Ken-Hawaii

Thanks, Guido!

I've had his book for almost 6 years, & have used it a few times. what works for me is to first doing my best to identify a blade, & then using his references (mostly the boshi) to confirm what I think. Of course I almost always end up scratching my head at the results.

Bob Benson, https://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/index.html

Your eyes must be a lot better than mine! I would have assumed that it was the angle of lighting.

Well-carved, but I don't like the one kicking up its heels.

My sword mentor has one, & I saw that Pawn Stars episode, too.

Wow! Almost 1000 years old, & it looks brand new.

I'd be tempted if I could figure how to make a profit, Steve. Between my wife & me, we've used analytical equipment for more than 50 years, so semi-automated X-ray fluorescence or diffraction would be a no-brainer. Maybe if I could find a database that identified jidai as a function of what a blade was made of, I could offer a service, but I haven't heard of anything like that. Shannon, have you?

It's amazing that they have X-ray fluorescence guns for sale on eBay for $12K: https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRUKER-S1-TITAN-XRF-Alloys-and-Precious-Metals-analyzer/174079068062 Portable, high resolution, what more would we need?

Yes, absolutely. Assuming that it was going to be sold, a togishi polish would greatly-increase the blade's value. As it won't be sold, however, I doubt that a professional polish is needed. Just please follow the maintenance instructions in the NBTHK sword etiquette to keep it in good condition.

Cody, to give you a genera idea of value (assuming your blade is in similar condition), please check https://www.aoijapan.net/katana-kiku-mon-iga-no-kami-fujiwara-kinmichi-3rd/ Also, sword etiquette is covered in http://www.nbthk-ab.org/swordcare.pdf Welcome to the forum.

Our condolences to his family & friends.

Your second one looks more like a manriki-gusari.

I particularly like Dirk's, both for the "surprised appearance," & for its massiveness.

Let's not beg the question, Jean. Yes, of course they made enough, but you know that I'm trying to get a handle on quantities & allocations. Were all tosho busy digging up & separating satetsu, all the time? Were there local "businesses" that provided tamahagane for sale, or did each school handle that? Based on modern tatara, for example, the countryside could be stripped of trees just to make the charcoal, if everyone was doing it.

Of course they did, but where did the original steel come from? One thing I've never read was just how much tamahagane was created in individual tatara, as well as larger (community? school?) ones, way back when. Any good references?

Roger, did you forget the second tsuba?

Yes, a great writeup, Jean. Thanks! My original question was raised from reading one of Turnbull's books: "As the fourteenth century gave way to the fifteenth the number of known active swordsmiths jumps to around 3,550, until with the widespread conditions of war in the Sengoku Period (conventionally dated 1467–1603), many swords were being mass-produced, with a consequent loss in artistic quality and an inevitable reduction in strength and durability. Records exist of swords being shipped in their thousands to China, with disputes arising over quality and price." Wit that many active tosho, tamahagane creation must have been massive, yet I've read very little about how that happened.

Yes, twist thin brass/bronze, & then use silver solder to attach.

Austus, please don't conflate the Yoshii River flood with loss of satetsu. Water would have moved it, but probably not very far, nor would it matter, as iron sand is was & is still constantly being washed down from the mountains by erosion, So, there's no way all of it could be washed away. Yes, any iron sand can be made into tamahagane using the tatara process, & that tradition is the ONLY way to make tamahagane. So, Yasuki or other modern steels don't qualify, by definition. Historically, "barbarian" steel became available around 1555, as I recall, from ballast in wrecked Portuguese ships. It's not so much that it was "better," just that it was available in comparatively-huge amounts, with almost no effort. And it's modern-day tosho who add a bit of older iron for tradition, rather than Momoyama & Shinto tosho who added a bit of namban tetsu. Geologically, Japan has virtually no mineable iron, so iron sand & the very-occasional iron meteorite were the only ways they could make their blades.

I don't have that, Steve, but here is a chart of the properties of iron sand from different locations: Koshiba - Properties of iron sand chart.pdf The entire paper (in English, thank goodness) is here: Koshiba - Properties of steel from iron sand.pdf

Actually, there were significant differences among the "iron sands" that were washed out of the surrounding mountains by natural erosion, & the only "rocks" were the occasional iron meteorites. I have a paper on those differences, but can't read it: Effect of different iron sands on Tamahagane.pdf Shannon, I'd love to correspond with you on your specific X-ray fluorescence equipment.

Jean, I expected my question to veer into related topics, so feel free to keep adding. The fact that there were individual tatara for tosho, & how they used oroshigane to improve what iron they had (i.e., raffination), was also an eye-opener. What hasn't yet been addressed was how all of the iron required during Sengoku was created. Think of the many kazu-uchimono blades we see today - they had to be made from something.

Same artist, Ben? Look quite similar, including the perches.

Very nice, Bruno. Wish mine had the same patterns.