Shikkake Hada

[mdiddy]

Hello,

 

I was trying to get pictures of a ko-gunome hamon and ended up with some better pictures of Shikkake hada. Here are some pictures of Shikkake hada I thought I would share. Masame transitioning to mokume in the ji. If you look closely at the kissaki you can see hakikake and old man's beard.

 

Matt

[mdiddy]

Here is the kissaki.

[paulb]

Hi Matt,

Attached below some additional Shikkake images which show Shikkake hada and boshi on a naginata Naoshi

This blade is attributed to early Shikkake

[Stegel]

Very nice indeed!

Thanks for that, any chance of seeing the whole blade and perhaps the nakago/mei?

 

Ernst

[Jean]

very good picture Matt To get clear picture of the kissaki boshi, you just have to change slightly the orinetation of your camera so it is really parallel to the kissaki and adjust the light accodingly.

 

It is very difficult to light correctly both kissaki and hiraji before kissaki.

 

Now, the main difference between both swords is the forge of the masame. (In 80/90% of existing Yamato blades, there are ware (all schools included). the crudest IMO, is Senjuin where the hada is very rough, except some blades from the Ryumon Nobuyoshi school. Shikkake can have very fine hada. I saw a splendid one in the flea market 2 months ago, unfortunately it had a 6mm umegane covering both hamon and hada. The Tegai school has also from time to time fine examples. But a lot of Yamato Juyo blades have often ware due to masame.)

 

Paul's naginata naoshi is juyo token, hada is so tight that you can easily miss the nagare.

 

2 days ago, I had an old veteran collector at home who went to see the Yamato blade I have posted a few weeks ago. The light was not the best due to the weather. I told him to point directly the sword to a lamp and start looking the hada from habaki to kissaki, as if aiming with a rifle. He told me he had missed half of the masame because of the layers being so tightly forge. facing the blade it looked like itame.

[paulb]

Hi Jean,

I have to say I dont agree with you about Senjuin, at least ko-Senjuin. I have seen some absolutley beautiful ko Senjuin work where the hada was so tight it had spent much of its life attributed to Rai Kunitoshi.

I agree that as with all the other Yamato schools the later work does become less attractive.

My favourite is still Taima. I have seen very few but every one I have seen I would loved to have added to my collection.

[Jean]

Hi Paul,

 

Ko-schools when surviving are often the best, but they are exceptions in the mass production of Yamato blades. On O suriage blades, when resubmitted, the kantei is often different. Darcy, when seeing my Yamato blade in Japan, told me that its hada was more often seen on Rai blades than on Yamato's; on the best blades, Yamato and Yamashiro hada are closed.

Of all Yamato schools, Taima is the one which has the greatest number of Juyo blades, almost the double of the following one which is Shikkake.

[paulb]

Hi Jean,

maybe that means my taste isnt so bad after all :D !!

[Jean]

Probably Paul because it is the most atypical of Yamato school bordering for some smiths to Soshu Yukimitsu :D

[mdiddy]

Paul - thanks for sharing, is yours the same as from Andy's site? Very nice. I expect mine is later, maybe mid-late Nambokucho. The hada is visibly nagare.

 

Jean - thanks for the photo tip. I will try that.

 

Ernst - I'll see if I can get some overall pictures. Nakago is o-suriage, mumei.

 

Any other Shikkake examples from the Messageboard?

[paulb]

Hi Matt,

yes thats the one.

[runagmc]

Here's a few pictures I had saved from websites if your interested... sorry, they're too big to post directly...

[Jean]

Adam,

 

Thanks for these high rez pictures. They are fascinating

 

They are all different, as well in hamon as in hada, (have a look at the boshi)

 

Who would have kanteied these 3 swords to Shikkake?

 

Concerning Masame, curiously, Nihon to Koza for Yamato blades states for the hada,: "hint (or "taste") of Masame", what is extent of the word "Hint", does it range from 1% to 30%? It is said the width of the shinogi ji is wide; compared to what, same period other schools? When one can say that a shinogiji is wide?

 

Do you notice on Adam's pictures if the shinogiji is really large?

 

In Shikkake, ko mokume according to Nagayama Kokan is bordering the shinogi and masame runs along the hamon as in Matt pictures. Look at Adam's middle picture (TH Kamakura), the ko mokume is easily seen along the hamon...

