auction) on AOI-ART webpages. Clearly indicated by Tsuruta-san as gimei. BR, Veli Quote
cabowen Posted February 20, 2011 Report Posted February 20, 2011 Not Mizuta and not Hasebe......not much left so understandable why it is being sold as gimei.... Quote
Muki Posted February 20, 2011 Author Report Posted February 20, 2011 Please note that this blade is currently for sale (auction) on AOI-ART webpages. Clearly indicated by Tsuruta-san as gimei. BR, Veli Yes it is, and so ? AOI is a great place to look at a number of swords for study as the photos are very good, still doesnt answer the Kunishige question. You will note that what I have identified as the potential school doesnt include a listed Kunishige? If the blade was mumei there is still a good amount of activity and what appears to be a good nioi-guchi seems fairly consistent. This is after all an academic question on the potential school and smith that I am trying to answer for my personal edification. jim Quote
cabowen Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 The nioi-guchi is actually quite uneven. It is tight in some places and thick in others. For example, look at the picture of the kissaki you posted. The left side shows a diffuse, rather thick habuchi while the other side, on the right, shows a fairly tight and narrow habuchi. That is generally considered rather low class workmanship and a good reason to put this blade aside and focus on a more worthy subject of study.... Quote
Veli Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 Jim, I am strongly in favor of academic discussion based on excellent photographs! However, it would be a good idea to provide a link to the seller's pages, in order to give access to all the available information and additional pictures. Did you ask Tsuruta-san's permission for copying the pictures on AOI-ART webpages? BR, Veli Quote
george trotter Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 Time for me to show my ignorance... I notice the comments that the work is not Mizuta or Hasebe and is gimei, I presume because it is signed Kunishige but does not match "their" work. Couldn't this be a countryside smith named Kunishige? and as such, just an example of your average "unknown" countryside smith named Kunishige who made swords for your average countryside samurai...and did not belong/exhibit the traits of any major school? Kunishige thus being his name and not a gimei of the "known" Kunishige meis. I ask this as I am just looking at a blade (from pics) that is signed Sendai ju Iyetsugu...I can't find him anywhere, but would hesitate to say gimei of Echizen/Kaga/Mino schools etc...again, maybe just a countryside smith? Regards, George. Quote
cabowen Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 Time for me to show my ignorance...I notice the comments that the work is not Mizuta or Hasebe and is gimei, I presume because it is signed Kunishige but does not match "their" work. Couldn't this be a countryside smith named Kunishige? and as such, just an example of your average "unknown" countryside smith named Kunishige who made swords for your average countryside samurai...and did not belong/exhibit the traits of any major school? Kunishige thus being his name and not a gimei of the "known" Kunishige meis. I ask this as I am just looking at a blade (from pics) that is signed Sendai ju Iyetsugu...I can't find him anywhere, but would hesitate to say gimei of Echizen/Kaga/Mino schools etc...again, maybe just a countryside smith? Regards, George. You raise a legitimate point. Who is to say it isn't some unrecorded smith? It could very well be...Most of the Mizuta smiths had a long signature. The Hasebe group usually included Hasebe in their mei....One would think that if someone were trying to copy one of these groups he would have included a more complete mei to make it more convincing. On the other hand, the blade is made in a soshu style that in a limited way could bring to mind one of these soshu den based groups and thus a spurious mei. It seems in Japan they prefer to err on the side of caution and rather call it an unrecorded smith, it is simply gimei.... In any case, gimei or unrecorded smith, it is about 6 of one, half a dozen of another.... Quote
Grey Doffin Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 Leaving out everything but the mei (not looking at the hada, hamon, sugata, possible school or time period, or anything else), this looks like a gimei. A long time collector in Japan once told me, "You don't need books to tell if a signature is gimei; they just look gimei." Grey Quote
george trotter Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 I agree Chris. And Grey...gimei is always a distinct possibility but so is countryside smith mei, and members should use a little caution in accepting gimei for everything. Also, it is not only shinto/shinshinto that had countryside smiths...I have a Shigekuni (opposite of this Kunishige) and it is Showa period gendaito gunto...I can find him no-where, yet he is good at his work...I keep trying to find Nanki Shigekuni traits, and there are some (I convince myself) so he could be the later modern generation/continuation of late Edo/early Meiji generation perhaps?)...but...probably, in reality, just a modern version of an unrecorded countryside smith... Geo. PS. can I just add that in this case I refer specifically to nijimei...ie, not a mei using references to school, title or province of any like signing "known" smith. Nijimei in this sort of instance is possibly a countryside smith... Quote
Jean Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 Hasebe daito are not so frequent. In ten years I must have seen two daito on sale including Darcy's one. Much more frequent were their tanto, there is one on Aoi Art: http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/sale/10023.html I would like to add that Nambokucho Soshu school blades are not to be easily found and are expensive. Hasebe school is one of the most look after school. Some schools/smiths are more or less appreciated/looked after or more or less encountered. A lot of of Naotsuna or Sadatsuna can be found, again in ten years I have seen more than thirty blades (Daito) from these smiths. I havenot seen more than three Tametsugu on sale... Quote
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