Koto Blade?

[IJASWORDS]

I am cataloging the swords in my collection, and I have a couple of NIHONO that are MUMEI. My aim is from the photos and basic measurements at least try and get a period, and school that I can record. Any other information would be a bonus. This example with BoHi has a cutting edge of 66cm and SORI of 25mm, to the eye (unpolished) it looks like straight HAMON. The tang is certainly cut and the cutting length shortened. There are three peg holes. Help would be gratefully appreciated, Neil.

[Shugyosha]

Hi Neil,

 

It's hard to give anything concrete based on the photographs.

 

My feeling is that the sugata suggests kanbun shinto (around 1660) - it looks to be a fairly straight blade with a smallish kissaki. That said, the curvature is hard to gauge accurately because the picture of the whole sugata is taken from above the level of the blade and the suriage might be leading me astray. 

 

Another factor that might suggest a shinto blade is that the hi ends before the yokote. It's not a very firm indicator but kissaki that have been substantially remodelled may have the hi running past the yokote and this is less likely to have happened with a shinto blade. 

 

The problem with a suguba hamon is that they were used in most schools and in most periods so it's hard to add anything based on that and I can't see any activity that might give a clue. 

 

I can't make out the jigane, and that might indicate a more tightly forged blade which may also be a pointer towards shinto or later, but there were koto schools that used this also, so again nothing conclusive there.

 

So lots of ifs, buts and maybes and I really wouldn't stake my life on anything I've just written, but hopefully it might trigger a discussion.

 

Kind regards,

John

[ROKUJURO]

Neil,

on the photo, the NAKAGO looks indeed like late KOTO or early SHINTO, but that is all I can say. Better (close-up) photos may yield more hints, but without polish to reveal HADA and HAMON properly, it will be difficult to evaluate.