Hoshi

This is now fixed, thanks again for the report.

Dear @PNSSHOGUN, Oh my. Thank you for letting me know, this is clearly a bug. I will investigate. Best, Hoshi

Hi Lewis, I am not sure what translation AI workflow you are using but please exercise care. If it doesn't sound like the NBHTK, it is likely contaminated by hallucinations. I will endeavor to bring back accurate translations this summer to NW. The appropriate translation of the setsumei: Explanation Among the students of Shintōgo Kunimitsu, the three smiths Yukimitsu, Norishige, and Masamune further emphasized chikei, kinsuji, and nie within the Sōshū tradition established by Kunimitsu, and in so doing led it toward completion. Masamune in particular mastered the subtle handling of several kinds of steel with differing carbon content, and brought the expressive potential of nie to its highest refinement, thereby contributing greatly to the elevation of the artistic character of the Japanese sword. This katana is an ō-suriage and originally mumei blade that was appraised as Masamune by Hon’ami Kojun who then applied a gold-inlaid attribution. The forging shows itame with mixed mokume, with thickly formed ji-nie and plentiful chikei, yielding a well-refined surface texture. The hamon is a notare-based pattern mixed with gunome, well covered in nie and displaying varied activities; in both ji and ha it demonstrates the fascinating nuances of transformation within nie. Kojun's appraisal to Masamune is persuasive; the sword is kenzen (sound and well-preserved), and its vividly clear (saeru) ji and ha are especially worthy of attention. A few points to note: Hon'ami Kojun's kiwame are suspect by default, we are late into the Hon'ami era and the pressure exercised upon the house by the corrupt Shogunal Councilor. Here, it is persuasive. If it was not, the NBHTK would have simply added Kinzogan ga aru. Another point: "fascinating nuances of transformation within nie" is a lexicon associated almost exclusively with Norishige, which says something regarding the direction of the work. It was indeed a lucky day for someone back in 2008, and also for the dealer: it is a rare privilege to be able to intermediate in the sales of such a special piece. It made him proud, and he left at the top of his website for the past 18 years. This speaks volume. Best, Hoshi

Hi Lewis, Apologies this was a misfire, this item has been sold long ago - the dealer made a page change and it caused NW to pick it up by mistake. I immediately marked it as sold. Best, Hoshi

