Rivkin

Very personal take: Nice example of how post-mid-sengaku (quite prominent already with some Mino Kanefusa and Ujifusa?) and especially shinto [probably Shinto in this case?] to shintshinto hamon of decent quality looks like - a foam of nie on top, with very much varied crystal size, over relatively dense and uniform, wide structure below. The hada appears to be tight itame with quite some ji nie. It might be not a bad sword. Brilliant white in hada is ji nie. In this picture the bluish-dark in ha is nie when its a separate crystal. White is from hadori, a polishing technique to accent hamon, especially its nie. Kirill R.

I think it depends on what is defined as meito. The ones published in "Meibutsu" - no. Then there is a class of swords which are supposed to be identified as named swords from classic Japanese literature works of Heian-Nambokucho periods. Some of those are in Meibutsu; all have weak provenance, with clearly lossed verifiable transmission sometime between mid-Nambokucho to 1510 or so. Still they belonged to important Edo collections and are accepted as original Heian or Kamakura period swords, at least "in public". The answer here is also probably no. Then there are swords with sayagaki, usually from Meiji-Taisho period that say that this sword was in pocession of x for generations, maybe dating back to y, and its called "grievous lighting" or some other name. Usually the sayagaki is done by a shop owner (who were the main experts at the time), and those examples do come up from time to time for sale anywhere. Taking in mind that cynical scholarship is absolutely not welcome in nihonto, whether with respect to American "Ashikaga Takauji's own armor" or Japan's own "Kogarasumaru", almost all of the "meito" examples are taken at face value as originals of appropriate age and exact provenance. Kirill R.

George, as much as polishing adventure sounds interesting, an honest and cynical advice is not to embark on it for an unsigned daito unless you are dead certain its Heian to Nambokucho, with maybe Oei Bizen being an exception. The prices of unsigned swords from other periods are not that great. It saves time for a dealer who sees hundreds of unpolished swords - unsigned post-Nambokucho? Financially not worth the effort. Signed - evaluate the signature and then make the decision. Simple rules which are sufficient to function reasonably well in this business. Plus the chances that the polish will not reveal new problems is not that great. Finally, the chance that it will come out as a great sword - very small. Its better to bite the bullet and buy a really attractive sword in polish where you can see a lot of things. Kirill R.

There is some "water" in the description, like being set aside for a high ranking samurai etc., but overall its an interesting blade. Most Bungo come from post 1520 Muromachi, early shinto, and those tend to be not particularly stellar mass produced items. Taira Nagamori is an earlier name, and generally speaking few bad swords were made until 1500. At the time, there were plenty of old swords being offered for sale at lowest prices possible and exceptionally few swords made overall. This style of horimono was quite popular at the time, the steel looks koto, hamon is sort of consistent with Taira Nagamori (they did not have a truly distinguished style at the time, but this kind of Bizen-imitation is one of possibilities). I am a little bit puzzled by o-kissaki, which would be more at home at earlier or substantially later times, but these provincial schools sometimes felt out of bound with more general trends. So the attribution does not look too suspicious. It should not be a very expensive sword and probably most people would not bother with repapering. Most likely erroneous and personal opinion, Kirill R.

Ooook. There is another hint - first one is sai-jo-saku. Second one I think is jo-jo-saku, but need to check. Kirill R.

Yes, it was all pretty much surprisingly in the same area. The guesses from people who've seen it in life were Sue Soshu (club were I am not welcome). Go Yoshihiro (a person who knows Soshu quite well). What surprises me also is that in Bizen kantei with two blades people seem to be cautious. And I thought Bizen can be more straightforward than Soshu. Kirill R.

George, I am sorry but the pictures leave too much to imagination, so its sort of wild guess. Some of the features make me feel its no earlier than mid Momoyama, and possibly substantially later. Hamon has a streak of rather large nie on top, but rather wide and featureless below, something we don't often see on truly old koto pieces. Without having the sword in hand its even wilder guess, but I would pass on polishing. The market is skewed in such a way that with post-1450 blades even if it papers Naotane it gives you a modest profit over the polishing costs, but 95% of the rest is a pure loss. Kirill R.

