Jump to content

kotachi

Members
  • Posts

    37
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by kotachi

  1. Hi Everyone, I am trying to find out more about a silver fuchi with the signature Sadakiyo 貞精 I bought a while back. It has a dragon in the clouds carved in katakiri bori style. The seller said it was Yokoya school. I thought it was gimei and just liked the work/price plus that it was silver. I recently stumbled across a matching theme and signature on a tsuba on eBay. https://www.ebay.com...r=artemis&media=COPY No details and a big markup, so after searching around I found the same one on a Japanese site (on sale too!). https://ebix.pclradi...fo&products_id=20503 And using google translate it also mentions Yokoya. Looking at Sesko genealogies for this school the only name that is even close is Terkiyo 英精 of whom there were three generations. Does anyone have any info on this smith? Could this be a real Yokoya school guy? I guess I am now hopeful it could be student of Terukiyo that inherited the Kiyo character but please let me know if you think I’m going in the wrong direction. Thank you for any thoughts. Jay G.
  2. Thank you. I was not familiar with that style of kuni kanji.
  3. Hi Everyone, I have an interesting tsuba with a carved pattern that looks like wood grain with a bug on. I have tried translating and I think the first character is 信 shin or nobu but I can’t get the second.
  4. Thank you for your reply Steven. That punch mark is certainly not doing anybody any favors as it is covering up a crucial part of the kanji. I would have not guessed hiro on my own.
  5. Hi Everyone, I have been trying to research an iron tsuba I got a while ago. I think the translation would be Yoshihide 吉英 but I am unsure on the hide character. There is a swordsmith that uses these characters listed in Sesko, Horeki eria (1751-1764) that changed his name to Yoshiteru (still using same characters) but this tsuba doesn't seem to have that age in the patina. I believe when I got it the seller claimed it was a showa era piece, which seems inline with the patina and sakura blossom theme, but it seems to be a bit nicer that what I have seen from war era fittings. I also saw a mention of a Shitahara Yoshihide, who taught Suishinshi Masahide, that may have used the same yoshi and hide character as my tsuba but I cannot find any more reference on him. Any ideas as to the school/time period this tsuba could be from? I don't plan to sell it, even if it is a modern piece I think it would look good mounted on a gendaito someday. Thanks for any options you are willing to share. -Jay G.
  6. Thank you so much Ray! I would have never gotten it on my own, google translate kept giving me a 5 for the first character. Here is the backside. I would love any opinions or extra information on this smith any member can provide. Could it be Hamano school? Thanks again.
  7. kotachi

    MITO SCHOOL

    Looking around online and I found another very similar in style. https://www.antiques...uba-ishiguro-school/ maybe it’s an ishiguro school? There was an Ishiguro Masayoshi but the Masa character looks a little different than on mine. Edit: Tsuba arrived and I was able to take my own photos of it.
  8. Hi Everyone, I just got a new tsuba in the mail today and photographed it. I have been trying to work on the translation of the signature and am totally stuck. Not sure if this is some calligraphy style of kanji. Only one I think I know is the Shi 子 for the last one but maybe it is some type of kao. Thanks for the help, I am super excited about the carving and inlay and have no plans to sell it. -Jay G.
  9. Yes the tsuba is magnetic. It has a very rich brown and smooth patina. It does seem very different from any other iron/steel tsuba I own. I only put the editing note in because I initially posted the words in the wrong order, it is correct now. -Jay G.
  10. Hi Marcus, I have a tsuba signed "Choshu Hagi Ju Tomomitsu Saku" that has some sort of paint or glue on it. A previous owner has tried to scratch it off and has damaged the patina in doing so. It is an iron tsuba but from what I have read this artist was know to use acid treatments for surface finishes to create the patina. Is this something that can or should be addressed or do you think it is just a part of the tsuba now? -Jay
  11. kotachi

