Shugyosha

I'm sure that this sword has been on here previously. I can't remember what the answer (if any) was though...

Hi Dan, The annotation normally used by the NBTHK where there is a mei that cannot be accurately read is 不明 - fu mei - meaning unclear. I think that the origami reads mu mei instead suggests that the shinsa panel felt there was nothing there by way of signature. It's a lovely blade by the way. Best, John

Hi Marco, Unfortunately we are looking at two different things so it's not an easy comparison, but I'll take a punt - sorry if this is a bit "stream of consciousness": Kaga Mitsu Kuni - This blade comes is signed (a plus point) with Tokubetsu Hozon papers (even better) and so as a stand alone item should be regarded as being of better quality than the Kunitsugu blade which is not capable of achieving higher papers being an unsigned edo period blade. Should you wish to sell it on these factors will enhance its attraction. It is well priced for a Tokuho blade and almost 50% cheaper than the Kunitsugu but on the down side, Kaga blades aren't thought of as overly sexy (but neither are unsigned shinto wakizashi, so it's still winning on this point). There is nothing on the papers to indicate that this is the first generation Mitsukuni (it simply says shinto) and both first and second generations of this smith worked pre-Kanbun though the second generation is closer as the first died in 1644. Aoi may be out with their assessment of the generation - I'm not sure if the first generation smith has any greater merit in terms of ranking than the others. There are no obvious forging flaws in this blade (again a plus in comparison) but there is an odd mark at about the level where the forward edge of the habaki would sit and so something may have got under the habaki and caused the discolouration. It's more prominent in the picture on the origami but that may just be caused by the differing lights/ methods of picture taking and shouldn't be anything significant given the level of papers achieved but I'd be tempted to inquire further. The hamon reaching up to the shinogi makes it look a bit bling for my taste (I like a balance between hamon and hada) but there are some nice activities in the hamon which will probably be more evident in hand as the scanned picture tends to deaden the detail. Yamashiro kunitsugu - The positives for this sword are that it is mounted with quite an attractive koshirae and that it, on the face of it, has a cutting test. Cutting tests normally sell swords which makes it surprising that this sword hasn't sold sooner as it went through Aoi's auction and has now been moved into their inventory - this rings alarm bells. For me, I would have concerns about the cutting test inscription. If it is genuine (and I believe that most tameshi mei need to be viewed in a skeptical light) it looks like a dog's breakfast because someone has done an awful job of trying to apply or reapply gold colour. Also the wording is odd. Why would a criminal at a testing ground in Edo Japan be wearing a quiver? Why would a sword tester throw one onto the mound to cut if he already had two bodies? Not convincing for me. So my money is on someone having added this inscription to sex-up an otherwise indifferent sword. I know that the tameshi mei is recorded on the origami but I'm not sure of the status of tameshi mei i.e. if a sword has a genuine signature or is a genuine sword, will it be denied papers due to a dodgy test inscription? I would guess that all of these things will enter the head of a would-be buyer when you come to move it on so it may be a hard sell. Leaving this apart, from the photographs there is not very much to look at in terms of activity (there is more in the other blade) and there are some ware which are also detractors. I can appreciate that you may want either of these swords to form part of a collection but, individually, they aren't that exciting. Meh. If you are only looking for a sword, for the price of the cutting test wakizashi, you can buy a full length Hizen katana from Raymond Singer at the moment: it's beautifully mounted, has an opinion from a well known Hizento expert as to the smith (one of the best smiths of the shinto era) and was probably a custom blade as it is still 70cm long despite being suriage. Please buy it before I do. Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy what you get. Best, John

I've just ordered a copy - matchlocks are something I know nothing about so I'm looking forward to a good read.

Is anyone familiar with these auctions? Not something I had heard of until I stumbled across this whilst looking for something else: https://issuu.com/kogire-kai/docs/91th_catalog_0102is It looks like a number of the catalogues are available on line and they look like they could be a real mine of information across the spectrum of Japanese arts.

Not that impressive - I can read a few kanji and work out the meanings of some others but it will be a long long time before I can simply read something without referring to a dictionary. Good luck with your efforts - it's certainly easier when you find it fun. Best, John

Hi Ed, I'll have a go at filling in some of the gaps: Hamon: 中直ぐ刃調 に 小乱れ交じり - Chu suguba chyo ni ko midare majiri - Chu suguba style mixed with ko midare. Boshi: 細 - hoso - thin, narrow. 焼 きつめ風 yakitsume style. So thin suguba with no turnback (kaeri). Nakago: 個 - this kanji is linked to the number previously and is the appropriate article used when counting holes. So this section reads "Mekugi ana mitsu ko". Date: as you realised the last column gives an approximate date in this case "Mei Wa goro". 頃 = goro = around or about. I hope that helps. 頑張って下さい!!

If it's an NTHK paper, the stamps of the judges should be on the part with the blade's description.

Here we go again...