Dear Rob, I can chime in. How should I understand this blade within late Muromachi / Sue-Bizen production? It is a blade of the late Osafune school, in its fourth phase of activity, the so-called "Sue-Bizen" phase that last until the flood of the river Yoshii. Bizen was the largest production center of swords, and produced both domestic and foreign exports to the mainland. If you want to really take a deep dive into the school to contextualize the work within the broader school period, check here: https://nihontowatch.com/lineages/osafune (note that it is a very early project, and will contains errors). I understand that many Sue-Bizen blades were made during a period of heavy demand, but this example is signed, dated, Tokubetsu Hozon, and appears to have been considered worthy of a Hon’ami Nisshu oshigata. Does this place it above ordinary wartime production, or is that still too broad an assumption? Because it is a finely crafted blade, in a period where quality varied dramatically based on the client demands. Contrary to an old belief, even in blades without the full artisan name spelled out, there are some high-quality pieces intended as top of the line products. Note that Hon'ami Nisshu was not a exceedingly good at kantei, some of his sayagaki call for enhanced scrutiny (i.e. are inflated or simply off), and one should have ideally the kiwame (appraisal) confirmed by Tanobe sensei. Why does the sayagaki use the fuller attribution “Gorōzaemon no Jō Kiyomitsu”, while the mei itself reads “Bizen Kuni jū Osafune Kiyomitsu saku kore”? The traits indicative of master Gorōzaemon's hand are apparent in the blade to the eyes of Hon'ami Nisshu, allowing for the narrowing of the attribution. Alternatively, In certain cases, it is a statement on the quality rather than a narrowing of the attribution range, a way to praise the sword above those bearing this signature type. You can learn about “Gorōzaemon no Jō Kiyomitsu” here: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/kiyomitsu-KIY173 Am I correct in thinking that the sayagaki is identifying the specific Kiyomitsu generation/title, rather than contradicting the mei? It is narrowing down to the author, there is no contradiction. Kiyomitsu is a lineage within Sue-Bizen, and many smiths operated under this name. Similar with the Sukesada line. I am also commissioning a new koshirae in Japan using selected antique fittings. The planned fittings include an Aizu Shōami iron tsuba, shakudō fuchi-kashira, antique menuki, black samegawa, dark brown silk tsuka-ito, black lacquer saya, and a custom satin silver habaki. I will attach some pictures below. As a general sanity check, does this seem like a coherent project for this type of blade? I am aiming for something understated, historically respectful, and not overly decorative. I think this is the right approach and you don't need the usual warning of avoiding the "koshirae americana" style. In my experience, it is useful to study books on Koshirae with historical photos, check Markus's Sesko website - there is, as I recall, a lovely illustrated book on Koshirae that he has translated. Do keep in mind that you are unlikely to recoup your investment, it is a labor of love and a to leave behind a testament of care to the sword for the next owner. Also, be aware that Tosogu are not 'modular' in their ability to fit blades, there is no standard rail measurements. Fuchi, Kashira, Tsuba, all need to be appropriately sized to the blade's proportion, and reworked in some cases. Avoiding excessive rework on precious tosogu is important, as it may lead to the proportions being off on top of it. For instance, Fuchi and Tsuba Seppa Dai need to be close in measurements, and the overall pieces need to be appropriate for the motohaba and kasane of the blade. Finally, I would appreciate a market perspective on the total cost. The whole project, including the blade, koshirae work, fittings, habaki, import and transport to Europe, will likely be around 1.750.000/2.000.000JPY all-in. I am not asking because I intend to sell it; I see it as a long-term collection piece. I simply want to understand whether this total cost seems reasonable for a complete, papered, signed and dated Kiyomitsu project in the current market. I think you may be underestimating the total cost or going for lower-level labor. It's also possible to achieve decent results this way, but keep in mind It is not easy work to get right, and you should make sure you have the right person to handle it in Japan. Koshirae outcomes widely differ in results. The best way to handle it is full art patron style: elect a promising craftsman who wants to compete in the fittings competition of NBHTK, give them artistic freedom. If the Koshirae is made for submission at the contest, it is the best way to communicate your intention of historical accuracy and high-quality work. Perhaps, best for the next sword. I hope this helps, good luck with your project, and we are looking forward to seeing the results. Hoshi

Dear Elias, Welcome. Many people here have provided excellent answers. I will just chime in on one point your raised: In terms of prestige, a good estimate is to look at designation (how many elite designations relative to less elite designations) and provenance (who owned it and was proud of it). For example, if the extended Tokugawa family held many swords by a smith compared to other families (high GINI coefficient) - you can infer that prestige during the Edo period was high. Importantly, also look at the classical indicators, Fujishiro (the "Saku" ratings) and Toko Taikan (market price observations during his life). They all more or less depict a similar prestige landscape, with some divergences here and there, and their own types of flaws, which you don't need to delve into too much. You can learn about the Sa school here: https://nihontowatch.com/artists?school=Sa And the Iwato Ichimonji school here: https://nihontowatch.com/artists?school=Iwato+Ichimonji&q=iwato Of course, first and foremost, the work must stand on its own merits, a point which has been well made. At the level of investment you're considering, it's important to understand how rare designated works are, if there are any top class works (TJ and above), to understand the long tail of excellence and appreciation, the history of the smith, his archetypical style, and so on. Finally, before you buy a sword in Japan at this level, I always recommend to get due diligence done in Japan by a third party. I can point you to how you can organize this, PM me. I hope this helps, Hoshi

Dear Edward, Here is a simple way to look at all the Yari in the market and order them according to your budget. https://nihontowatch.com/?tab=available&type=yari&sort=price_asc Cheers, Hoshi

Dear Thomas, Yes, Tozando is a verified seller. Here is the link to Tozando: https://nihontowatch.com/?tab=available&dealer=101&sort=recent Since there are now way too many dealers for a dropdown menu selection, I suggest you use the textbox under dealer in the side panel filter. There, you can select the specific dealer. All the best, Hoshi

