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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/02/2021 in Posts
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To all who think about this one... Please note: this is a healthy and flawless wakizashi. And it is as good as shinshinto gets - you have an excellent school, the sword is an absolute beauty (look at those choji), it comes with oshigata and of course NBTHK Hozon, all this for a very attractive price. Last not least - Grey is one of the few great gentlemen (old school in the best sense of the word) of the nihonto world. Whoever buys this sword, will be very happy!3 points
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Hi, A recent acquisition I believe to be Mito school, late Edo period. Dimensions: Height - 84mm Width - 79mm Mimi - 5mm Seppa dai - 4.8mm I like the nunome zogan on the clouds and dragon, and the small gold and silver zogan dots on the waves. The dragon has silver claws, a little worn, which is a nice feature. It's a little dirty in parts any advice on cleaning or who could offer this service, given it a little oil, a stiff brush and some ivory rubbing but there's too many intricate areas? I'm calling it a cloud dragon but seems to like the water as well! Have a good new year, hope 2021 is better than 2020!!2 points
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Do you’ve checked “尾州住兼武“ (Bishū jū Kanetake)? The part above jū is strange and I’m really not sure...also for the smith. But might be a fair chance!2 points
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There is a correction thread for this book started by Morita san some years back. I too have found a minor translation error on one of the Kanemasa (Murata) swords. Mr.Slough's Oshigata book. FYI, I have enjoyed reading your recent articles by the way.2 points
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I agree with Rivkin above. My simple rules are: - several strands parallel to each other: sunagashi (sand strands) - single strand but not passing through habuchi: kinsuji.NB you could have several and multiple kinsuji but in sequential longitudinal hamon parts. - kinsuji passing through habuchi like a lightning: inazuma When the hataraki is longish and composed of nie/konie and does not fit any of the above, I tend to follow the NBTHK and just call them niesuji2 points
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I will be using this post to share some recent photos. In general these will not be swords that I am offering for sale, but instead will be coming from my collection and those of other collectors who have given approval to share the photos. I have also recently started photographing swords and fittings for auction houses, and some images may come from that source as well.1 point
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44.5 cms overall, 22.3 cm blade . Is the maker's name ' Tsugu Fumi Iye' and if so, does anyone know if he is he a known maker ? Scabbard lacquer includes the Yamanouchi mon with two others. All over in good condition. The information about the mon etc came from the vendor. Are the photos adequate as I welcome any and all input. Thank you in anticipation.1 point
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JP, Best to use the Reply box at the bottom of the page, instead of using quote every time. We don't need the last post reposted every time1 point
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A pretty good consensus laid out here. Sunagashi, kinsuji, inazuma (and while drastically different, sometimes sudare-ba) absolutely kill me - I'm quite drawn to that detail work. Here's an example of a really intense hamon that I've always considered to be fairly extreme with both sunagashi and kinsuji. (but apparently imozuru can apply as well) I always thought of sunagashi as the pattern (akin to 16k's analogy) where you would drag your fingers through sand, and kinsuji as a stark, darker single streak. (Running parallel in the below example.) Sometimes you can only find the sungashi in the right light, with it being very subtle, and other times it absolutely jumps off the surface - kinsuji tends to always be rather apparent, and can appear dark or light depending on lighting. https://www.aoijapan.com/img/sword/2020/20172-4.jpg And this example has very subtle sungashi that can't really be seen in this photo, but the contrasting single line running in the ha and across the yokote, I consider kinsuji.1 point
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I would call them like you. However, if we follow Michael's rules, the second would be sunagashi. As I said earlier, for me, sunagashi are like sand dunes or ripples near a shore. They are white, There are several of them usually close together (though a single white line is a sunagashi for me too). On the second sword, they are further apart and black. They would be Kinsuji for me. The same type of line starting in the ji and crossing through the Hamon would be an inazuma for me. ohhh! Potato, poteitoo, my head hurts!1 point
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I realised even right now from the post of Barry that we have a Dealer Showcase here in NMB - shame about me Ray, I'm very happy to find you and your stuff here in a own section. Many swords in my collection are owned from you and i was never disappointed. I can fully recommend the service, knowledge and stuff of Ray. Good luck Ray.1 point
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Thanks for the post Dale. I just bought your two books on tsuba in the Metropolitan museum when looking at this one!1 point