As per the trend of the last x American shows there were a few great deals in tosogu and non-Japanese items, but probably only five or so good swords in the room, none of them easily obtainable. There was I assume Fred Weissberg's Go Yoshihiro, nice probably Nambokucho Soshu hitatsura daito that became a waki, a tired ichimonji and a few others. Quite a few militaria grade blades, some better ones, some worse ones. There were couple of Japanese stores present. The greatest attraction to me was probably Bob Haynes and the discussion on the early Goto that followed. Kirill R.

Jean Pierre and Tom are very kind to praise my photography, thank you. To add a clue, let's say the one to whom the first blade is attributed has three daito that are Jubi. For the second maker, the number of Jubi daito is one. Kirill R.

Second blade. Different photography technique and equipment, something I no longer use. Old polish with a white "band" formed at the edge and concealing that there is quite some sunagashi activity there. Very large full size high resolution: http://www.historyswords.com/k22.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k21.jpg

I will be honest in stating that these two blades will be offered for sale, so there is some sense of inappropriate placement here - but because of that I did take ok pictures and I think the blades themselves are actually quite interesting for kantei and even direct comparison. Both are not signed, but papered, which also can be an issue as the attributions are not 100% certain. But since there is no prize money involved, the positions are fair and at least you get see the full blades. First blade. The polish is relatively recent Japanese work, good but way too hazy for my taste (Honami?) so the overall pictures are very difficult to take. Also, while the steel color is kind of arcane subject and depends on proper lighting, but this one does have a blue tint. http://www.historyswords.com/k1.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k2.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k3.jpg http://www.historyswords.com/k4.jpg

My apologies, nothing really deep here - towards #15 I was already somewhat tired; despite so many good Rai-related blades, due to my poor knowledge of this school I just decided not to dwell any deeper. Kirill R.

I thought that shinto began as way of life rather than a date. Those in the market who had "tight itame, say goodbuy to ware" were considered shinto, while their neighbors who had "bright mokume o-hada with nagare and everything included" were still koto. Kirill R.

Chris, without much pretense of expertise or looking into Ujinobu's dates: if it does not have fumbari, its not straitish, the curvature is sort of uniform its typically the early-earliest shinto or maybe something from the 18th century, but the latter are very uncommon. And this one does look like late Momoyama sugata. Kirill R.

Well, without dragging the question for too long: Its Jirotaro Naokatsu. "The best blade that Naokatsu made", as some not too objective people commented. My own guess would have been Kiyomaro or Kiyondo. Kirill R.

Thank you, Uwe, for an interesting exercise. With good photos and quality blades figuring out what they are is by far more straightforward and very much rewarding vis-a-vis typical questions here where the blade is out of polish something-shinto-waki. Very enjoyable! I assume #1 was attributed to Mino period of Tametsugu, which has less of Norishige and more of Kaneyuki-Kaneuji semblance, and no signed/100% certain examples...Well, just trying to make sense out of it for myself. With regards to Yamashiro and Rai specifically, I don't know them that well, and judging these blades by photo alone tends to be a complex task, so I can't really comment. Other than that, #2 and #14 were not completely unexpected. #2 is a very strong Soshu work, which is rare in daito space, and apparently in exceptional condition and signed, so TJ is expected. I doubt there is another Nobukuni to fully match it, but maybe its just my ignorance. #14 goes towards how rich and diverse ko-Bizen craftsmanship can be. One can say it is beyond any other koto school. My reaction to TJ paper level is sort of bifold. On the one hand, I understand collectors who buy only TJ on the premise that really good blades were already sifted out by centuries and are residing around this niche (JuBa etc.). On the other hand, papers did create a lot of weirdness in nihonto collecting, something as a non-nihonto-psyche person I would be much better off without. You start talking to someone who supposedly can give a great advice and all they tell you - don't buy this blade! Its a waste of money! It has to be whole 1.5cm longer to qualify for TJ! No blade of this maker ever got TJ being 1.5cm shorter! Or like you are not supposed to ever buy Tsunahiro without horimono. Because these blades have really hard time making it to Juyo. In this batch certainly even in photos some of the quality shows. Though one can imagine a set of conditions (ubu, signed, early Edo papers) that would propel a number of others here into TJ. Very enjoyable photos, thank you! Kirill R.

