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SteveM

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  2. Seeking advice on Tanobe & NBTHK different appraisals

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Keep the blade as is. 

     

    The kinpun mei is mostly illegible, but there is enough to deduce the word "yoshi". This is why yoshi (吉) appears in a box on the appraisal paper. The part above yoshi is completely illegible, which is why there is a blank box on the appraisal sheet. 

     

    Then, under that blank box, the paper says "den Aoe" in parenthesis. "Den" is already a hedge, and there has been a ton about this written on here. The shinsa team is saying, "there is a previous attribution which we do not completely endorse, but neither do we wish to reject it outright".

     

    The placement of the "den" attribution in parenthesis is one step farther away from an endorsement. It's their way of saying, "we respectfully note a previous attribution" and that's about it. So they are not really on board with the previous attribution, but they hesitate to reject it completely, probably because ↓

     

    The kinpun mei is attributed to Hon'ami Kōson.

     

    Kōson's signature (光遜) cannot be read completely, but there is enough evidence to deduce it as Kōson, and we know this because his name also appears in boxes on the authentication paper. Again, the boxes around the kanji mean the kanji is virtually illegible, but there is enough to deduce what it must be. Maybe they can tell from the kaō. In any event, they are confident enough to declare it as a Kōson kinpun mei, which means presumably the "yoshi" was also put on there by, or at the request of, Hon'ami Kōson. 

     

    So given all this, you've got a very good sword which was attributed at one point by Hon'ami Kōson to Aoe school, to somebody with "yoshi" in their name. The modern shinsa team said, "no doubt this is a TH sword, and we can sort of see why Kōson made the attribution to Aoe, but we're not so sure". So they validate the sword, and they note the previous attribution, but they don't quite want to accept or reject Kōson's attribution. Tanobe, who is free from the constraints of consensus-building at NBTHK, can be more decisive. But who wants to grind off a kinpun mei from Hon'ami Kōson, who is attributing it to Aoe? 

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  6. Looking for second opinions

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    You can come to the Southern California sword club (Nanka Tokenkai), which meets once a month in Torrance. Mike usually comes to those meetings to present swords. I can't speak for him, but he's always been happy to look at things people bring in. The meetings are open to the public, but its best to check with the club, as sometimes Mike is away and is unable to attend the meetings. Facebook is the best way to contact the club.  If that's not a good option for you, you should be able to contact Mike at his business, Tetsugendo (also on Facebook). 

     

    My gut feeling is that your sword may be too scratched up to make any kind of determination. The mei looks very close, but the important thing is the sword itself, and it will be hard (if not impossible) to see the steel grain and the hamon and activities through the scratches. 

     

    Yours has no "kiku" flower symbol on the reverse side of the tang?

    If not, the authenticated sword (left) would have been made around the same time as yours.

     

     

    yasuhiro.jpg

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  7. More Tanobe Sensei handwriting practice (transliteration help)

    in Translation Assistance

    Posted

    Maybe it will help if its broken up like this. 

     

    光遜先師ノ鞘書ニ　曽テ薩摩ノ本阿弥忠信ノ左国廣ノ金粉銘アリシ　ト云フ　然レドモ

    私見デハ　南北朝最末乃至應永ノ　石刕出羽住貞綱　ト鑒シ候

     

    菖蒲造　而　大板目ニ鍛へ　互乃目ガ盛ンニ乱レル刃文ヲ焼キ

    処々連レ厚ク沸ヅキ砂流湯走カゝリ出来宜矣

     

    Note the word in the final line is カゝリ (or, かかり as normally written). 

    睦月 = mutsuki

     

     

     

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  13. 2 Nbthk kicho for translation

    in Translation Assistance

    Posted

    Hello Marcin,

    There are several smiths listed in Markus Sesko Swordsmith Index with that name, making swords in that time period. The inscription on your sword is "Masakiyo of Ishikawa Sekishū made this", and none of the entries in Markus Sesko's index mention anything about "Ishikawa", so it might be difficult/impossible to pinpoint which of the ones in his index, if any, are your swordsmith. It is also possible that the smith who made your sword is not listed in any index (an "unlisted smith", or, in Japanese, meikan more). It happens occasionally.  

     

    The other paper doesn't mention any names for your koshirae. To be exact, the maker of the wooden "scabbard" part would never be mentioned. The makers of the metal parts would normally be mentioned if there is a mei on them. Your tsuba has the name Gotō Teijō (後藤程乗) on it, but the tsuba is a fake (replica) and the name on it is a forgery. The paper mentions that the tsuba for this koshirae should be a brass tsuba with an image of a dragon in clouds. The dragon tsuba has been removed, and replaced with the fake Gotō Teijo tsuba that is now on your koshirae. The dragon tsuba was probably sold off separately a long time ago. This is one of the reasons that old papers aren't to be trusted. 

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  15. Getting started as a new collector- seeking advice

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Giordy has some good advice. I completely agree with the recommendation to avoid problematic swords, and instead look into buying a low-end-but-certified sword. And avoid ebay. There are several dealers on this site who probably have such a sword in their stocks. I think the wine analogy is a good one. If you want to learn about wine, you don't need to buy the most expensive bottle in the shop, or even a mid-range bottle. But you do need to buy a bottle that isn't broken or corked or way past its vintage date. So avoid swords that are broken, chipped, grinded, sanded, rusted to the point where you can't see anything, etc... These swords have nothing to teach you, and are just a pointless waste of money. 

     

    A koshirae is nice to have, but not necessary. (The sword should come with a plain "shirasaya" scabbard for storage). Koshirae are a different area of study, and aren't essential to learning about sword basics. Usually you end up studying koshirae one way or another, but it isn't mission-critical that your first sword comes complete with a koshirae.

     

    Gimei is a topic unto itself, but there can be very good swords that have false signatures on them. But this starts to get into the "deep end" of the pool. I would stick to the shallow end before diving head first, because the shallow end has a lot of important lessons. The shallow end is where you learn the skills to go deeper. When you buy a junk sword you waste money and time that could better be spent on studying something that can actually help you.  

     

    Now this is really getting deeper, but if you have the time and the patience, this article is well worth reading. 

     

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  25. Sukashi with Hakogaki by Sasano

    in Tosogu

    Posted

    It says

     

    葵透

    無銘　江戸中期作

    鉄地透

    清勁平明　佳作

    平成二年水無月

    素心鑑（印）

     

    Aoi Sukashi

    Unsigned, mid-Edo period.

    Iron, sukashi

    Clear, strong, and unpretentious. Fine work.

    June, 1990

    Soshinkan (Sasano's art name) 

     

    "Fine Work" is the lowest grade of Sasano's three-tier grading system. Fine → Superb → Masterpiece. Lowest doesn't mean bad in his case. He wouldn't have bothered writing a hakogaki for a bad tsuba.

     

    If I remember the price correctly, and given that we are several decades past the time when Haynes was discussing, you don't need to worry about having overpaid for the piece. This is a good work, and the price was good, and regardless of the attribution on the box, both tsuba and box are nice things to have. 

     

    Check out the site below for even more information. The author of that site (I think he is a poster here as well) translates 佳作 as "Beautiful Work" which is a good translation as well. 佳 literally means "beautiful" or "good".  Forget about "honorable mention". Machine translation often barfs up misleading translations.

     

    https://tsubakansho....sano-senseis-grades/

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