Dear Hokke, The topic is a bit more nuanced that throwing a "yes +xx% price per marks" but much of this is due to the framing. There something better out there that captures the essence of your question in a period-accurate way and reframes it: A recorded kiritsuke mei inscribed on the nakago that allude to battle circumstances and defeating certain prized foes and nemesis. Once such blade, a Tokuju Osafune Motoshige, had the name of the son of a Daimyo it slayed inscribed on the tang along with who performed the deed during the Sengoku Jidai. The blade was retired subsequently and kept as a family treasure celebrating the deed. The inscription is ancient, and the act recorded in the archives of the family. Does this increase its value? Of course, in front of the right buyer. I would go as far as personally to consider chasing only this specific Motoshige if I wanted to make an exception for a mumei motoshige blade (there are enough signed ones - 56 to be precise - to target signed). In the NBHTK setsumei: In addition, this piece preserves a carved inscription (kiritsuke-mei) stating that on the 13th day of the 6th month of Eishō 18 (1521), Hayashi Motokatsu killed Kageharu, the youngest son of Asakura Sadakage of Echizen. However: Would I be interested in generic but verifiable "kill notches" without further context, per se? Not at all, to the contrary. There is little historical and provenance value in my eyes. For the same reason, Edo period cutting tests are also not my cup of tea. Why? Some introspection: perhaps because war is necessary, high-stakes, and epic in the human story arch, but death itself is a tragic byproduct. Remove the battle, the stakes, the heroes and the villains - and leave only death as a memory - well - it does not appeals to my personal sense of life aesthetics. The Motoshige with kiritsuke mei recounts the story of defeating a family nemesis. This fits in the arc of the human epic and adds an enchanting element. More generally, is provenance valuable? It can be everything - take the following provenance extreme case: A gimei Kotetsu blade belonging to one of the famous Shinsengumi with kirikomi with ironclad provenance documentation. This blade is likely to be extremely valuable and command in the mid-to-high six figure results at auction. The price is solely driven by the provenance in this case. Famous historical figures and Daimyo collections, romantic Bakumatsu ronin stories, all of these hold a special place of interest to many collectors and have market effects, and no wonders - these are genuine moments of history that create enchantment in the experience of collecting and studying history. Long live epic stories, Hoshi

Good grace @eternal_newbie You're fast. I just saw it and fixed it. The seller copy/pasted their past listing for their gakumei Norishige, mislabelling the item, and this caused utter confusion in the classification system. Thanks for the report. Best, Hoshi

Dear Sebuh, I'm sympathetic to the request, but I'm convinced a feature like this would cause more harm than good to the community — let me explain why. The root problem is that quality isn't a legible characteristic through dealer photos. Paper levels are the best proxy we have, but they're a coarse one. Within a single designation, there are "barely Juyo" Norishige and "Tokuju-in-waiting" Norishige, and in Japan those are completely different items value-wise. The overseas market tends to get offered the "barely Juyo" tier with open price, because the "Tokuju-in-waiting" pieces get deemed "too expensive for Juyo" by Western buyers and stay in Japan or are marked as "ask". So the average Juyo Norishige price an aggregator like this would surface is already a biased signal. It doesn't reflect the artist's realized market price, it reflects items that make it online with a revealed asking price. The deeper concern is what happens once that metric exists. Collectors will (rationally) optimize against the legible signal: lowest possible price-to-name ratio. That, in turn, creates an incentive for dealers to source cheaper and cheaper items attributed to master smiths (rationally). We've already seen a flood of big names with recent TH papers at prices that feel too good to be true, and the uncomfortable answer is that they're too good to be true. The market is responding to exactly the pressure this kind of metric would amplify. I think the better direction is to help prospective buyers understand what constitutes truly great work within an artist's oeuvre, so quality becomes more legible, not just price-per-name. How to do this, however, is not so obvious, but I have some ideas down the line. Hope this helps, Hoshi

Hi @Sukaira, Thanks for the report, it helps. It will be fixed shortly. Let me know if you see any other anomalies in the data, feel free to shoot me PMs or reply to the thread, whatever is more convenient. Glad you're enjoying NW! Can you think of any feature you wish existed? Best, Hoshi

