Jump to content

Lee Bray

Members
  • Posts

    826
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

Everything posted by Lee Bray

  1. Having trouble with the smith name, possibly Uemon, but doesn't seem correct. I have Kyushu Higo Dotanuki - the remaining four kanji are the smith's name, I believe. X X X Mon. Thanks for any help.
  2. A year? Ford's tsuba and fuchigashira in the classifieds at the moment with Higo shaped, doeskin wrapped tsuka and a saya of Kens' choice, preferably not black. There...only took a minute...
  3. Chatting with Tsuruta-san of Aoi art last year, he said that tanto were preferred by older Japanese collectors because they were much easier to physically handle.
  4. Other side, Henry. I thought the same as you but there is a plugged ana under the inlaid Samurai. I wonder if the plugged ana was a mistake at the time of making? The tsubashi just cut the ana on the wrong side. The mounted Samurai looks part of the original design and as it is inlaid into the plug, the plug must have been there from the start.
  5. Hi Brian, Don't be too zealous with the cleaning, especially if you're using uchiko. I live in Hong Kong which is permanently humid and lots of rain. My house is an old fish farmers house and has four derelict fish ponds 15ft from the back wall. It is bordered on two sides by wetlands and a hilly wood to the last side. Suffice to say it is very wet. I use AC and a dehumidifier and still occasionally have issues with books and clothes getting moldy but so far, I have not had any swords develop rust because of it. I've had the silk ito on tsuka get moldy so now keep koshirae in silk sword bags, which although still silk, seems to keep the tsuka safe. My swords tend to be oiled once every couple of months and I've had no issues with rust over the years if kept housed in shirasaya or saya. Of course, when you're studying them a lot, they need cleaning after use so try and use isopropyl alcohol to clean the oil off when viewing them instead of uchiko if the blade is in good polish.
  6. In the picture I posted the patch I refer to is above the hamon.
  7. Jean, you maybe right as a uniformly shaped patch would be a lot easier to apply. I'm still convinced I see a patch of different steel because of the disruption in the nie at its top edge, though. Perhaps it is an umegane, perhaps it is a weird piece of steel in the original kawagane that did not harden the same way as it's surrounding steel. If Marius' picture is showing an inclusion of some kind, as Chris suggests, then that's a possibility.
  8. You mean the small carbon pit? I can see a complete outline of a patch of steel, at least to my eyes. That pit is on the lower edge of the patch that I see, the upper edge going through the streak of ji-nie, which is why the ji-nie is partially obscured. At least that's how I interpret it and could be entirely wrong.
  9. Marius, I've roughly outlined the umegane I refer to. I believe it's an umegane as there is no nie in it, indicating it is different steel added later. Is that what you refer to as the "elongated lens-shaped something"?
  10. I'd say Koto. The shape shows repeated polishes so possibly Koto but that can be mimicked; the hada does seem very tight from what can be seen so that could say Shinshinto. It also sports a wide hamon, plenty of boshi and kaeri despite its tiredness which could also suggest a Shinshinto copy. I'm pretty sure I see an umegane on pic 30 - lower edge marked by the carbon pit and top edge breaking through the line of ji-nie. That makes me go with Koto just because I'd hope Shinshinto steel would not have such a flaw. If not for the umegane, I'd say Shinshinto... How's that for hedging your bets? :D
  11. Lee Bray

    Ko-Kinko?

    I remember the topic and the similarity of the tsuba you linked to but, along with the missing squirrel, 'mine' also lacks patina depth and the carving doesn't seem as crisp. Which is why I ask if is utsushi work based on your tsuba. If it is ko-kinko, it sold cheaply.
  12. Lee Bray

    Ko-Kinko?

