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Warning about fake utsuri

Brian

By Brian
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Brian

Brian

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The following is from Andrew Ickeringhill, qualified togishi.
I have shamelessly stolen it, as the information is very pertinent and not everyone is on FB. If there are any objections to me sharing it, I will remove it.
Thanks Andrew for looking out for the Nihonto community.
If you sword owners are anywhere near Oz (or even not) then Andrew should be way high on your list of polishers.
 

 

A warning to sword collectors...

Please have a look at these pics taken from a Japanese auction site, when you look at this utsuri, what do you see? Have a good look and think about it before reading the below...

This kind of utsuri was drawn to my attention a few years ago, a client had asked me to open a window on an old tachi. As soon as I saw the blade, I knew something was off... it had been acid etched (not unusual) but something else was going on with the utsuri.

 

After a few minutes pondering I concluded that the utsuri was fake, but the owner wasn't convinced and still wanted a window opened. Sure enough, the window revealed the utsuri was completely artificial, it came right off and didn't return.

I believe the sword pictured here has had the same treatment, it has no utsuri... well it might have some kind of utsuri underneath the artificial one, but I doubt it.

I'm guessing it's been created using some kind of VERY strong chemical process, applied either very carefully with a cotton bud stick, or perhaps a stencil was used as a guide.

I've been seeing this kind of "utsuri" quite a bit recently, mainly coming from the Japanese auction sites. It's a very cheeky deception that I imagine has fooled many people.

So, how can I tell this is fake just from looking at pics? That's the hard part to explain, I'll do my best...

For starters, how do you view utsuri? Similar to the way you view the hamon. Real utsuri generally can't be seen very well from the angle that you'd normally view the jigane from, which is from directly above. But the "utsuri" in these pics shows up very strong in the jigane pics.

 

What about the shape/pattern of this "utsuri"? It seems there's a contrived shape and repetitive pattern. On a sword with this kind of gunome-ba, I'd expect real utsuri to mirror the hamon in a similar flow, the utsuri would rise where the hamon dips into valleys, and the utsuri would fall where the hamon peaks (this isn't always the case with real utusri, for example shirake-utsuri). But with this sword you can clearly see the pattern of the utsuri is often at odds with the flow of the hamon in a very unnatural way.

 

Also, please note the granule-like/mottled texture of this "utsuri", it's a result of the acid and you don't see that effect in real utsuri.

One more thing, look how defined this "utsuri" is, especially the area down towards the hamachi where they've tried to emulate a mizukage-like effect. It's so sharp and defined, like it's been painted on, well it basically has been!

So, just beware of these Japanese auction sites and their swords, some are gimei, some are acid etched in the hamon and jigane, and some have completely artificial utsuri. I'm not saying don't buy from these sites, there are some good swords to be found there, but you need to be aware it's like navigating a minefield, please be cautious and don't get had! I wouldn't recommend buying anything from these sites unless it's at least papered Hozon level.

(These pics aren't from an active auction, they're from over a year ago)

800_n.jpg

0320_o.jpg

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raynor Proficient

raynor

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I'm a novice still but I have to say at first look the photos look noticeably off.. as he mentions the utsuri look painted on. There are other alarm bells going off too but that is the most noticeable point.

 

Then again I own a papered blade in good polish, for someone on the look for their first sword with money burning in their pockets and yet to see a real nihonto in the flesh these are dangerous.

Especially since being sold out of Japan, that can for many not internet savvy be a false sense of security. 

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