Dear Sky, Thank you for sharing the pre/post polish experience. It is a useful exercise and helps train the eye to 'abstract away the state of polish' when assessing a blade, which a difficult but important part of appraisal. It is a lovely Soshu-den style Naotane. The O-itame and nagare approach with fine nie is well executed and is evocative of Nambokucho Soshu works. Best, Hoshi

Hi, Mihara Nihonto: https://nihontowatch.com/?q=mihara Many to choose from. You can adjust the size filter to narrow down to exactly what you're looking for. Hope this helps, Hoshi

Hi, Perhaps my perspective can help. I think the scientific perspective is a dead end. Why? Because controlled test conditions are impossible to create on historical swords ("too many variables that can't be systematically varied"). Research on Japanese steel and destructive testing on Google Scholar typically yield these ridiculously small sample studies, often with a no-big-deal Muromachi blade or two, sacrificed for metallurgic examination, which typically then leads the authors to make broad conclusions on Koto steel. This is over-generalization and unrigorous. At the other end of the spectrum, there is the folk-science of Masahide's testing - I am somewhat more sympathetic to his approach. Try to cut stuff, make notes. Again, very limited. End of the day, nobody is going to sacrifice a meito on the altar of a Kabuto test cutting. All in all, the fact that Shinto blades have a higher average carbon content leading to brittleness is well attested, and even today's centralized tatara process suffers from overcarbonisation, which is the most common complaint of modern smiths. But this is besides the point. If you want to understand the battle-worthiness of swords, you need to study the market, the method of warfare, and the needs of customers. This is fundamentally more interesting approach than attempting to misapply the scientific method: study the consumer demand profile and the market feedback mechanism. The market creates incentives, producers react to these incentives to make competitive products. Koto school that flourished produced in-demand swords. The main factor driving sword demand during the Koto period was battlefield feedback. Therefore, an efficient proxy for period-controlled, battle-worthiness is the popularity of certain Koto schools and maker that were in high-demand by the elite members of the bushi class. In other-words, if Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi took a liking to a certain smith, it's because the product got the job done, pretty was secondary, and they had nearly two centuries of accrued smith reputation to work with. Better, they either had first-hand experience, or second-hand experience from testimonials of their retainers or rivals. Nicknames at the time were simple and to the point: candlestand cutter, helmet cutter, etc. Collecting good swords as war booty, off the dead hands of rivals, was a competitive field at the time. What happens during Muromachi? Well, the demand profile changes. It's no longer about absolute battle effectiveness as it was during the Kamakura Golden Age, it's about getting production to be as cheap as possible to equip flocks of Ashigaru while maintaining a workable sidearm product that was used only in last resort. Different demand profile. That, and exporting swords to the mainland in high volume to quality-insensitive consumer to fund your armies. These were the early Toyotas, or the Shahed drones of today. It works and its cheap. And during Shinto time? Well, peace is upon the land, at long last. Sword smithing loses touch with battlefield reality. Imagine your arms industry producing weapons during peace time, without any adversary to provide feedback. And besides, all the people with money already have their ancestral collectible stashed away. But swords needed to be made in small quantities, this is where you start seeing hamons that feel extremely contrived, with painted tobiyaki and mount fuji impression rendered as hamon. Authorities knew this and of course a few swordsmith had access to their collections and tried making reproductions of Koto swords (Momoyama times, for instance), but it's a slow decline after that. By the middle Edo, the sword industry became so atrophied and the Shogun had to stimulate demand by providing honors and subsidies just to get some talented people moving into the field so it wouldn't completely die out, and a few talented smiths were found in Satsuma (Ippei Yasuo, etc) that genuinely stood out. Things got bad, and everyone knew it. Customers started asking for "proof that it cuts" and that spawned an entire test-cutting industry which was profoundly misguided as the test cutting was performed exclusively on naked or barely clothed static humans in a standardized posture across standardize cut angles with a strange and unrealistic weight attached on the tsuka. That certification industry became very profitable not because of the test-cutting per se, but the side-hustle of creating snake oil out out of harvested body parts. A grim and decadent practice. So Masahide walks into this dying field, realizes something is deeply wrong, and sets himself up on a journey to rectify it and go back to the "old ways". During the Bakumatsu period, one starts to see swords getting longer and more brutal looking. This was a thing in Japan, the closer to civil war, the longer and more brutal the swords got. Nobody wants to be the one with the tooth pick when all hell breaks loose. Kiyomaro cracks the Koto recipes and produce secretly Sunno-To for the Imperialist faction as a side hustle. Naotane cracks it on occasion as well, creating the closest Bizen-mono Utsushi ever made. There is a genuine effort in making functional swords again, and demand is met by the samurai population getting prepared for the inevitable showdown. Money flows into the underground markets and civil war brews. Nobody is looking for mount fuji as a hamon or a fancy Tadatsuna Horimono at that point. So what do we learn from all of this? Well, in the end, it is the desires of the customers that drive the market and product development, and the customer gets his desires from his current priorities. In the Kamakura period, this was about that solo duel on horseback against your sworn family enemy that you'd call out on the battlefield for a one on one in an effort to get his head and earn some glory for your clan. A blade severed by impact meant death and ridicule, and it made you and your entire clan look bad. And people watched and took notes. Battlefield effectiveness at whatever the cost was the goal. It was about having the ultimate weapon, the ultimate horse, the ultimate armor for those one-on-ones to grind up on the honor ladder and hopefully be rewarded by your Lord. I will skip the mongols and the effect it has on Bizen-mono, but things evolved quickly there as well as a result of pure feedback. During the Muromachi period, Ashigaru armies with cheap yari an arquebuses was the meta. No more heroic one-on-one for trophy hunting. Just bloody volleys, and once the Takeda Cavalry went down, it was the end of an era. War had forever changed its face, and demand would never be the same again. And yet, hard earned reputation during the Golden Age would persist to this day. I hope this helps, Hoshi