    Hi guys. This tsuba was recently on ebay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/330776921858?ss ... 1423.l2648 To me, it looks like Ko-kinko work but the seller states it is only 170 years old. Is it an utsushi of ko-kinko? The shape, style and the rivets on the seppa-dai make me think ko-kinko but then the patina colour doesn't seem overly deep or old and the overall quality seems a little lacking(shallow carving, sloppy seppa-dai) to be good ko-kinko. Thoughts? I didn't buy it, just curious.
  13. Fred Lohman does work for Chinese and American production and custom blades. He's not a Nihonto guy. He farms the work out to various craftsmen so you'll be getting pot luck on the quality. As of late, even the cheap production katana guys are moaning about his lack of communication and poor work done. "Everyone says"...
  14. Again, I'm with Franco, and think that Raymond's example looks to be flush inlaid gold wire on a shakudo base with nanako done afterwards. Geraint, I think the irregularity that you point out in your kodzuka example shows wear of the gold amalgam and possibly poor application of the amalgam when it was made. I don't think the irregularity we see is a result of nanako distortion. This also seems to be backed up by traces of gold in the black squares, noticeably at the closed end. Only my opinion for the discussion, not fuel for any oily, troubled waters. Ron, lovely kodzuka, no matter how it is done. Interesting topic.
  15. I'm with Franco; the nanako will be done first with the gold applied over that and then given patina. Not 100% sure how the gold is applied, possibly butter of gold carefully 'painted' on with a stencil and then fired off? It's not inlay and it's not nunome-zogan. If the nanako were done afterwards, the details in the designs would be distorted with the metal deformation.
  16. Brian, you're getting knocked because you haven't paid your dues with the book knowledge and it shows. I say this respectfully to point it out to you. You start this thread saying it's a beautiful blade and you'd buy it in a second yet you're talking about a Chinese fake in all probability. Your beautiful hamon is acid etched. With six swords and only three books, you run a good risk of buying one of these fakes if you don't slow down a little. Nihonto study will take a lifetime; don't burn out now. You've just copped a little flak because you're admiring an acid etched hamon on a fake blade and with a little work on your part, that shouldn't happen. Slow down and smell the clove oil...
  17. I have a "mumei" wakizashi which papered to Owari Seki about ten months ago. That was after it failed shinsa with a very nice mei - Omi(No) Kami Fujiwara Tadahiro - which was then removed on advice from a Japanese agent and resubmitted. Roger Robertshaw saw the blade originally and said bad gimei. The mei was wrong and the blade was wrong. Then he realised that Hizen Tadahiro never signed that way. Quick check in Hawleys and we found TAD44, who signed this way and worked in...yep, Owari... NBTHK said gimei. Whether they thought it a gimei of Hizen Tadahiro or the little known Owari smith, we'll never know, but for them to then paper the blade to Owari Seki after the mei was removed...
  18. Paul, as a Hizen collector, you know that you can spot the Hizen Tadayoshi mei on a bunch of nakago across the room. Whilst not identical, they all follow a certain style and are fairly straight and uniform. If anyone has Roger Robertshaw's "School of Hizen Tadayoshi", look at page 51 for what I mean. Nidai is not in that example as he signed Tadahiro but the similarity across all the generations is fairly apparent, to me anyway. Your point of using the differences in the Nidai mei to accurately date his blades is valid but it also shows that there is some uniformity to his mei and the changes are not due to 'bad days' or sak'e. The smiths who are commonly faked are generally good smiths. Given the time and effort they put into becoming such, I don't really see that they would sign their work while suffering from the shakes. Did it happen? Probably, yes, but I can't see it as normal. Kiyomaru was known for enjoying the sauce and still managed to carve a consistent mei...but maybe he had a high alcohol tolerance... :D Sorry, Roy...I'm not making my comments with regard to your swords validity, I just question the 'good days/bad days' scenario. As said, the blade is the real signature at the end of the day.
  19. Make that centuries. Take a look at the Hizen Tadayoshi school lineage for very similar mei over nine generations. Most of the generations can only be told apart by slight variations in stroke direction, specifically done to distinguish between them(from my limited knowledge of Tadayoshi mei, anyway). If nine generations can replicate similar mei, I reckon one smith should be able to handle it.
