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Horimono examples on blade


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I have seen several of his war era blades and they have always been very good. He was a talented smith though not well known. He had only limited success in the sword contests post war. One of the many unsung craftsman whose work deserves appreciation....

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Is it true that during Showa times horimono sometimes were executed machine made?

 

Viewed a signed katana with dragon horimono back in the mid 90's, sorry, cannot recall the mei at this time, that the owner said he had gotten when doing work in Japan immediately after the war ended. It was a pre-war hand made sword for sure, but the horimono was certainly not hand carved, and literally looked stamped/machined into the sword. The blade ended up going to someone in Canada, I was told.

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A few years ago a gendai tanto was offered for sale that had what I thought was a very good horimono of a dragon. I was able to take some poor photos of it in the short time I had available to view it and I offer them here. The tanto is signed NOSHU KANENOBU SAKU with the date on the same side SHOWA JU YON NEN SAN GATSU HI (March 1939). There is another inscription on the omote that I haven't read - I'm sure someone will be able to read it.

 

Best regards,

BaZZa.

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Is this type of knife also known as an honour tanto? When the females of the buke (or samurai class in general?) are in full dress there is a tanto in a bag hung from a cord by the neck. The tanto is horizontal across the chest. When the woman is layed to rest the tanto is still part of the dress. It's function is to allow suicide before dishonour. John

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http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/new_gene ... w_gene.htm

 

Eric- I was about to say that was a particularly nice one. Then I saw the caption of Myoju. It would have just been an echo after that.

 

There is also the Great Book of Horimono.

I am surprised no one here has mentioned it. About 3.5cm thick book on everything you want to know about horimono and how certain ones are kantei points.

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mamori-gatana are still given on the occasion of a newborn, as the story above relates, to a women for her marriage ceremony, and on certain other auspicious occasions. Of course, these traditions are rarely followed these days except by the most traditional of families...

 

After the Haito-Rei up until the early Showa period, mamori-gatana were the bread and butter of the few remaining smiths, thus, surviving works of this period are mostly mamori-gatana...

 

These were also made, in limited numbers, through the end of WWII. These were usually the smith's best work. I have been collecting these for quite a long time now and have a fair number of them...I wrote a catalog for a display of mamori-gatana for an exhibit held in Minneapolis some years ago titled "Tanto-Blades of Ritual"...There were a dozen or so examples and a fairly lengthy write up on the use and ceremony....

 

While no one can dispute the wow factor of a nice, big, katana, the spiritual and ritual connotations associated with the tanto have always made them more personal and more of a personal interest to me....

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I look at these works and can't get my head around the process of carving the details into the steel - I only marvel at artists who can carve anything let alone these amazing works.

 

http://world.choshuya.co.jp/engrave/index.htm there are quite a few on this site and I have no vested interest in showing this other than for interests sake

 

 

And as I said - amazing technique

 

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Just for a moment to clarify my earlier question. The final two kanji "Mamorigatana" would be fine on their own, but the 守 before that has me puzzled. It can also read and mean Mamoru. Does it refer to the above or below? Do we read it as a) Gyokudai and then Shu-go-tou? Or b) Gyokudai no kami, Mamori-gatana?

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  • 7 years later...

Update. Just reviving an old thread and pulling two together. There is a story behind this, but skipping that for the moment.

 

Sadly, Yanagimura Senju 柳村 仙寿 Sensei died last year (2018). 

 

Today I was privileged to meet his widow, and his son Yanagimura Soju 柳村 宗寿 who was trained by his father, won several top prizes, continues the line in his workshop, and has the same kind of innate skill as his father did.  Both mentioned here: http://ginza.choshuya.co.jp/sale/new_generation/new_gene.htm

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23372-hat-in-hand-again/?hl=%2Byanagimura+%2Bsenju

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This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

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