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This is my listing and the Emura has sold. Thanks for the shoutout, Bruce. This one had great activity. This is a rare, better hamon IMO that Emura did. The other one I have posted has what I typically have seen on Emura examples. I was actually kind of hoping this one didn’t sell. I’m just upgrading, looking for top gendai smiths now - Shigetsugu, Yasunori, Yoshimune, Akihide (and students), Okimasa, etc, etc. preferably polished.1 point
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There are three impressions of John Slough's book, An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. The original 2001 white softcover by Slough and two reprints, a 2004 blue hardcover by Slough and an unknown red softcover by Cillo. As far as I know, they all have the same content. I am missing the copyright pages for the two reprints so some of the information below is incomplete. 1. Slough, John Scott. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Rivanna River Company, 2001. White softcover. 2. Slough, John Scott. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. 2004. Blue hardcover. 3. Cillo, Livio W. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Publication details unknown. Red softcover.1 point
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Hi Gabriel, A very light coat of oil on the polished portion of the blade, as is explained in the care & handling I linked to, and you're set. Nothing else is necessary and anything else might do damage. Grey1 point
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Reid, the picture is not very clear, at least to me. I have the impression that there is a crack in the MUNE area, so not a HAGIRE. Usually the construction of a blade is done in a way that you have a softer, more flexible back and a hard edge. If you protect yourself against a heavy blow of an opponent, you should be able to do so with the back of your blade. This should not cause damage to your blade with probably the exception of a KIRIKOMI. When a crack like this appears, there have likely been inner tensions in the blade. These could result from an unbalanced composition of hard and more flexible components in the early forging stages, or from the hardening (and annealing = YAKIMODOSHI) process, but could as well be caused by an impact in use. In this case, I could imagine that a hacking blow with this blade meant too much stress for the (too hard) MUNE area. Basically, such a KIZU will have to be related with high probabilty to a fault in the production of the blade.1 point
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It looks like a pretty decently forged shin-shinto sword and a legit rig, however the nakago patina feels a little off (cleaned or something?) and the mei looks like it was carved by someone who never held a chisel and feels like it was added (to my eyes anyway). Interesting. Doug1 point
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Nice sword. I like the quality and the "sunagashi" (swept sand line) in the tip (or maybe it is lightning (Inazuma)...nice. The writing under the habaki is hard to read but the LH column in the upper pic might say SHOWA (part of a date) and the RH column in the lower pic might say OKA... (part of a name - the polisher). Just a guess, but it looks like a gendaito blade, perhaps made for Iaido and then "militarised" for taking to war. Worth keeping, gently cleaning and looking after. Maybe one of our native Japanese speakers can translate the polisher's writing for us? Regards,1 point
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Gabriel, as far as I know, this is done just for traditional and decorative purposes and has no functional aspect. The same is valid for the area under the HABAKI. In some ("better") swords you can see meticulous work of the polisher there, but this is only revealed when you dismount the HABAKI. Swords that were taken to war were often not (as expected by some collectors) the best of the family heirlooms, but simpler - but not less efficient - blades. The future will show if this applies to your sword as well.1 point
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Roger, I am afraid that my comment about the blade (without having actually looked at it) may have come across as negative. My intention was general advice, to be prepared for anything, as often a dealer will slip a lesser quality or doubtful blade into a nice Koshirae. Every trick in the book out there. I can imagine someone high up in the Yamauchi/Yamanouchi Daimyo family carrying this in their obi.1 point
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Mark Jones and family run my favourite sword show. I have over the years purchased many things from Mark - tsuba, fittings, swords etc. Mark is a Director of the JSSUS and its treasurer. Mark and Grey make a great team. They are honest, hard working folks who always bring new material for the collector to see, enjoy and buy. I count Mark among my friends. Mark and Grey both stepped up to support Nihontomessageboard.1 point
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Fujiwara is a name that has historical, aristrocratic connotations, and so people of importance often claim descendency from the Fujiwara clan. It is very common on swords, but even historical figures, like IeyasuTokugawa, claimed connections to the Fujiwara clan as it gave authority and legitimacy to their administration. It doesn't add or detract from the sword. In this case, its just way of signing a name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_clan1 point
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