Jump to content

Gakusee

Gold Tier
  • Posts

    1,615
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    18

Everything posted by Gakusee

  1. Another excellent post, Jussi! As we know, dealers sometimes deliberately obfuscate their descriptions. Such ambiguity as to the precise generation or period usually raises hopes in the potential buyer. It makes reading the original / NBTHK documentation so much more important.
  2. Good sword as others have said but the kitae and style are not Muramasa and the sayagaki also does not follow the usual format of a Kunzan sayagaki and also the kao looks odd.
  3. Hmmmmm…. Lots of alarm bells with that one. please look up genuine Muramasa nakago and genuine Kunzan sensei sayagaki.
  4. I would venture into Showa (or Meiji) territory but I am a complete amateur when it comes to armour…..One would need to look at the kanamono and other details. Perhaps Uwe or Luc or Andy can chime in. There are a few katchu people on this forum.
  5. Robert You click on someone’s avatar or nickname (top left of each post) and that takes you to their profile. In there you need to click on the “message” button.
  6. Hi Robert, As it happens, I am going to be in Amsterdam this coming Tuesday afternoon and have a few hours to spare. If you are up for it, we can grab coffee somewhere central and continue the conversation and analyse your sword if you are up for it. My library is almost entirely digitalised and always with me…. Boards like this are usually the beginning of a journey….. Always pursue your own knowledge and research, taking tips from people but going to sources such as the NBTHK, NTHK, Tanobe sensei and his fellow students of Kunzan sensei and Kanzan sensei (there are still another 2-3 alive apart from Tanobe sensei), the Japanese national museum and so on. Please find attached your requested sword.
  7. Ok, when a sword is that old, frankly +\- 50 years will not matter. So, what you are delving into is whether it is end of Heian or early Kamakura. What exactly are you trying to establish? The NBTHK have been very clear with their Ko-Naminihira attribution. Ko-Naminohira per the Japanese authorities originated at the end of Heian. Nisshu mentions Yukiyasu and that smith name persists for a while but if he meant a lesser Yukiyasu than the shodai, he probably would have specified nidai, sandai or even kodai etc. So chances are that he meant shodai Yukiyasu. Whether it is by that smith or not…. Well, one authority (Nisshu) thought as much. Clearly the quality must be sufficient for him to make that call. The current NBTHK panel could not narrow it that much but attributed it to Ko-Naminohira. In Japanese culture you need to learn to live with the lack of absolute certainty, some duality, some fluidity. Look at the sugata: there is some koshizori. Then the blade straightens a bit in the upper part. These are characteristics of end of Heian and early Kamakura usually. In mid/ late Kamakura more robust shapes emerged and also the upper portion of the blade (monouchi etc) acquired a bit more curvature again. Have a read of this first attachment here. It is an excerpt from an NBTHK magazine article about a specific Yukiyasu blade. But it talks about the school and also the stylistic features of the smith (NB, compare to your own sword…) As to Nisshu, I do not think anyone on this board has the authority or knowledge to question him or contest his judgements. He was a “living national treasure” polisher and someone the Japanese government thought highly enough of in order to entrust him with the most precious of physical national-treasure swords Again, have a read of this excerpt below (second image) from Markus’s Honami book. Please , overall, read thoroughly about the school, Yukiyasu, Nisshu, sword periods etc in order to form your own view. What I have attached thus far in this thread should be a headstart for you.
  8. This is clearly Nisshu sayagaki - his calligraphy is my favourite among the sayagaki writers. What I cannot understand is why he is mentioning something like Juyo Bunkazai at the bottom of the sayagaki next to his signature. Jussi has made the appropriate comments. This is an old blade and sometimes it is not clear what is late Heian and what is early Kamakura. Here the sugata is consistent with “no later than early Kamakura” assessment. I would recommend that you go with the ToHo certificate evaluation. The Nisshu sayagaki attributes it to Yukiyasu. THE Yukiyasu was the son of the Naminohira school founder and a famous and respected smith. He has various top level blades. Several generations bore that name however. So, unless there is further attribution to a specific period, one can probably assume Nisshu thought highly of the blade and could have attributed it to the shodai. I recommend that you pay for the services of someone fluent in Japanese like Markus or Steve to have the sayagaki properly translated. Read about the Naminohira school and Honami Nisshu, look at your blade and compare it to published and signed examples. Draw your own conclusions now that you have two attributions. Also, if you find somewhere to X-Ray the tang, it might reveal more of a signature. This has been done before. And in facf, just for fun, I attach images of the same Ko-Naminohira Yukiyasu with two Juyo papers. The earlier one only describes it as mumei Ko-Naminohira. Around 20 years later it was resubmitted and somehow they deciphered the mei or it had been scanned / X-rayed and now the signature had been partially read.