 

Have a look at the general characteristic of Yamato school:

http://www.nihonto.com/abtmaj.html

 

Read the Nihonto Koza on Yamato schools, study the description of the swords illustated either by pictures or Oshigata, you will notice that have some outsatanding masame, others not, and there are some with wide shinogi, others not, there are even some swords in nioi deki.

 

 

Reason why, Kantei is easy

 

Adam,

 

I would be grateful, if you have any other pictures of other Yamato schools, to post them

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100461?x=& ... l&century=

[runagmc]

Here's one more good one,

[micha]

Hi,

 

Here are some pictures of my mumei kamakura ko-Senjuin. It's ubu, just a few cm machiokuri. Nagasa +/- 80 cm.

 

Greetings,

Micha Baudenelle

[runagmc]

Micha, thanks for posting it. The suguta is outstanding. Was it attributed to ko-Senjuin at shinsa?

[micha]

Hi,

 

No it hasn't been submitted to the NBTHK.

 

Micha

[mdiddy]

Micha,

 

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed these pics, especially as yours is ubu. I've seen one other Ko-Senjuin piece - a mumei, o-suriage katana. It had Tokubetsu Hozon papers to Ko-Senjuin. It also had hada much like yours.

 

Best,

 

Matt

[runagmc]

I ran into another Juyo Yamato sword with high quality pics. Here's the link for those interested, http://www.samurai-nippon.net/V-880/

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

A juyo token Shikkake tachi :

 

http://www.nihontocraft.com/Yamato_Shik ... honto.html

 

And a Norinaga tachi (juyo bunkasai) :

 

http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100461/000 ... s=33&num=1

[Jean]

http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/11117.html

[mdiddy]

Thanks Jacques, Adam, and Jean for keeping the thread going.

 

Here is a Juyo Shikkake, once belonging to Mori Daimyo, signed Norinaga from AOI Art: http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/sale/11295.html

 

Has anyone ever seen bo-hi on Shikkake school work? For Yamato, I have only seen bo-hi on Taima (pictures only) and the few Senjuin I have examined. Are there any rules to bo-hi and the Yamato schools? I would be curious to find out.

 

Matt

[wbt]

In the spirit of keeping the thread going, here are a couple of High Res. pictures of good tight ko-mukome in a Taima blade with Bohi. Juyo Blade from Kamakura era. (Photoshopped the photos together)

 

I have also attached a couple of photos from a Ko-senjuin Juyo blade from Kamakura era. (Not as good as Taima pcitures - different set-up and camera - will do better pictures when time permits.)

 

Enjoy,

Brent

[Jiro49]

Since the Taima school has been brought up several times, I'm curious if anyone has examples from the oei period?

 

Regards,

[templar44]

Matt

I was browsing through some of the old topics as I am new to the forum. Enjoying some of the discussion. I came across yours and thought you may the photos I posted might give you a good idea of Shikkake gunome. I collect primarily Yamato. When I saw it come up for sale I grabbed it immediately. It is a tachi with a length of 76.4 cm. It was made in the late Kamakura to early Nambokucho period. The blade had Tokubetsu Hozon papers. I sent it to Tanobe Michihiro sensei to have the saya done. He states in his attribution that both the jigane and the hamon are both special features of Shikkake Norinaga. The blade is nice and typical Norinaga. I write this to give you an example of Norinaga hamon. I do not have a macro lens as of yet so it is difficult to show you the detail of the jigane. I will post it for you as soon as I do. Hope it is of value to you.

Tony Martin

[mdiddy]

Tony - thanks for sharing. Please post more pics - show us the sugata, hada, and hamon if you can.

 

My shikkake has a gunome hamon very similar to the oshigata here: http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/m-kenji/ ... oto11.html. There is sunagashi throughout the hamon coinciding with masame hada that rises into the ji. It is Tokubetsu Hozon with sayagaki by Tanobe dating it to late Nambokucho. It was not directly attributed to Norinaga though. I will see if I can get photos of the hamon.

 

In the mean time, share some more pics, please!

[templar44]

Will post more photos tomorrow. I am working now so it has to wait. I'll give you more details about it as well.

Tony Martin