Found Wakizashi

[bomulder]

Since my attempts to get confirmation and rough appraisal with a local expert did not happen. I'm going to ask for help here.

Using the on-line inventory list and studies of glossaries on Nihonto I so far have identified 1. Tori Sori 2. Mokume Kitae 3. Notare Hamon 4. Ji-nie hataraki 5. Ko-maru Boshi 6. Chu-kissaki 7. Ubu Nakago. 8. Futsu nakago 9. kurijiri 10. Kiri yasuri-me.

 

I have posted pictures of the shoto blade here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1003972495 ... directlink

 

I'm new to this, please help confirm or correct my findings.

 

Thank you so much

 

Bo

[cabowen]

I'd say you have described it accurately. It seems to have rather deep sori. By the nakago patina, etc., it may be shinshinto.....looks to have some rather nasty forging flaws.

[bomulder]

Thanks Chris. Maybe the reason why the expert is slow in getting back to us...LOL. Somebody spend a lot of time polishing an inferior forge though.

 

The sori is 11mm (see pic with rulers). Is this more than normal and perhaps an indication of school style? Shinshinto indicates period, correct?

 

The tsuba to this wakizashi is beautiful to me, although nobody else seems to think so from the lack of any responses to my post about it. (See tosogu discussion).

 

I'm doing this to help family and have just been able to get a huge education and appreciation of authentic Japanese swords. Any help to my education is much appreciated.

 

Bo

[mizuta]

Is deep sori a mainly shinshinto trait? How do you define shinshinto sori?

This has me lost!

Regards

Bernard

[cabowen]

There is no such thing really as shinshinto sori....

[runagmc]

I'd say 11mm is a pretty average amount of sori for a blade of this size and tsurikomi, or a little above average, but not extreme. The second picture looks deep because the ruler is at the end of the nakago. Sori can point to a certain era or school, but like most things nihonto, there are always exceptions to the rules.

Adam

[bomulder]

Thanks Adam.

 

I will tell my dad that the blade is probably nothing special nor quality, but that the handle parts maybe of interest to collectors. I'm having a meeting with a serious collector next week and we'll see what he says after looking at it in person. I don't think it is close to the quality that I think he has. In meantime I have learned much and it is my hope to be able to see some real quality blades in comparison from local collectors and learn more from them. Maybe in the future I will have other opportunities, but for now I'm happy to have had an introduction to Nihonto from this blade.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

Bo