Gendaito forged in Bizen tradition

[SwordGuyJoe]

Good evening all,

I have a curiosity question for you. I am wondering if anyone can shed some light on a topic for me. I am looking for schools and smiths that forged in primarily the Bizen tradition. Of course I know of Nihonto Tanren Denshu Jo and their world class smiths. But looking for more, lesser known smiths and schools. I've seen some phenomenal examples from Okimasa and Okimitsu, but with the variety of traditions employed and the blending of multiple traditions ( even the Nihonto Tanren Denshu Jo Blended soshu and Bizen although this is just nit-picking and does not eliminate them from consideration as the work is undeniably superb) and the proliferation of custom ordered swords, a smith's direction can get very mottled very quickly.

 

I love the connoisseur's book that gives you the ability to say x hada, plus y hamon, plus z ... Equals school ABC, but this leaves off at shinshinto. I have even tried to find the shinshinto school and follow forward to Showa tosho, but again, when you look for examples you find elegant Yamato blades on one page and the next a broad thick monster in the Bizen tradition. Frustration quickly ensues...

 

So what am I looking for? I have always been partial to a controlled choji based in suguha as well as the more traditional choji midare. Obviously mokume hada would be preferred, but also like a masame & itame mix. Sugata would resemble a powerful momoyama blade with chu-kissaki.

 

Essentially, I'm hoping someone can point me in a few directions as I am considering selling off most of my collection once I do some research and really key in to a single school over the next couple years. I have a Nagamitsu signed ichiryushi that is a lower quality version of exactly what I am looking for. Broad, well controlled choji in suguha (I have heard this referred to as gunome choji especially when describing Nagamitsu, but the blade I have has no signs of gunome and is a straight line of choji).

 

So what do you think?

[george trotter]

Joe, all of the Japanese language Gendai Swordsmiths books list their school/line and usually give their styles of work. Most worked in several styles. You would be able to look through the pics and check the schools and styles of smiths working from usually Taisho to 1970s-80s. More up-to-date Japanese books would also give this data on the next generation.

Books to go through include

Ono, Gendai Toko Meikan 1971,

Ono, Gendai Toko Kinko Skokukata Soran 1977,

There are many others.

This would be the quickest way to get the info you want.

Regards,

[nagamaki - Franco]

I am looking for schools and smiths that forged in primarily the Bizen tradition.

 

There are the Minatowgawa & Yasukuni shrine smiths, plus Gassan smiths that immediately come to mind.

[george trotter]

Joe,

those named are possibilities. To name another, Seki smith Nakata Kanehide is listed as working in Bizen style. Kanehide usually worked in the style of Mino, specifically of Shizu Kaneuji, but also he also worked in Osafune Nagamitsu style, and a glance over his work shows that this is quite common (suguba of choji and sometimes midare also). He also followed the style of Horikawa line and also Kiyomaro. He is classed as a Seki smith, which he was, but of his works I have seen, there are as many Bizen as Mino...so perhaps you could classify him as "Bizen association" for your purposes?

IMHO, check the books first and draw up a list of smiths to investigate, or investigate the maker of each Bizen style gendai sword as you come across it...

Plenty of the Gendai smiths worked in Bizen style.

Hope this helps,

Regards

[SwordGuyJoe]

George,

Actually, I have a daisho from Kanehide because of this fact and both blades are forged in the Bizen style. I have the Gendai Toko Meikan and will have the Gendai Toko Kinko soon. I may need some help in pointing me to the section where it calls out the style they work in, as the index from Dr. Steins site only translates the smith's name. If anyone can help to this point (scan a page from the GTM and translate what each line is saying), I would be eternally grateful! I have only gotten so far to say line one is the smith's name and that exhausts almost all of my Japanese skills.

[cabowen]

The overwhelming majority of early Showa smiths worked in the Bizen tradition which makes it either fairly easy, or difficult, depending on your perspective, to find desirable examples.

 

The works by Ono san are not going to be a big help because they deal primarily with smiths working post war and their post war work. This is not to say that there aren't a fair number of smiths who worked during the war within his books, but the numbers are hardly inclusive.

