Gakusee

Congrats, Manuel. Both you and Francesco are rocking it! Well done to the strong Italian community too, which has fostered such strong interest and talent development. Very well done and wish you more successes in the future!

Well done, Francesco! Sincere congratulations.

Very, very tired…. Signs are everywhere: weight, jigane (with all the forging lines visible all over the blade), hamachi narrowed down, hamon running off the edge in a few places. It must have been a very good blade once. Yet, zaimei ubu Ichimonji…. so it has historic and other value….

The exhibition is excellent and very extensive. its breadth and scope are such that the ten or so displayed swords play only a small part in the overall diverse narrative. Impressively, they have collated also around ten armours and as many helmets from the Royal Armouries, the Royal Collection Trust (the suit given to Alfred), several from Stibbert in Venice, Snowshill Manor (a boy suit) and clearly a very substantial private collector. The art is beautiful (excellent scrolls - some of them from 13-14c, beautiful prints including several by Hokusai, and splendid paintings, one by Tintoreto) and accentuated by numerous visual screens running film excerpts from period dramas. The abira, ozutsu, yume etc were also high quality. There is something for everyone - connoisseurs of weapons, fine art, lacquerware, Noh masks, even a gorgeous palanquin! I am sure the youngsters will be fascinated by the original Darth Vader suit lent by the Lucas Museum & Studio. I also quite liked a Toyotomi jinbaori with exotic feathers. Anyway… are there some errors in a few descriptions? Well, yes there are. But so what? The hundreds of people around me were only very briefly reading and spending more time looking, commenting and marvelling. They will hardly retain the copious and overwhelming amount of information. The overall historic representation however seemed well structured and illustrated. So, while a person with a very narrow interest in a very specific field might be disappointed, for someone who appreciates Japan and the samurai in their entirety, this is a treat.

I am sorry to hear this Mauro…. Hoping it turns up undamaged and you successfully retrieve it.

Well, it is the other way around. Soshu was inspired by Ko-Bizen and Ko-Hoki…. So Soshu occasionally looks like KoBizen and KoHoki. When I phrased my pseudo haiku I had exactly that TB quote in mind… Well done to Rohan for following the clues! In fact, for those in Japan currently or passing through, if you visit the NBTHK JuBi exhibition, there is a Norishige which looks like a Ko-Bizen blade (except that the jamón shape in the upper third stabilises similarly to an Osafune hamon). Even the label in the glass window talks about how Norishige was inspired by KoBizen when making that blade.

The JuBi Mitsutada Ken (only known by him) has a sort of Awataguchi finesse and feeing to it. Not a particularly exciting hamon for a Mitsutada but sublime jigane …

Well… Mona Lisa has a kind of …. Shall we say… interesting smile. And the colours are a bit faded. Ah, also there are a few other images underneath the top layer. But… It is Mona Lisa.

same one

Yes, Rohan, that is quite the fascinating blade…. A unicorn, as you can imagine, and I am glad it has now been papered up to Juyo and properly documented.

Great democratisation of information, Prometheus

Colin There is a very apparent critical overtone running through this thread. That is at the core of the comments throughout. It is easy to criticise and you have demonstrated that you are very adept at it. I have to admit, I have also developed an aptitude for being overly critical. But sometimes we need to pause, actually analyse what the reality is, why it is the case and what the alternatives might be. The exhibition, its merits or shortcomings, has nothing to do with collection inventorisation, cataloguing or theft.

Just to balance the discourse a bit. Interesting how many inaccuracies can be presented even here on this single thread webpage and discussion about the 2004 BM exhibition which Victor curated, about what the BM owns and the condition of the swords etc etc. I shall leave it to someone with more time and energy to debunk these notions. And the person in the video …. Well, the curator is different. Just for information to all those who have been moaning and complaining…. The BM is actually one of the more accommodating state-owned museums where a person can request to study in hand their blades. I have personally done it 3-4 times and know of fellow members who do it regularly. As I have studied their top 15 or so blades several times, the urge is lesser, but they have fairly good Shinto/Shinshinto stuff too. There is a procedure to follow but it works and they are open-minded about it and facilitate personal study. So, with a bit of pre-planning and foresight, all of you could have submitted a request, planned your trip/visit accordingly and studied some of the treasures in hand. Go try that in the Tokyo National or other museums.

Actually with koshirae it should be OK. If it were a great name without current papers (eg a Nobuie tsuba or Kaneie or some other big name) then I would be worried. But full koshirae sets without some mega name should be OK.

Samurai did not fight from behind. That is against the chivalrous spirit That is why you protect the front (mendare and nodowa).

That is why you have the tare, throat protector. Sometimes even a nodowa additionally.

Well, as I said, if you are looking for ara nie, this is not that type of blade. However, the individual granules are sufficiently visible both in the ji and the ha to be defined as nie. If one abstracts oneself from the white coloured streaks and activities in the photos above, there are numerous black or very dark little circles which are the nie granules.

Overall, it is a rather laudatory setsumei. I quite like the overall conclusion: ”The sugata is exceedingly powerful, with a dignified and imposing form; the forging is refined, with the grain standing out and the jihada pattern appearing clearly; the midare shows abundant variation; it is bold, with much activity within the ha—altogether a magnificent sword rich in points of appreciation.”

These areas below as well as numerous others clearly show the presence of nie…. Not sure why the point was made (by Kiril, etc) in the posts above or even (in my interpretation) raised as a [potential] concern…. Perhaps I am reading too much in between the lines Anyway, plenty of nie for those who know what to look for. Now, if people are looking for are nie or hadaka nie, that is another matter. Again, people need to know the terminology and differences. Finally, for those who like to get into the minutiae of the written docs, even the setsumei is very clear about the nie: “刃文 尖り刃、小のたれ、のたれ、互の目など交じり、足・葉入り、沸出来、処々強く沸づき、飛焼・湯走り交え、少しく焼落ちある。 Hamon: Pointed gunome, small notare, notare mixed with gunome; containing ashi and yō; nie-deki with areas of strong nie; mixed with tobiyaki and yubashiri; with slight yakiochi present.”

There are mid/late Edo helmets also bearing the mei Nobuie. So, while I am not an expert like Luc, I have formed the opinion that is a homage mei sometimes. Worthwhile reading both Ito san’s book (just published) about Nobuie and Martyna Lesniewska’s treatise about Nobuie in the Katchu publication. Either way, as people have said, this is a beautiful helmet in great condition.

He was a lovely gentleman, who, unfortunately, I never had a chance to meet in person. However, he used to write these polite and erudite letters to me in terms of his membership of the Token Society and how he enjoyed our newsletters and reports. Sometimes one can glean an impression, or perspective, of someone just on the basis of a few sentences. While I have fully embraced modern technology and its advantages, occasionally I miss the old times when people used to come to meetings eager to learn (as opposed to forming views on the basis of Internet browsing or some opinions exchanged in a chat) or send each other hand-written letters. Call it nostalgia or what not, but the interpersonal relationships and discussions were different.

Luc will know well and great you have talked to him.

Well, yes, it clearly says Nobuie. But please do some background reading as the vast majority of these helmets are signed that way in homage to THE Nobuie. In other words, you should almost treat that type of signature as though you encountered a sword signed Bishu Osafune Sukesada (ie, general school work, even if it is of high quality). There are only a handful of helmets authenticated to the actual Nobuie. Nevertheless, this looks like a very nice helmet, so congrats on the acquisition.