  9. I echo the above. Impeccable speed, packaging and state of the books. Thank you, John!
  10. Yes, that is funny. Have not heard top-notch for a while.... I guess he has switched from his own arbitrary use of saijo saku, jojo saku jo saku etc. Importantly, his use of saijo is different from the Fujishiro use.
  11. Mostly agree. However, want to flag that you can return items if you want to but will have to swallow a 30% - 40% reduction in the price you have paid. It is simple mathematics to get the dealer to recover them to the previous position (where they bought at previously to sell to you)
  12. OK, let us be constructive here, dear friends: - Vu acknowledges he is a beginner who has a lot to learn and has ordered books to read; - Vu has taken some appropriate steps in asking around and going to dealer shops in Japan (where V has been for a couple of weeks), so V has seen in-hand swords. So, yes, V has not been to the San Fran show but in Japan given the FX rate, one can find more and even better bargains if one knows where to look; - It is somewhat clear that he likes 'old' swords - whether due to a fascination with history or some romantic notions or a deeper belief, we know that much from statements above. So far, so good. It is not clear whether there are other features (eg a certain tradition, or workmanship characteristics, or specific smith) that are desired, but I presume Vu has not progressed his understanding and appreciation to such a degree as to formulate a perspective. But there is no need to be aggressive or offensive. In fact, this Unju sword (Nanbokucho era) ticks the 'historic' boxes, is Juyo- (ie rather highly) rated and it also comes with a tachi koshirae (most swords do not come in a tachi koshirae and to a novice, a nice itomaki is impressive for sure). - Yes, it probably started life as a 'proper' tachi with a tachi side mei, but in its 650-year life is has been shortened and thus lost its signature on the tang. - So the blade is now technically 'only' a katana. But at the same it is in tachi koshirae. One can delve further to specify (a) the overall sword (blade+koshirae) is a tachi or not or whether (b) the blade itself is only a katana. The blade (a katana blade) is in tachi koshirae so if one does not look at the tang or Juyo paper, it is a tachi to the onlooker. - The inverted commas I have included portray my sentiment that it almost does not matter if the mei is there in terms of appreciating the workings of the sword and the craftsmanship in it (unless one is focused on collecting zaimei ubu swords, which I acknowledge usually command a premium for the state if preservation). - If Vu is after potential for appreciation (or at least value preservation), then he can look for ubu zaimei swords with some documented provenance. These usually retain their values and appreciate but are very rare for Kamakura and Nanbokucho. I agree with Kiril's points above: the Unkai school is a fairly decent Bizen school, very reminiscent of Aoe and probably underappreciated by people. There are some very high-quality Unkai blades. It might not be as prestigious as other Bizen schools and hence there could be a trade-off here. Indeed with the current FX rate, it is worthwhile shopping around and not jumping at the first blade that seems attractive. This is a good package (blade+koshirae = what buyers perceive as a full 'sword') but it is not cheap. I think one needs to factor a bit the Juyo paper (priced in the package) and also the koshirae. Such itomaki koshirae are not cheap. Personally, I would also go after Unsho or Unji if I could or found a decent one, as opposed to Unju because I like the better refinement of the former. Somehow the jigane and hataraki of the former two are more sophisticated and elegant. However, again we do not know if Vu is after that and he might prefer the more masculine shape of Nanbokucho blades (hence the Unju shape). Etc etc
  13. Cool! Congratulations and enjoy them