Hi, Thank you for the report. It's fixed. This was a data bug - this item was retrieved a long time ago, in a period where the classifiers were more prone to errors on certificate detection. The original text states: A blade of similar character appears among the 65th Jūyō Tōken designated works. This is what caused the confusion. Today the classifiers are much more resilient to such assertions. Choshuya's people are wonderful and kind, on top of it - they often have excellent items at more than a fair price. It comes at the cost of their website being a digital IQ test for foreigners and I lack words to describe just how difficult it is to extract meaningful, up to date structured data from it. All the best, Hoshi

Hi, When you see an error like this or oddity in the data, please drop me a PM with the exact item that is faulty or report on the site directly on the item with the flag icon. Cheers, Hoshi

Hi, I would not read too much into the Edo period texts regarding who was the son of who. It was common practice at the time to 'over connect' the dots to make it all fit together neatly. More of a memory aid, same with the '10 students of Masamune' and so on. We are not in need, I think, of an external explanation of where "Yukimitsu got his ideas" so to speak. Notare-based tempering in nie-deki is not new, it was practice by Ko-Bizen smiths for instance for nearly two centuries. One could argue that it is the obvious thing to do. What the Soshu tradition did was to innovate on perfecting nie and chickei to their absolute apex on the basis of an awataguchi core training. Yukimitsu's entire life theme is experimentation. Trial and error, all the way to Hitatsura and truly exotic tanto shapes. What he had was excellent core training through his Awataguchi roots, at the highest-level. And we must remember that experimentations did not happen in a vacuum, he was very much responding to the tastes and preferences of his high-level clients, who had in their possession masterpiece blades from Bizen, Hoki, and all confines of Japan from which he could learn and observe. Thus, the Soshu style co-evolved with the desires of his customers, and the need to differentiate his work from the Shintogo Atelier. What we see emerge are masculine blades, with low shinogi, and an aggressive profile with wide motohaba. The prototypical Yukimitsu blade is an Awataguchi-level hada, a masculine profile, and a gentle notare, but his style was incredibly wide and he experimented with flamboyant midareba, hitatsura, exotic tanto shapes and much more. We know this not just from the scarce signed tanto he left behind, but also from the many Ko-Hon'ami attributions that have survived to this day. This is why Yukimitsu is a 'safe harbour' attribution for top-class Soshu works. Best Hoshi