Not Masayuki, not Masahide, sorry. Kirill R.

He is also sai-jo-saku. Kirill R.

That was quicker than expected, however Kiyomaro, if I remember correctly, is sai-jo-saku. This one is jo-jo-saku. Kirill R.

Hizen Masahiro - negative. Regarding the papers - unfortunately absolutely don't remember what level. Kirill R.

Sorry - too much is written there so cleaning it up in photoshop just does not leave much left . Kirill R.

An interesting blade which proven itself very useful when one needs to embarrass sword club member by means of kantei, since it is not an easy one by far. To make things fair, he is rated Jo-Jo-Saku, which greatly limits the number of people to consider. The two links with full resolution overall and macro shots are below. As always I don't pass an opportunity to advertise my photography - I am always on a lookout to photograph interesting blades, especially in California. I'll do it for free, since frankly it beats my typical multi-year (!) adventures which are pre-requisite to photographing blades in any museum. Kirill R. http://historyswords.com/test1.jpg http://historyswords.com/test2.jpg

I hope to sit down a little more and fill out the guesses for the rest of the swords, there are some good ones here... Much less confident to offer any additional guesses regarding which ones are TJ. I feel is that a lot it rides on nakago, which is unknown. [3] if ubu and signed can be TJ, and maybe [5] is some weird ubu and signed Akihiro and then it also can be TJ. If [5] is unsigned, the chances of TJ I think are much smaller. Kirill R.

Sorting out my guesses: #1. Shizu Kaneuji. #2 I feel its actually a quality sword, but its the only case where the pictures are a little too vague. Soshu, or at least Bizen heavily influenced by Soshu, but a little too brash and wide hamon for the classics and a little too good a condition as well. I will throw something like Taikei Naotane. #3. Ko-Aoe, or something old and sort of similar, can be even ko Bizen, #4 Don't know, something Shinto. #5 Sue Soshu, can be Tsunahiro #6 Yamato Hosho style, but quite likely Sendai utsushi. #7 Late Soshu imitation. #8 Pre Muromachi, something Rai related. #9 something very late, probably shinshinto, not the first class name. #11 some shinto smith, maybe Hizen Tadahiro. #12 Sue Soshu, Sengaku period. #15 late Nambokucho Bizen, like Moromitsu. #16 Yoshimichi of Mishina #18 someone rare and weird like Kongobei school. #21 Enju. #22 Uda Tametsugu or maybe Sanekage From these, I suspect 1 and 3, maybe 15 are Juyo. Which brings me to the wildest of all my probably highly erroneous guesses: #14 I think the sword is somewhat tired, hard to photograph and will look different from other angles. But, sometimes this is the way Soshu Yukimitsu looks like, which would make it TJ. Kirill R.

Great photos! There are some that appear "easy", like #16 is Yoshimichi of Mishina, but most require some thinking. #1 looks like Shizu Kaneuji. #3 is probably ko-Aoe, but also surprisingly looks like one ko-Bizen blade that was sold recently. #5 looks like Sue Soshu, probably Tsunahiro. #12 and #7 are related to it; #12 is probably the end of Muromachi Soshu, #7 is late Edo period someone who is not the first class but recognizable name working in Soshu style. #6 sort of looks like Yamato Hosho, but can be Sendai utsushi. 9 is some shinshinto+, not very distinctive. #11 is some shinto smith, maybe Hizen Tadahiro. #15 is probably late Nambokucho Bizen, like Moromitsu. #22 is sort of feels like Uda Tametsugu or maybe Sanekage. 18 is someone weird like Kongobei school. 21 feels Enju. Fugh, I expressed my than my usual share of ignorant and erroneous opinions, must get some sleep. Thanks! Kirill R.