w.y.chan

I think its different Wah

Hi All, Does anyone know were I can purchase this book? Thanks Wah

No price but just want to add another nice war era gendaito Wah

Okimasa is a more respected smith but Shigetsugu is praised for his horimino. This tanto was made in 1957 by Shigetsugu

Just my opinion in answer to your earlier post. Ignoring most of the war era quickie blades Although Okimasa died young in his late 40s Shigemasa never quite caught up to the former in skill even with the additional decades of experience he had. That said Shigemasa is a skillfull smith amongst modern smiths. Wah

And your bank balance? Wah

One of the most impressive Horii Hideaki "Mikasa" tachi that appeared on a Japanese dealer website about 9 years ago with koshirae, it rivals the quality of swords made by top Mukansa smiths of today but with more character like that of older swords. The dealer offer it to me at 1.9 million or 1.75 million yen without koshirae but I believe was sold locally at 2.2 milion yen. I wonder why it was offered cheaper to buyer outside Japan? Anway the sword recieved Tokubetsu Hozon. I'm sure most Mikasa blades are daisaku and generally of lower quality so this one was an exception posiibly Hideaki best work to advertise Mikasa blades, who knows. I felt some early gendai smiths tries to emulate work of Koto smiths as oppose to continuing what came before it from Shinshinto time and also mixes old iron to recreate koto like blades. With the absent of Chris Bowen you are now the resident gendaito expert on here Wah PS just want to add many top gendai smiths do make swords that resembles Koto and Shinto but they do this on rare circumstances when they can devote a lot of time. It is more difficult to find these kind of blades during WW2 due to time constraint to contribute a quota for the war effort even special order blades may suffer to some extent and not representative of the smiths true skill. If you really want to see what a wartime smith is truely capable of you should see some of their post war shinsakuto.

Very noice collection there Joe Wah

Sorry for reviving a year old thread that I missed. Joe, what happen to your images? Wah

Traditional Japanese tool oil is "tsubaki" which is oil of camelia and are yellow in colour. I believe the yellow oil Fujishiro sells are camelia along with their higher quality white mineral oil. Problem with plant oil is that it tend to attract moisture much more than mineral oil that can result in more chance of rusting on a blade if you live in damp climate. Wah

You mean like this one? Wah

The link posted earler was out of date. Looks like NBTHK has changed the rules on Tokubetsu Kicho paper Wah

Except that in the Shinshinto and Meiji period even the best Shinshinto blades are not prized as highly as they do now. At best Kiyomaro during those period was comparable to only the second tier Shinto era smiths, and even then with a few exceptions it is all about quality Koto pieces that connoisseurs really cared about. Certainly no Rolex more Sekonda. I imagine the same scenario would be collectors in postwar Japan think of WW2 era swords even the best ones by Horii, Gassan, Kasama and Yasukunito get poor rating. Kiyomaro in the Meiji era was affordable, the workmanship was high. Will it get turned into a fake Koto masterpiece in Meiji era? With the Haito Rei, of course. What were the alternative that is affordable and look convincing? Very few. Wah

My niece might like something like that. Wah

It looks like a "pot bellied Vietnamese pig". You cant to give it away? Wah

From Kenji Mishina website. It is claim Kiyomaro was influenced by Shizu Kaneuji more so than Masamune. The cut down of very long sword to around 76cm in this particular sword by Kiyomaro was carried out by top student Kurihara Nobuhide after his teacher's death. http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/m-kenji/oshigata/shinshinto3.html Wah

Historical background is serious stuff just like this 1783 brandy being a very good year The Beatles is big business in Japan. Tha Fab Four broke up in 1969 so maybe that should have been alluded to instead of their debut recording. Wah

According to Chris B Yoshimune mainly had his students and his brother Sadatsugu made swords for him. Notice the signature there is no "hori do saku" which made me think the horimono is done by Sadatsugu and even the blade is either assisted or a daisaku by his brother. Wah

Wartime blade by Takahashi Yoshimune, brother of LNT Takahashi Sadatsugu. 2.5 million yen much higher than for his blades without horimono http://1st.geocities.jp/japan_antqs/sword3/top.html Wah

Was that one a wartime Takahashi Sadatsugu? Wah

Another sword that was sold almost immediately after I posted on Chris B old email list a few year ago Again this sword price is reflective of its provinance as oppose to just being a sword without http://web.archive.org/web/20130721093825/http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2013/1310_1080syousai.htm Wah

Eric, you mean this? Wah

I remember the Sadakatsu genshi-to that might go for a lot more. The Sadaichi sword above did not come with anything special or with whome it was made for or anythng other than a blade by a young promising smith during the war almost 30yrs before he became Ningen Kokuho. That for me what made it most expensive. If it was an emperor's gift, etc, the value added would go beyond what is "traditionally" for a nihonto. I suppose if a sword is made by a particular famouse smith and his work of a high standard and it is sought after and rare you can ask for whatever price you want. I've been told modern masterpieces are tomorrows Juyo token and that was 20yrs ago so perhaps that time has come for war era blades. Wah

This has got to be the most expensive sold so far http://web.archive.org/web/20131022071109/http://yushindou.com/人間国宝%E3%80%80月山貞一（二代）%E3%80%80（白鞘）%E3%80%80太刀/ Wah

While Kiyomaro was highly rated even in his lifetime I acknowledge Tsuruta san explanation that Shinshinto smiths no matter how great back in their days are not rated as high as Koto masterpiece so the removal of signature even for Kiyomaro is entirely plausable. Even in 1930s Fujishiro noted Kiyomaro is worth much less than the likes of Tadayoshi 1st, Okimasa, Horikawa Kunihiro, Sukehiro, Shinkai, and on par with the likes of Kunikane, Kuniyasu, Yasuyo. It is a very different strory now. Whether this sword is truely a Kiyomaro one would never know 100% but if it is not it certertainly on par with his work. Wah