 

You will not find many blades made at the Yasukuni Jinja done in a genuine choji. They are rare. Same goes for the MInatogawa Jinja, though they seem to be a bit less rare. Gassan works in the Bizen den are also rare in comparison to his traditional Gassan works, though I have seen a blade in choji from time to time. Personally, I think Gassan blades are way overpriced.

 

The largest group of talented smiths working in Bizen den during the war are those trained by Kasama Shigetsugu and his students. Horii Taneaki and his students also worked primarily in the Bizen den and made excellent swords.

 

There are others that were very skilled, scattered all over Japan: Tadatsugu in Saga (actually, there were several good smiths in Saga), Imai Sadashige in Iyo, Amazu Masakiyo and Kawashima Tadayoshi (shodai) in Shimane, Ota Chikahide in Shizuoka, Kato brothers in Tokyo, Niita group in Aomori, etc., are all top notch smiths who worked in the Bizen den....

 

Check them out.....

[SwordGuyJoe]

Amazing. Thank you!

[Rich S]

Both Nagamitsu and Chounsai Emura worked in the Bizen tradition. But as you noted, some made by

students aren't as pronounced.

 

Rich S

[SwordGuyJoe]

I firmly believe my Nagamitsu is what has prompted this appreciation of the bizen dens. Like I said it is very nice and is everything I am looking for, but only of better quality. At the dismay of my pocket book I am beginning to lean toward the Nihonto Tanren Denshu Jo school and specifically focused on the pupils of Sadatsugu and the lineage of kuniie. But I will begin looking close at this listed by Chris as well. One reason is the quality of the swords they produced the other is the importance of what Sadatsugu and Akihide were able Revive prior to their falling out and the impact they had on the art of Japanese sword manufacture.

[cabowen]

I think you mean Shigetsugu.....

 

Yoshihara Kuniie was very good smith who made 1600+ blades. His work is not hard to find but it is very pricey. The list I gave you consists of smiths that are on the Kuniie level without the Kuniie price

[SwordGuyJoe]

Correct. Sorry and thanks again Chris.

[mdiddy]

I have often found Nagamitsu Bizen-den to be of pretty high quality and on par with some ShinShinTo I have had. Very consistent nioi-guchi, ashi, and usually choji gunome based on suguha. Although, I have never seen a Nagamitsu with smaller, more-controlled clusters of choji or overlapping choji.

[David Flynn]

Takahashi Yoshimune, trained in the Bizen tradition through the Yokoyama line. Seki Kanenobu 1st Gen. Tsukamoto Masakazu.

[cabowen]

Indeed, Yoshimune worked in the Bizen den and was a good smith. He is well known and his blades are usually expensive.

 

I have never seen a blade by Seki Kanenobu done in choji; Seki Kanehide did work in Bizen den and his work is nice....

 

Tsukamoto Masakazu was a talented smith but made few blades. I believe Barry Thomas had one a while back....Did you end up with it David?

 

 

Here are a few more to check out: Baba brothers from Shikoku, Tomida Sukehiro from Tokyo, Ishido Teruhide (good smith that gets little credit), Yamagami brothers. All of these were quite prolific so finding their work is not too difficult.

[SwordGuyJoe]

My Nagamitsu is similar to that shown in nagamitsu3 photo only mine has a bit broader "cloves".

[David Flynn]

Hi Chris, yes I have the Masakazu. A very good sword, I believe.

[george trotter]

Chris mentions the Yamagami brothers of Niigata (old Echigo)...these are elder brother Munetoshi (Shigetsugu scxhool) and younger brother Akihisa (Akihide school)...both were RJT smiths during the war and Akihisa became the more prominent after the war.

Here is a pic of Munetoshi's gonome/choji ba...he is described as working in Bizen den primarily, but I have also got one by him in ko-midare of ko-gonome with some nijuba. As Chris says, these turn up reasonably often.

There are so many who are influenced by Bizen....won't be hard to find examples.

regards,

[huntershooter]

Here's an example by Ohta Chikahide:

[cabowen]

I have a few holes in my collection I have long wanted to fill- one is for Tsukamoto Masakazu. He made few blades and I have only seen the one oshigata that Barry sent me of (now) your sword long ago....Post some pictures of it if you are so inclined...

 

The two blades posted above would benefit greatly from a good polish, the Ota blade in particular. He was a top rate smith. I have a blade by him that fooled a lot of people at shinsa. Most thought it was a shinshinto by a variety of Koyama Munetsugu school smiths.

