Hizen sword

[IJASWORDS]

I am posting this mei here as I can translate it. Hizen no Kuni Hironaga. It is an old blade, traditionally made. My question is, is it gimei, or authentic.  

[PNSSHOGUN]

We'll need more shots of the blade and Nakago to make that call.

[Bazza]

FWIW and OTTOMYH I think gimei.  The kanji is "jagged daggy" and the ZEN kanji is not in the usual Hizen rendering.  And o-sujikai yasurime???

 

BaZZa.

[paulb]

I am with Bazza based on the quality of the kanji but then have to question why would anyone fake a relatively unknown Hizen Smith? normal targets for fakes would be Tadayoshi/hiro Masahiro and such.

[Ian B3HR2UH]

Hi Neil, the only oshigata of this smith that I have come across are in Marcus Sesko's excellent book Shinto Meikan ..Have a look at those or I can send you a copy .. It is of concern that the mei is Katana mei on a Hizen sword, unless the blade is a wakizashi .When are you visiting Victoria ?

Ian Brooks

[Tom Darling]

 Besides tachimei , yasuri should be horizontal..

 

Tom D.

[Guest Rayhan]

There are a few Hizen swords appearing with Katana mei on longer swords but if there more pictures to establish if it is a katana or wakizashi it would be a great start.

[IJASWORDS]

John, Bazza, Ian, Rayhan, thanks for your help so far. Photos attached. It is a hefty blade, 70cm tip to notch. 

[16k]

Well, I have a katana from a meikan more signed, katana mei “Hizen Kuni Takayuki”. Since the guy is unknown, I don’t see the point of faking the signature. Long katana, 76.6 cm, Genroku Shinto sugata (I think).

 

I’ve already seen some katana made in another area of Japan, katana mei, with the “Hizen Kuni something”. So I wonder if, at some later point, it wasn’t an honorary title. I think I saw that katana in Markus’s Nihon Shinto Shi, so that must have been legit.

[Jacques D.]

Hironaga later signed Masanaga  (Bitchu no daijo); If works of Hironaga seems very rare, there are some signed Masanaga which are tachi mei, so we can expect Hironaga signed tachi mei too. 

 

 Besides tachimei , yasuri should be horizontal..

 

Tom D.

 

No. 

 

https://www.token-net.com/token/201809-60.html

[Guest Rayhan]

The sword i mentioned is on a dealers site and has THozon, but that sword does worry me from an Edo Hizen perspective, but i digress.

 

The sword in question here has some steady points, mid to late Edo suguta might explain the lesser known Smith, the mei is cut less eloquently than usual Hizen mei, it is katana mei as a concern but as i said some are popping up, the boshi is not very clear but it worries me, the shape of the nakago is not the usual Hizen nakago, it is suguha which was a regular hamon in Hizen but in many other Edo schools.

 

Someone mentioned a reference page for this smith, any link to that?

[IJASWORDS]

Thanks for the help to this point. It has me perplexed why a sword maker would sign gimei, using the name of an unknown sword smith which not really add any value or status to the sword. Any suggestions? 

[Guest Rayhan]

We should not automatically assume gimei but it should be cause for much more research. For Hizen blades i would suggest first writing to the following people directly with your query (this one or the next)

 

1) Roger Robertshaw hizento.net

 

2) Darcy Brockbank yuhindo.com

 

3) Paul Bowman Token Society of Great Britain

 

It is important to note that the Hizen school was one of the largest schools ever conceived during the Edo period so there were smiths more highly regarded than others and some we may not know. Markus Sesko has many books on the mainline and sub lines of generations where Robertshaw is great for mainline study. Get the documents on the smith, check his mei and evaluate, send your research with your queries to the experts.

 

The faster way but more costly is sending the sword to shinsa for basic Hozon papers. It will cost you import, shinsa fee and shipping back to you, all in all around 650 USD minimum. And if it fails Hozon, well, lemons.