    MITO SCHOOL

    I have a very similar tsuba to this one signed in the same fashion. I am trying to translate the name because the listing said it was Masayoshi but the I am having a hard time matching the second character to a yoshi kanji. I also don't see a Masayoshi in the school lineage posted here. Here is the link to the similar tsuba I found online: https://www.worthpoi...uba-with-nthk-papers
  12. I think that might be it, Seki Ju Kanetomo Saku. Here is a Kanetomo gendaito that was on sold yakiba website. The signature is pretty close but the saku looks pretty different to me. Does anyone know if he had this much variation in the signature, could it be that the yakiba one is just a fancier carving style like for a better sword maybe? I think I see some style similarities in the hamon. Thank you guys so much. http://yakiba.com/Kat_Kanetomo_Gendaito.htm
  13. Hi everyone, I am toying with the idea of selling a gendaito but I forgot/lost translation. I think this is late 1930’s but maybe I’m mixing it up. I don’t think the Smith was in John sloughs book and I think one character could be a seki version or Kane? I need to figure it out if it’s a keeper or seller, any and all opinions welcome. Thanks for your time in advance.
  14. This horimono kind of reminds me of a wakizashi on ebay right now, supposedly demonic themed? It was discussed in this thread I don't know about all that other stuff going on though. -Jay
  15. Oops, guess I mixed up my nomenclature in the title of the post. Won't confuse kogatana with kozuka again.
  16. Thank you everyone so much for the information. I always thought it was much younger since it seemed in such good condition and had such a flashy temper line. I always learn something new every time I post here. One more photo just as thanks.
  17. Thanks so much, this is super helpful. I googled him and this turned up from jp-sword.com. Seki Kaji Tosho During WWII, more than 200 sword smiths worked only at Seki province to supply qualified swords for their soldiers. Their names began to appear in Seki Tanrensho Booklet printed in 1939. Several smiths in this list worked as Rikugun Jumei Tosho (e.g. Nakata Kanehide) and produced both good and poor blades together. However, most of these seki smiths produced low grade Showato and should not be regarded as a Gendaito. The list shows their smith name and real name. 兼常 (Kanetsune) Real Name: 西村 一二三 , google translate said either its pronounced Nishimura Ichizo or Nishimura Hifumi? Do any members think this is the guy? The blade looks like it has nice hada and a nioi based temper with kinda flamboyant tobiyaki, plus their is not stamps on it. I would think it is gendaito even though Kanetsune was not recorded as an RJT smith?
  18. I have had this small kozuka blade kicking around for a while in the safe and I have lost the documentation on the kanji. I though it was saved in my email but can't find it. Anyway would any members of the board care to help with translation. I think I remember this being a showa era smith but it's been a while since I acquired and I just can't remember much about it. -Jay G.
  19. Its pretty hard to photograph but here is the pattern in the ji I was talking about. -Jay G.
  20. Here are some photos of the start of the hamon. I don't see any mizukage but that doesn't mean its not there. I also wondered about re-tempering but there seems to be a lot of activity in the ji, lots of nie that follow the grain and start to look like kinsuji or sunagashi or maybe even chikei. Would this be possible in a re-tempered blade? -Jay G.
  21. Thank you everyone for taking the time to pass on some great info!
  22. Had to resize but got some more photos uploaded.
  23. Hi Everyone, I recently took a gamble on an. ebay wakizashi and now that its arrived I am trying to figure out approximate age, school/maker and such. It is mumei but has some interesting characteristics I don't have in any other swords. I am trying to use the connoisseur's book of Japanese swords but I have gotten stuck. The first thing that struck me was the shape, I don't have any other katakiriha blades and have wanted one since I missed a deal at my first sword show. It is bigger then I was expecting based on photos with a 18.5 inch nagasa and overall length of 24 inches. I had to use a decent amount of uchiko to remove some surface rust left by fingerprints but now the hada is starting to show up. I thought it was itame hada at first but now a lot of wavy masame hada is showing through but still hard to see through the old polish. The hamon is starts yakiotoshi and is very exciting on one side and super thin and bright on the side with the bevel. The last thing about it that is weird is it is maru-mune, which I never had in sword before, and there doest't seem to be any core steel in the blades constructions. There are some ware near the mune on the ura side of the blade and some throughout the mune that just don't seem show any core. I haven't really been able to narrow much down so I welcome any information or opinions people are willing to provide. Thanks for looking. -Jay G.
  24. Hi Everyone, I recently got an interesting yari off ebay but it is mounted in a tanto koshirae. It has very impressive lacquer work but the lacquer is cracking, has flaked off in places and it looks like at one point someone used a sharpie to blacken some missing spots that have now grown. I would love to get the yari out and see if it's signed but I am not sure that will ever happen since there does not seem to be a mekugi, it could be glued in, I am not sure. It is so delicate in places I am scared every time I handle it, is there anyone who could correctly get this restored or just stabilized that forum members know of? Maybe this is not the kind of thing that should be messed with at all and just preserved as best it can be as is. On a more general topic, has anyone seen yari mounted like this before? I remember reading somewhere that it was popular in the 1800's to repurpose mounts/mediocre blades to export. I would love opinions as to if this could this weird mounting style be a result of that or could it be a genuine mounting of something earlier? Thanks for your time and ideas. -J.G.
  25. Here is a photo of the whole blade and one of the more active parts of the hamon. Hard to tell if the rest is as active because of the poor condition of the polish. Also including a shot of the base of the tang the number 470 is stamped. I am under the impression that any stamps other than stars are not great but it’s not a sho or seki stamp so maybe it is not an indicator of non traditional methods? It’s interesting that the blade was s dated in 41 but it’s in 1944 gunto mounts. Did this sword sit around waiting to be mounted for most of the war? Thanks for all the help with the signature and date.
×
×
  • Create New...