Hello, To my eyes it is much more likely that it is, indeed, the work of Yukimitsu, signed with the Shintogo Atelier mei. As we know, it wasn't just Shintogo himself signing Shintogo Kunimitsu. It was a brand for his workshop in Kamakura. My personal speculations on this is that there was, at the beginning, a single workshop: the Shintogo Atelier, producing highly refined daito and tanto for the warrior elite. Very much classical Awataguchi. Over time, Yukimitsu felt the creative urge deviate and to create pieces that fall outside of the established teachings of Shintogo. Creative minds are like this, they have an urge to innovate, and producing the classical tanto must have felt extremely limiting after many years. I can imagine that this tanto was such a radical deviation that it may have caused a spark between the master and the student. It was a risk to the Atelier's brand to introduce a different product. A decision may have been reached, at some point in time, to separate the workshops: one will continue to produce the safe product, headed by Shintogo's son and brothers, and the other atelier would produce something different and experiment freely. This is where Yukimitsu, Masamune, and Norishige come in. There was a rupture, and they split: This is why Yukimitsu started signing with his own name. Today, surviving Yukimitsu tanto are all over the place in terms of shape and deki. It is astounding range of workmanship and experimentation. So, to sum up, it can be argued that it was Yukimitsu, the true founder of the Soshu tradition. And with the range of work we see in Masamune and Norishige, Yukimitsu was eminently tolerant of experimentation - and even encouraged it, such that each member of the atelier could pursue his own dreams and desires. He flew from his own wings out of frustration, reached an arrangement with Shintogo to preserve the brand intact by signing with his own name, and started a parallel atelier that would not pose a threat to the brand integrity of the Awataguchi tradition. The rest is history. Best, Hoshi

Hello, There are few issues in these counts, out of the 19 Jubun, 9 are kokuho and technically no longer "jubun" - this reduces the total count. One of the Gyobutsu is also Kokuho (the Kanze Masamune), while the other has no designation (a zaimei tanto). For accurate item count, one needs to account at the item-level, not at the designation-level. It will take a bit of time for NihontoWatch to provide 100% accurate counts. The Juyo/TJ counts are accurate, the rest - not quite, yet. Keep this in mind. It doesn't change the overall picture though. You can absolutely go wrong with Masamune on the market though, as the setsumei needs to be studied carefully, and outside appraisals are in my opinion required before dipping into this name. It's not so simple. Stay clear of anything TH unless you really know what you're doing. If the price feels too good to be true, it probably is. A legitimately high-level and cross-verified Masamune attribution though is absolutely a blue chip investment and will only appreciate. The investment risk is lowest at the absolute apex of the field. it's the "Holy Grail" effect in art and collectible. It is not just a matter of money, however. It may take years of efforts and relationship building at the highest level just to be presented the opportunity, if ever, so it should he more of an aspirational goal. Best, Hoshi

Hi @eternal_newbie Oh my, you're fast. I just started working on this - it's highly experimental, the data is currently filled with errors, and it needs a lot of tuning. They will live under their own category, and hidden by default. If a user wants to venture deep into this swamp, a disclaimer will be shown... "DRAGONS AWAIT THE DUMPSTER DIVER" Best, Hoshi

Dear @ROKUJURO, The dealer’s description is automatically translated into English, you can also press “view original” for the original Japanese description. The translations are high quality, but there can be mistakes, and it’s always good practice to check with different translation software. Regarding the artisan identifier, this is a much more complex issue. The listing is matched to a database of 13’000+ known artists, this means that if the artist is not in the database, faulty matches can occur to a “near match” as is the case here. It is not an exact science, especially for tosogu where innumerable unlisted tosogu artists exist. To correct the case above, I have to add the missing artisan to the database. I do regular passes on this to improve the system, but it takes time. Best, Hoshi

Hi @PNSSHOGUN, Could you elaborate? On my side, I can tick specific options by taping the filter without activating all the filters for a given attribute category. Best, Hoshi

Hi, Thank you for all the club suggestions, I've added them all. It's possible to set specific alerts based on specific makers, even obscure makers. Here is the artisan Senjuin Yoshiro: https://nihontowatch.com/artists/yoshihiro-YOS1441 You need to click: Set alert for new listings - and anytime an item with the artisan code YOS1441 comes to the market, you will get an email notification within 15 minutes. Thank you. Feedback is super important, especially during the public BETA. Keep it flowing. Best, Hoshi

Hi @Toryu2020 I've added your society. As for the other ones I'm missing - please reply in thread and I will add your society.