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Koto Wakizashi & Koshirae

Prewar70

By Prewar70
in Nihonto

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Prewar70 Proficient

Prewar70

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After some help translating ( was able to purchase and received in the mail today. Suriage, Bizen Yoshii school with the smith's name cut off. The hada is not visible due to condition but the hamon is. Hamon seems consistent (no pun intended) being one of the major kantei points for the school as well as sugata. So does the boshi, which is barely visible in one of the pictures. I'd appreciate your opinions as to age, Nanbokuchu or Muromachi. Any help with mei oshigatas and perhaps I can find a specific smith, if the signature is good. Seems overall like a nicely made sword. Thank you.

 

https://www.nihonto.com/bizen-yoshii-school/

 

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Blazeaglory Mentor

Blazeaglory

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Very nice.

 

Just a thought but do you think the Mei is original? I'm thinking, if that lower Mekugi Ana and Mei are original, than what was the original nagasa? Would seem a short katana. I'm not saying shorter blades don't exist but my instincts tell me the Mei might be added after and the lower mekugi ana was made to look chiseled.

 

I'd venture to say mid Muromachi to late Muromachi with the Mei possibly added. Worst case, maybe its early Shinto. But that's just my first impressions.

 

Other than that, nice fittings and the blade itself looks like it will polish up good

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Prewar70 Proficient

Prewar70

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Based on my digging around, this sword is in line with shape and size for Muromachi time period.  Lifting info from Aoi's website, ground fighting was the thing and shorter swords with smaller nakagos were in style.   Katateuchi style.  The link below is to a wakizashi that is currently for sale.  Nagasa is 20.6 inches, mei placement, and looks ubu, not 100% on that though.  So if the blade in question is shortened a few inches with a nagasa of 18.5, the dimensions make sense.

 

My sword could be late Muromachi based on style.  Need to see if I can find Yoshii school oshigatas.

 

https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-bizen-kuni-ju-osafune-munemitsu/

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TheGermanBastard

TheGermanBastard

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Luis, you may be right but I'm not following your train of thought.  It's not the same smith or school, but you're suggesting that they way the mei is cut can lend it to a time period?  Help me understand

 

Yes it is not.

 

Look at a sufficient number of Shinto signature, let's say 1000, and their cut and compare them to the same number of Koto Mei. The cut of your Mei is very deep, and rather wide with very little wear to it. An avwrage Joe Muromachi periode Mei is less deep, less wide and more worn in general. Again of course there is lost of exception. This is a general observation.

 

I know that Yoshii produced most of its swords during Muromachi periode. Hence by mere guessing Muromachi is the best call. However I do not know when Yoshii school ended. Does somebody know? If it continued to Shinto periode - which I blantly assume - I would like to put your sword into that periode. If it ended late Muromachi then that is my best guess.

 

At the end of the day you would need to get it polished and submit to Shinsa for a more precise oppinion. In terms of periode you may want to submitt it to one of the upcoming US NTHK Shinasa as they will usually give you a precise periode.

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Geraint Grand Master

Geraint

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Dear All.

 

I am intrigued as to how we get to suriage katana.  The nagasa is current;y 18.5", at best, given the location of the mekugi ana this has lost 2" so original length around 20.5".  Now that might make it katate uchi at best unless we are suggesting that the whole nakago as it is now has been created.  If that is the case then what supports that view?  

 

Luis makes some good points about the size and condition of the mei but suggests that these are not conclusive.  I agree that the mei is cut quite deeply but from what can be seen in the photo there do not appear to be tagane makura.

 

Other than that we have a wide shinogi ji and what appears from the present polish to be a slightly extended chu kissaki.   

 

All the best.

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nagamaki - Franco Veteran

nagamaki - Franco

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Is it worth shinsa?

 

 

While there is not as much at stake at lower levels, none the less, all the Juyo advice recently given should be adhered to in principal. Best to understand exactly what you have, and more importantly what you don't have before hand. While experience is a wonderful teacher not everything needs to be learned the hard way, or maybe it does. 

 

Unfortunately, for too many buyers/accumulators shinsa is game, imho. Where as for true collectors it's confirmation.

Edited by nagamaki - Franco
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Jean

Jean

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Jacques,

 

Search Markus Sesko’s book on Japanese swordsmiths, they are listed. Markus works only from Japanese sources.

 

Anyway, all smiths listings are coming from Japanese sources (truism). Upto you to search for Japanese sources. You can always e-mail Markus for his sources.

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