steve0

1667 - 5 Sep. 1747, you are correct sir. Although I find the reference to 1688 hard to accept being he was only 21 at the time. Forging that level of quality at 21, possible yes but I doubt it. Its a really nice blade to my eyes. An extract from Roger R's book states The Yondai received the title ‘Ômi Daijô’ on 10 March 1700 and subsequently changed his mei to “Hizen Kuni Jû Ômi Daijô Fujiwara Tadayoshi”; he also signed “Tadayoshi Saku” as did the Shodai. Some time after 1709 he began signing “Ômi Daijô Fujiwara Tadayoshi”, perhaps copying his grandfather’s later technique of simply signing “Ômi Daijô Fujiwara Tadahiro”. He is the only Tadayoshi to use ‘Ômi Daijô’ in his Tadayoshi mei, and he therefore became known as ‘Ômi Daijô Tadayoshi’, however there are also dai-mei by the 5th gen. signing ‘Ômi Daijô Fujiwara Tadayoshi’, as we shall see. That does not support the 1688 claim in my limited opinion. Full credit to Roger for his research referenced here

Fittings aside, its a nice blade with a wonderful hamon.

Koto are but my pockets are not that deep

Shinshinto are more geared towards the art then battle use IMHO, so some schools and smiths really flexed their talents in making very beautiful blades. That said, I like Shinto a little more as they were more often made to cut men down.

very nice addition, Rogers book will help a lot in learning the school, smiths and history. Congrats on the find.

mei does not look like the examples i have handy but please do not quote me.

I was going to ask you how you know the blade is not sharp, then realized I didn't want to know. Please do not touch the polished part of the blade with your bare hands, it will damage it.

Example of 1st and 2nd gen shoshin mei's from Rogers book I think its gimmei in my non expert, limited, novice opinion

12K on books , a Gassan, a Tadahiro and a Naginata ( 75 point score but forget by who) , isn't all bad All papered and polished of course. I guess I was lucky to do lots of reading before I allowed myself to buy a single item, plus i stumbled onto NMB to help further guide me along with you wonderful folk.

I was given a book on Japanese swords many years ago and thought to myself "awesome a free book on a topic i am most interested in" however that book was a trap and reading it has cost me upwards of 12,000.00, and counting since that date. Beware gifts!

Poaching is what is wiping them out.

The mei does not look like it tapers off either, which they generally tend to do according to Rogers work. I recently picked up a papered Omi Daijo piece, so I have been doing quite a bit of reading on this smith. However I am a beginner at best and this is just a point that stuck out to me.

Awesome work Derek, thank you for sharing your results.

thanks for posting guys, i know nothing of this artist, nor if its soshin or gimei but i do know my eyes like what they see

it is indeed an awesome book and taught me more than any other on the topic of Nihonto. All new collectors should list this book as a must have because that is exactly what it is.