bigjohnshea

Wondering if anyone can offer some more information about this smith? Recently bought an o-suriage wak with the mei cut in half. http://nihontoclub.com/smiths/IYE141 Maybe some examples of his work? Any info about lineage? Cheers!

Even as a novice it seems clear to me that a genuine blade would atleast have a shingo that lines up between the nagasa and the nakago. Also the fact that the discoloration is not uniform across the whole depth of the mihaba is also suspect. What I mean is, why would the hamon have aged at a different rate than the ha?

I've always thought Hirazukuri has the most intimidating look on a katana. It just looks like it will win you the fight. Awesome swords, thank you for sharing them.

I have bookmarked that site. Can't wait to read through it all! Thank you, both.

Interesting... I thought anything in the 12"-24" range was called a wakizashi. Thank you for that, Chris.

Oh, sorry. It was in the photos I posted earlier so I assumed you meant the tanto. The wakizashi's nagasa is 13".

Franco, I'm having trouble finding a Masamune wakizashi with the same features as my gimei, but I guess there's no reason to think it might not have been modeled after one of his blades or made to resemble his work in general. Regardless, it was not made by Masamune, so I think the mei does not belong there without the smith's mei and an attribution from him to Masamune. Jamie, Thank you for your story. I hope that the whole process works out in your favor. If you have some images of the blade I'd love to see them. Sounds like a wonderful sword. Jacques, Thank you for the info. My tanto is by Yoshindo Yoshihara with a nagasa that is 23.5cm, and it is made in osoraku-tsukuri shape with itame jitetsu.

Thank you again, Chris.

Franco, Thank you for implanting the thought. I guess that had not occured to me because I was not under the impression my wakizashi was made to actually resemble a specific sword by Masamune, instead of just being a sword made by a swordsmith which later had a false signature added to it. Is there something about this wakizashi that makes you think it is meant to be a replica of a famous sword? Adam, Thank you for those images. I have a similar image to the first one, although not with nearly as much detail. I'll be sure to add it to my folder. As for the second image, I believe I have actually seen that vague line of steal particles showing up on other swords I've seen and not known what it was. Thank you for that.

Jacques, The polisher said similarly that he thought the blade looked very tired in some places, and I assume he was also thinking of the region you posted an image of. Regardless of the course I have chosen to go in with this blade I truly appreciate your input concerning it. Thank you again. I have a follow up question concerning your statement about the possibility that it is maru-gitae. How can we discern just by looking at the exterior of the blade if something is maru-gitae or kobuse-gitae, etc. etc? I only ask because I am holding in my hand a tanto I bought not long ago made by a Mukansa swordsmith and frankly I have no way of telling whether or not I am looking at all one piece of steel, 2 pieces, or 4 pieces? How do you distinguish them simply by observing the blade?

Peter, Thank you for the time it took to write that lengthy explanation. I'm sure I am not the only one who will benefit from your willingness to share your experience. Now that there seems to be a building consensus that it is not of the same period as Masamune, I have every intention of having the gimei removed by the polisher. That being said, honestly I think my interest in Nihontos right now is more in appreciating and learning from them than finding out how much they're really worth and reselling them. So I'm not planning to submit it for Shinsa right now. Someday maybe. I intend to restore it so that I can enjoy it, and to keep collecting. Hopefully my budget for swords will expand along with my knowledge. Hopefully that will result in my having bigger and better things to submit to Shinsa in the future. Thank you again, Chris. Edit: Although I must add, it would be really nice to know who made it, or at least have an idea. Someday maybe. :-)

Thank you for your additional insights, Chris. I will keep keep you informed of progress with this blade when it is made. Hope that everyone is having a great week. :-)

Chris, I don't think I speak that language yet. :-) If you have a moment could you expand on your thoughts? A friend of mind seems to think it is from the Muromachi period. Lance, I like it a lot more with the window polish as well. It seems like he polished nearly the entire region in front of the horimono. The first photo shows the transition from polished to unpolished regions just before the horimono. Thank you again to everyone who contributed to this thread, and in doing so, to my knowledge.

Gentlemen, hope you have all been well. I wanted to post some photos of this blade now that a window polish has been put into it. Would love to hear some more of your thoughts.

I used to be an Architect, and have seen my share of shabby carpentry during the punch lists. This is NOT shabby carpentry. This is really great looking. Congrats on a beautiful piece.

Thank you both for giving your opinions. Chris, I was thinking that that Horimono might have been added around the same time the Mei was added. It seems that many of Masamune's swords have Horimono like these, and perhpas that was part of the intended ruse by whoever added them. I have no reasons other than suspicion to support that.

12-15 that is all

6-12 few more coming

Thank you for the links. If you genetlmen have time, please look at the photos and let me know what you think. It seems that the blade is actually Hira Zukuri, with a Mune Hikushi, and I think it is an Omaru Boshi. IMHO, I kinda like the blade now that I get a closer look at it. It's a bit more ornate than I originally thought. (first 6, more coming)

I got some photos from the polisher who has this blade, but they are larger than the 1mb that is allowed to post on the thread. Does anyone know of a quick way to reduce the image size, and hopefully not lose too much resolution? I have a macbook pro, but I do not have any special image editing software. Any thoughts?

Point well taken, Jacques. Thank you again.

Brian, Sebastian, Jacques, and Lance, Thank you each for making further additions to my knowledge. I'm going to email the merchant I bought it from to ask for photos, again. I have been waiting for them for about two weeks now. Not sure why it's taking so long. I'm not asking for anything special, and I'm sure the window polish has not been done yet. Jacques, Perhaps it is my newbie mentality telling me this, but let's say the photos and window polish reveal nothing special, does the sword itself (being an antique) not deserve to atleast be cleaned up and given a polish that would atleast make it suitable to add to a humble collection such as my own? Perhaps I am too idealistic for my own good, but I would think we all would want to atleast do that for a blade that came from a culture that we all seem to admire. Regardless, I thank you for being willing to contribute to my knowledge. With regards to books and learning from reading. I am working on it, I promise. What is holding me back from learning faster is that right now I am a 36 year old medical school student. I was once an Architect, and so I have some financial resources that the average medical school student does not have, but one resource that is in short supply with me is free time. I will learn as much as I can, when I can, but free time is scarce for me. BTW. If any of you ever need advice about how to build a house, add an addition to your home, perform tenant improvement on your office, etc. I'm happy to lend you my knowledge in the same way that you lend me yours here. :-)

Thank you, Mark. I appreciate all the information everyone has given me. I'll be happy to post more photos when I get them, and I would enjoy reading and learning from more opinions whenever people have time to give them. Thanks again.

Thank you, Jean. So I think I understand why it would be from the Muromachi, not the Kamakura period. (is it because of the sori?) But how did you distinguish it as from the Mino provence? Was that just based on the number of blades that came out of that region?

If it is from the Muromachi period, that is just as wonderful to me as if it were from the Kamakura period, Jacques. Thank you for taking the time to look at it for me, and I truly appreciate the candor. I would love to hear other opinions if anyone has an interest in expressing them. Please do not be worried about offending me. I would rather hear what people have to say and learn from it. Sorry I do not have better photos right now.