New tachi, NBTHK shinsa services help

[Corucia]

Folks,

 

As some of you might recall, I was hunting for an old tachi last month and appreciated all the feedback/insights that I received from various members of the board. It was a very helpful education as I am still getting my feet wet. Ultimately, I managed to track down and purchase a nice quality unsigned Yamato tachi from the early to mid-Kamakura period. While the tang is unsigned (which I understand is typical for Yamato den), it is ubu nakago and the nagasa is a nice length at 76cm with ~2cm of curvature. The sword is located in Japan and already has NBTHK Hozon paper, which attributed the sword to the Ko-Naminohira school. I included a few pics below for reference.

 

As the sword has received a new polish (and it was out of polish when it was given the Hozon paper), I’d like to have it submitted to NBTHK for Tokubetsu Hozon consideration while it is still in Japan. To this end, I wanted to inquire if folks on the board might have any recommendations for reliable shinsa service providers in Japan who can help out with the process. Any ideas members can provide would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

 

Eric

[Jean]

Eric,

 

Congratulations :D there are quite a lot of reliable people covering shinsa service :

 

The Kashima sisters (Usagiya sword shop), Keichodo : Robert Hughes ......

 

BTW, ko Naminohira is Satsuma province not Yamato province:

 

http://www.sho-shin.com/contents.htm

[leo]

Nice first buy, Eric.

Would be interesting to see the nakago and a better pic of the paper.

 

I see " A Dai To" instead of the usual "A Katana". From what size on do they say that in the papers? Does anybody know?

 

Martin

[Ray Singer]

太刀 = tachi

[leo]

Thanks, Raymond,

didn´t recognize it.

[Corucia]

Raymond/Martin/Jean, many thanks for the notes. Here is a larger pic of the paper. I'll post additional pics in the future once I have the sword in hand

[Corucia]

Jean, you are absolutely correct. I meant to indicate it was Yamato tradition. Found the below from one of the sites that you were good enough to forward to me.

 

http://nihontoclub.com/node/12468?order ... &sort=desc

 

Eric

[drbvac]

Nice one:

 

I love those very long thin tachi with that lovely curvature - would think that longer blades this size and shape harder to forge but ??

 

Amazing good start - little better than my $350.00 wak

[Jean]

Eric,

 

An ubu Kamakura blade is not so frequent, most blades are suriage or O suriage

[runagmc]

Isn't it wrong to call a blade ubu when it's machi okuri?

[leo]

Strictly speaking, a blade with machi okuri is not ubu.

 

The jiri seems untouched though and the sword retains its beautiful original sugata. As blades of this age are usually o-suriage, I think in this case the machi okuri does not lessen the value considerably.

 

If better pictures are at hand I would check the ha thoroughly. If it is still completely there, I would go for a Juyo Token paper. It will take longer and cost a bit more, but would be worth the effort.

 

Regards,

[Corucia]

Jean/Adam/Martin, many thanks for the observations and suggestions re: my new sword. I'm in the process of following-up with a few Japan-based shinsa services providers to have the sword submitted to NBTHK - - thanks for the suggestions from various board members. It will be very interesting to see how it ranks now that it is in polish (vs. not in good polish when it received the Hozon paper). Any additional insight/feedback on the sword is very much welcome. I'll definitely post additional pics once I get the sword back from Japan but it will be some time given the shinsa process. Many thanks to all again for feedback.

 

Eric

[Corucia]

Martin,

 

Addressing your earlier post, here is a somewhat clearer pic of the nakago that I received. For reference, it is right around 22cm in length. I also posted a few other pics that didn't upload to the original post. To my amateur eye, I think the jiri is untouched/original but welcome the opinions of others with more experience.

 

Here are a few additional details/dimensions. The seller indicated that sword was given to a shrine in the Edo period and was acquired 80 years ago by a family in Japan that held the sword until this time. The exact length of the nagasa is 75.8cm with 2.0cm of curvature. The width of the blade at the hamachi is 2.62cm and thickness is 7.2mm. The width at the Kissaki is 1.17cm, so while it has probably been polished a fair amount over time it doesn't sound overpolished/tired. In any case, would welcome any other thoughts folks have, which are much appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Eric