 

Nice to see some good gendaito here.....

[SwordGuyJoe]

The chikahide is beautiful! This is a great thread and so nice to see some great gendaito!

[george trotter]

You are so right about the wartime polish Chris...although I tend to leave as found, scratches and all, I must say that the Yamagami bros polisher was a bit below par...these two swords of mine both have the most undulating finish of all gendaito in wartime polish I have seen (too much sake???).

On the Bizen influence...in addition to the hamon, just look at the koshizori on both of these blades...quite distictive.

great thread.

regards,

[cabowen]

Here is a pair of Kasama Shigetsugu tanto in the Bizen den. The first was made for a wedding ceremony and is an early work from Taisho. It is quite small but the quality is excellent. The second was ordered by Kasama's patron, the famous right winger Toyama Mitsuru, as what appears to be part of a daisho, for a man named Nakamura Naosaburo, whom I believe was a wealthy industrialist and chief stockholder of the Eastern Manchurian Railway. It is a later work, done in Showa 13, and made at Toyama's estate in Tokiwamatsu. It has horimono on both omote and ura, which Kasama was known for. Note the attention paid to the quality of finish on the nakako and mei....In my opinion, this is a benchmark for early Showa work and what we as collectors should be looking for..

 

 

.

[cabowen]

Here is another tanto in Bizen den by Kasama student Sakai Shigemasa. He is one of the so-called three "birds" trained by Kasama (the others are Miyaguchi Yasuhiro and Tsukamoto Okimasa). He didn't make a lot of swords during the war but was well known afterwards. This tanto was made for Nakamura Tetsuao, who was a well known tsuba expert and author. It is quite similar to the first tanto above made in Taisho by his teacher Shigetsugu.

[SwordGuyJoe]

It was odd that you had mentioned Kanenobu in shoji, because I was in the process of buying one. I had an interesting surprise when I received the sword today. It is in Choji - or something like it. Take a look at the photos of the mei. What would you guys call it? It's much more like the choji nodules are riding on top of a suguha with clear definition between the two. It's clearly not a retemper, but a very interesting hamon design.

 

Sorry for the garbage photos.

[cabowen]

I think this is what happens when a smith experiments with a hamon that is not their usual work.

[SwordGuyJoe]

True. It sure is interesting though and should look good when in polish whenever I get around to sending it out. It's a star stamp blade in near mint late 44 mounts.

[David Flynn]

The Kanenobu I have, is one of the founders of the Showa Seki school and Father of Niwa Kanenobu. At the Sydney Shinsa in 2009, this was chosen over a Shigetsugu I submitted as one of the best swords submitted. Unfortunately, it only recieved 70pts. This was because someone had removed the date. However Yoshikawa sensei chose this sword and commented, that it was made in the style of Bizen Kiyomitsu and that the date was probably removed to sell it as an old sword.

[cabowen]

The Kanenobu I have, is one of the founders of the Showa Seki school and Father of Niwa Kanenobu. At the Sydney Shinsa in 2009, this was chosen over a Shigetsugu I submitted as one of the best swords submitted. Unfortunately, it only recieved 70pts. This was because someone had removed the date. However Yoshikawa sensei chose this sword and commented, that it was made in the style of Bizen Kiyomitsu and that the date was probably removed to sell it as an old sword.

 

Sounds nice. Post some pictures.....Most of the Kiyomitsu blades I have seen were done in suguha-what style is your Kanenobu?

 

The date may also have been removed because the blade was a special order and the name and date were both removed. I have seen that a few times.

 

There were a few smiths signing Kanenobu in Seki during the war....Is yours and the one above the same smith?....Many Kasama blades were daisaku and there is quite a bit of variation in these...

[SwordGuyJoe]

The Kanenobu I have, is one of the founders of the Showa Seki school and Father of Niwa Kanenobu.

 

 

As is mine.

[David Flynn]

I will attempt to take some photos. on the weekend. Unfortunately, I'm not a very good photographer and My camera is not very sophisticated.

 

 

P.S.

I thought Yoshikawa sensei said Kagemitsu, but a friend reckons he said Kiyo mitsu.

It's not Sughuha.