Hi Krystian, The first part is: 向鶴透鐔 無銘 (土佐) Muku tsuru sukashi tsuba mu mei (Tosa) - Unsigned Tosa school, sukashi tsuba with cranes face to face. Unfortunately, the kanji in the description are a bit too fluid for me - I think I can make out "iron ground" (地鉄) at the start and "ji sukashi" (地透) at the end, but I can't help with the parts in the middle. Sorry. Best regards, John

Ray, I really don't know what you are talking about. I quoted you because you were implying that I was making defamatory statements about Aoi and that that was my reason for posting and I felt that I needed to clarify why I posted what I did. I can't see what point you are trying to make - my post was about you and your attitude towards Kurt. I can't see anything in the previous thread that warned Kurt not to buy the sword because it had a large crack in the tip. Lots of people looked at the thread, a number commented, none picked up on the crack. Sadly, Ray I'm not your buddy and I probably never will be as I have a distaste for being patronised and find the ability to empathise with one's fellow man to be an important quality in the friends I choose. Best, John

Ray, I wouldn't have posted at all if it hadn't been for the attitude taken by you towards Kurt's misfortune and I certainly did not post out of any desire to defame Aoi Art. I hope that you never find yourself in a similar position to Kurt because I suspect that you would require a good deal more sympathy than you gave to him. Kurt, How much out of pocket will you be with the refund? My feeling is get rid. The sword has next to no value in its current state and you will be stuck with it as there will be little chance of selling it on except at a huge discount: take the smaller hit on the shipping/ fees but get your money back, put it down to experience and use the money to buy a better blade - go see Mr Singer about his Hizento. Best, John

What he said.

It's pretty clear in Kurt's original post in this thread but not particularly so in Aoi's. Even if I blow the page up to 400% then it still doesn't jump off the page, though the magic of hindsight does make it easier to spot. We all live in a world where we expect to buy and sell at a distance without the benefit of a hands on examination and something as significant as this flaw ought to have been pointed out by Aoi, as they do with hagire. I don't know what the Iaidoka amongst us think, but if they suggested that this blade was suitable for Iaido practice as was suggested in the original thread, then that too may be material. For me anyway, by stating that the blade is suitable for Iaido practice implies that it is structurally sound Best wishes to Kurt and I hope that this gets resolved quickly. Best, John

Has it been moved to their archive site? https://www.aoijapan.net/

From Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan: HŌJU (宝寿), Bunsei (文政, 1818-1830), Dewa – “Yonezawa-jū Katō Hōju kore o tsukuru” (米沢住加藤宝寿造之), “Katō Hōju tsukuru” (加藤宝寿造), real name Katō Sukeshirō (加藤助四郎), according to tradition the son of Katō Kunihide (国秀) who was active around Bunka (文化, 1804-1818), dense and somewhat standing-out ko-mokume, gunome-midare, suguha, chūjō-saku. To explain - the listing uses the simplified (modern) versions of the kanji on this sword. It gives the period of his work, some examples of his signature and lineage, his work style (refer to the glossary in the "Research" tab above if this doesn't make sense) and his ranking according to Fujishiro in Nihon Toko Jiten, some information can be found here: http://www.nihonto.ca/ratings.html Best, John

Hi Bob, Just sent over my $50. What you said: big thanks to Brian for providing a great resource and to Jean and the other moderators for doing a great job of wrangling the forumites. Best, John

Hi Chris, I think that if this was a Hizen sword from the Kanbun era it would have konuka hada. I'm not sure I can make the hada out clearly in the picture. Also I would expect a komaru boshi. There's a lovely nidai Masahiro on Grey's website if you want an example. http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/swords/k58-large-wakizashi-hizen-masahiro-tokubetsu-hozon One of the problems with shinshinto swords (and to some extent shinto also) is that they can be a bit generic and the lack of a signature doesn't help. I suspect this might be why no one has taken the plunge with an attribution so far...and I'm not going to either. Suguba hamon and indestinct hada don't give many clues as to school, though the overall sugata does suggest that kanbun era is a possibility age wise and I doubt that it's much older than this. Some better pictures of the hada and boshi might help, but in the absence of any distinguishing marks, I suspect you might have a John Doe here. Best, John

Hi Chris, 長曽祢興里入道乕徹 Nagasone Okisato Nyudo Kotetsu. Best, John

Hi Simon, Pete is correct - sorry read off the wrong line. Best, John

Hi Simon, It reads (right hand side) 蓋雲堂 Zuiundō. Apparently the maker's art name, or one of them. (left hand side) 濱[ ] 直随 Hamano Naoyuki plus kao. I think that the "Hamano" part of the signature uses archaic kanji and I can't find copies of the "no" part on line and Hamano often comes up 浜野. The signature looks like it might be good and matches well with one in Markus Sesko's Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists. Best, John

Hi Geoffry, See this thread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23499-help-with-translation-of-mei-please/ Best, John

Hi Kurt, I'm with Jean on this: they don't look like the same hand to me. Have you compared the workmanship on the blades? Best, John

Hi Grev, Maybe something like "the achievement of [placing] ko sukashi within a well forged iron ground was [the smith's] forte/ speciality". Sorry, I think that needed placing in the context of the previous and following lines. I think the last line might read..."in addition, the raising of a small rim and the placement of the thickness of the ground are skillful". I'm sure one of the better linguists can improve on this and I hope I havent' twisted the meaning too much. Best, John

I've just spotted this one on Seiyudo which has the same kakihan as Peter's. http://www.seiyudo.com/tu-100517.htm Attribution is Kyo Kenjo according to the origami (京 献 上).