  14. Well, welcome Logan. May I recommend that you include your real name both here (in your profile as well as signature) and on your website? A few days ago I trawled through your website to find out who was behind the business. Not clear and not transparent, even though your page is verbalised as “based in Japan” and you show a Tokyo address. Also, the signature here has consistently been Seiko, while we are required to provide a genuine name. However, the perfect English kind of gave away the foreign (Anglo-Saxon) origin. Anyway, transparency and honesty are very important for building trust and lasting relationships. So, well done for taking the first step.
  15. Hi Simon i believe this was in the “golden era” in the U.K. when mukansa togishi Kenji Mishina san lived here and helped Graham Curtis and Clive Sinclaire (and others among my tutors and predecessors) bring the shinsa teams over here. For the last 15years there has not been a U.K. shinsa. There have been discussions about one but the practicalities and necessary scale (eg several hundred swords necessary, organisation committee willing to collect deposits and hold the swords, and organise the 3-day event, etc) have thus far prevented one from happening. Add to that the increasingly stringent U.K. legislation about sword ownership and the virtual inability to post these in the U.K. to one another. I also believe that in the past many collectors were either not able to buy papered swords easily in the U.K. or were afraid of sending swords to Japan. Nowadays, with the widespread prevalence of the Internet and availability of English information, people have realised that there are 30-40 Japanese dealer websites with an English version, from which they can buy already papered swords in better condition than they can find in the U.K. on average. Also, people like Paul Martin, who indefatigably and graciously ferried and papered swords for U.K. collectors, have opened the eyes of U.K. collectors as to the possibility of swords being sent to Japan and shinsa-ed there. I am always bewildered when my U.K. brethren complain about the lack of options here. Of course, we do not have the plethora our US colleagues benefit from. However, I would say that we do not lack options, but people do not research sufficiently the available avenues to them or do not ask the more experienced collectors here.
  16. Thanks, Tom Yes, it is on my list of things to arrange for the new generation of members / collectors. I am aware the relative “old-timers” have benefitted from both National and Sano museum hands-on sessions (and also at the NBTHK), but the newer generation of collectors (let us say those sub-50) has not availed of these treasures. Hopefully in the next 5-10 years we can establish the relationships to do that.
  17. “Professionally” = one thing and one thing only for a U.K. based collector. Means sent to Japan and polished by a Japanese togishi. There are multiple non-fully-trained European options but we are cautious discussing these. The same comment applies to “papering”. There is no U.K. option for certification, as no shinsa teams come here, unlike the US. I recommend you get in touch with a credible intermediary like Eddy Wertheim or Igor Hochmajer or Pablo Kuntz and discuss your options with them. One of them can take your sword to Japan, if it is worth the effort and fees, and can help you. Otherwise, you can also find an agent in Japan (there are plenty - eg Paul Kremers, Bob Hughes / Keichodo) and ship your sword to them, asking them to help with all the details. Again, you had better ensure that the sword merits that.
  18. May I please check that you have held the Kokuho meito O-Kanehira and not just a sword by Ko-Bizen Kanehira? Would that have been at the NBTHK convention? I have only seen the O-Kanehira behind glass (during the 150th anniversary of the national museum last year). The same applies to KoRyu, which was also displayed there….
  19. Sometimes his juniors merely copy and paste old descriptions from previous listings in order to “more efficiently” translate the new entry. Happens when the sword is by the same or similar (eg same school) maker. Sometimes he uses his own discretion to attach a saijo ranking (if the sword he lists is TJ or J) even if the maker is not a Fujishiro saijo maker. This requires own/deeper knowledge of who the Fujishiro saijo makers are. Eventually, it almost does not matter. Look at the sword first and only after that try to contextualise it with who made it and then figure out whether that maker had this or that ranking according to Tokuno (man yen rating) or Fujishiro.
  20. May he rest in peace… Indeed a great man judging from his posts here and a nice participant in this forum. I hope he is up there with some Daimyo drinking sake, dancing with geisha and looking at great swords.
  21. Thanks, Brian This is very interesting. Nothing to do with sword knowledge per se but more about the psychology and history of collecting or even merely the interest in Japanese swords (as some of the interviewees are not collectors, in their own words).
×
×
  • Create New...