  20. All good advice and you seem to take it on board. Out of interest, how is the fit between tsuba and sword? I ask because, to me, it looks like the tsuba nakago ana has been widened to accommodate the blade. If that's the case and the fit is good, I'd refrain from selling the tsuba. It's always annoying when you buy a sword and the tsuba rattles around and clearly was never meant for the blade. If this one fits, and it looks like it was fitted to the blade many years back from the patina, then I'd keep it with the blade. Despite all the offers you'll get from NMB Jakushi tsuba admirers... :D
  21. Or if you're using the firefox browser and have a wheel on your mouse, you can click the mouse wheel on the link and it will open in a new tab.
  22. The tsuba looks to be Jakushi school. http://www.nihonto.us/JAKUSHI%20II.htm http://www.silk-road.us/jakushi4.html Grey is right that it will be very difficult to find a matching kashira; I managed to find a matching fuchi for a tsuka with kashira that I had but it took a few years of trawling the internet to no avail and then I eventually found one in a box of bits at a large sword show in Japan. Your best bet is a new set, as said, or perhaps a horn kashira. They are fairly common, inexpensive and means you keep the fuchi with the tsuka. I can also vouch for Mr.McDonald, he does good work. The sword is possibly a naginata naoshi, which is a shortened polearm(naginata). The overall shape and the thickness at the ridge suggest that to me. I'm assuming it's thick based on the shape of the ana in the seppa and it also looks as though the nakago ana on the tsuba as been altered slightly to allow for that thickness. The mark on the habaki looks to be just that and not a kanji.
  23. You'd be surprised but then I base my experience on HK weather. When it gets humid here, moist dust circulates and it's a killer for carbon steel if it's not covered. You seem to know what you're about and if you're ok with a couple of shirasaya, go for it. Given the reasonable condition of the current polish, I can't imagine too much steel being removed so maybe one shirasaya will suffice anyway. Good luck with the project.
  24. Spend an hour or two, one or two nights a week, sit back with a beer, cleaning kit and a good light source and have fun. Uchiko and/or isopropyl alcohol will eventually remove all old, dried oil. Before investing in a polish, you want to make sure there are no vertical cracks in the edge, called hagire. They are damned hard to spot on an out of polish blade and they seriously devalue your blade if they are there. They are often fond in the middle of an expensive polish which is not a good experience... They can be seen prior to polish so take the time and examine the edge during your cleaning sessions. They're not too common so not trying to scare you, just making you aware of the possibility. As for putting the cleaned blade back into the old saya, I wouldn't worry about it. Any damage that the saya could do to the sword is already done and it will protect the blade from ambient elements. In my neck of the woods, exposed steel quickly gets spotted with rust even if oiled. A cover helps a lot. Of course, if the saya feels like a tube of grit when you're sliding the sword back in then that's a different story. Consider that if you get shirasaya made for it now prior to polish, there's a chance that contaminants(rust/dirt) from the blade could lodge into the shirasaya and be there when you get the blade polished later. Also, depending on the level of polish needed, enough steel could be removed to loosen the fit. I'd save the cost of shirasaya till the sword is being polished.
  25. An unusual find... I believe the signature reads Keiryu. There is one smith who signed with these kanji in my reference book(Hawleys). Here is the info. Keiryu - Yamashiro 1681 60 Same as Yoshihira ~ ~ KEI2 So, your sword is signed by Keiryu of Yamashiro province(or made his work in Yamashiro style). He lived around 1681, so if the signature is genuine, your blade is of that time. Very roughly, 1600 - 1800 AD, was known as the Shinto period. The 60 refers to a points rating. 60 is high and means your smith is a good one. Bear in mind that fake signatures of the big names have been put on blades by the Japanese for centuries so that could be the case here. I'd recommend getting this blade into knowledgeable hands as it could be worth something. They'll also be in a better position to say if the damage to the blade is repairable. Given the macabre appearance, that it was found in the woods and doesn't appear to have been there for too long...maybe it should visit the local constabulary first. If you go that route, figure out where you've been every night for the last year and go with a lawyer... P.S. http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/faq.html You'll find general care and maintenance described here. Fingers on a blade can cause expensive damage to a polished blade. This blade isn't polished but I certainly wouldn't want my fingerprints on it.
×
×
  • Create New...