Naginata!

[Viper6924]

Hi Guys!

 

Picked up a naginata a while ago. I normally try to focus on swords. But sometimes it´s nice to stray from your comfortzone :D

 

It comes with a silver habaki and a very nice shirasaya.

 

O-suriage with three mekugi-ana. Nagasa 43,5 cm. Whole length is 84,5 cm.

 

Please look at the pictures. I´m happy for ANY input on this one. It´s cut down so any signatures is lost.

 

Thanks!

 

Jan

[Mark Green]

Pretty!!!

 

That doesn't look like it was cut down much???

 

Congrats. Mark G

[Viper6924]

Hi Mark!

 

Perhaps the "O" in O-suriage is bit to much. Looking at the nakago there is sujikai-yasurime down to about 2-3 cm under the middle mekugi-ana.

Below that it turns into more of a higaki-yasurime. Based on this I felt that there is a large piece missing. But that´s my humble 2 cents

Otherwise I like it. Most of the naginatas I see is often in really bad condition.

It would be great to get an age and perhaps a school if this is possible from the pictures.

 

Thanks again!

 

Jan

[Geraint]

Hi Jan.

 

Nice blade! From limited experience these, when signed, usually have the mei quite far up the nakago so would not be lost unless considerably shortened for us in a wakizashi mount for example.

The sugata looks good as do the hi which leads me to think that it is much better than most naginata. If you have either of Knutsen's books they might help but for a similar one have a look at this. http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/polearms.html Leads me to a late koto conclusion but I am sure others will jump in.

 

Cheers

[Veli]

Hi Jan,

 

Always nice to see these beauties :D

 

The shape, where the curvature is prominent close to the kissaki, as well as the nagasa being just a little over 40 cm leads me to think this is a shinto blade. Just a guess...

 

Veli

[Grey Doffin]

I agree; Shinto sugata.

Grey

[nagamaki - Franco]

Thanks for sharing. Suspect the very tip may have been reshaped from being damaged at some point. A good candidate for a local shinsa like NTHK NPO, where I wouldn't be surprised if they named the swordsmith. For visual comparison (http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/naginata/06194.html)

[Viper6924]

Thanks guys. A lot of intr info. Looks a bit like the naginata in the pictures. Thanks Geraint for the link. It´s a really heavy piece.

 

The tip looks unaltered, but who knows for sure. Would be great with a shinsa near Scandinavia in the future...

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to help me!!!

 

Jan

[Jean]

Generally the blade length matches the nakago length, at more or less 2/3 inches

[drbvac]

Love it - the thing with these is the image of them fully mounted and in use - some say they are "womens weapons" but I wouldn't want to come up against a samurai weilding one and me with a katana

 

As Jean says - mine is balanced in lenght with the nakago and blade almost the same lenght

[Geraint]

Gentlemen.

 

Just for your consideration: "In later times (Muromachi and later) the blade became somewhat shorter, more markedly curved, wider at the upper section than at the base, with more complex grooves and with the shinogi ending at the mune a few inches below the point." (Ogawa, Nippon To: Art Swords of Japan).

[raven2]

Very nice!

[runagmc]

I would think this would be very late koto at the earliest. One thing that's interesting is the sugu hamon... from what I have seen, not very many naginata from the later periods where done with suguha. I would think that would help narrow down a school or smith for someone who really knows naginata.

[Viper6924]

Thanks again for all Your input. Before I posted this I tried to find some more info in my books and on the net.

But good info about naginatas is hard to find.

I also agree with Adam about the hamon. Couldn´t find one picture with a suguha in my search.

 

The shirasaya in very fine which means someone spend some good money taking care of it. I acctually bought this from an old antique-dealer in Japan from which I bought some yaris over the years.

Some of this yaris have acctually turned out to be 1 class blades. He seems to get his hands on good blades once in a while without knowing it. Most is of course rusty nails :lol: Making this naginata even more intresting.

 

Thanks again!!!

 

Jan