Jussi Ekholm

Glen Cordner did a great compilation for tsuba in here: You can see this list up until session 66 I shared few years ago in here. So you can search all the items you want. Unfortunately like always with so massive amount of data gathered over a long period of time there are always some errors. I have been correcting them every year when I find them, most of them have been minor mistakes but still irritating me a lot when I find them. Hopefully after the next session when we get to 70 I will have corrected most of previous mistakes and I can update the info with a current up to date file. Fittings are not my thing so there could be mistakes in names, that is why I write the Japanese characters, so they will be correct.

Very nice work John!

Sent you a PM and also what Andreas said above. I think pretty much all groups would be really happy to get new enthusiasts and potentially members as this is such a minor hobby.

Thanks for the pictures Thomas, looks like there were many interesting items in those pics.

I would think similarily to Kirill that late Muromachi Shimada would a direction worth looking into. Impossible to say anything from those pictures but that would be what I would look over Nanbokuchō Sōshū.

It is very interesting item. NBTHK has attributed that sword to Ko-Bizen Hidezane, and Tanobe has written sayagaki for it. Nihontō Meikan lists him as c. Middle Kamakura period smith. This is actually the only sword that I have seen from Ko-Bizen Hidezane anywhere. Hidezane is extremely rare signature in old swords. I know 1 signed tachi of Senjuin Hidezane and the smith I haven't seen mentioned in any smith references. I think he would also be a Kamakura period smith.

Congratulations Manuel!

I might be way above my head here but I do think it is interesting signature. I wanted to get home first before trying to tackle it as I have all my available references in here. However unfortunately I cannot find a clue towards this smith. I would see the signature potentially as 出雲国住中村金左衛門X - Izumo no kuni jū Nakamura Kinzaemon X (X could be potentially be a form of Kuni?) In this I would think Nakamura Kinzaemon would be the personal name of the smith. However unfortunately I cannot find such smith anywhere and Kinzaemon seems to be extremely rare in swordsmith names, and for family names Nakamura seems to be pretty much family lineage in Satsuma province. However there are few later Izumo smiths who seem to have signatures in style Izumo (place name) jū (personal name).

Thank you for the recommendation Peter. Have to keep an eye out for this.

Might be the pictures or my limited understanding but I dont find that blade very appealing to me. When I look at it I just keep looking at the horimono. While I dont have deep knowledge of the school, I have seen many Masashige works with what I feel is much higher quality. For me the size of this is a definate big + and combined with horimono it is nice combination. Still I feel I personally might rather enjoy shorter blades of what I see as better quality of Masashige more than this long one.

Looking at the pictures at airport. Identifying fine details is not my strong point but I would think the general direction people are thinking is plausible. However for me the differences between schools sometimes feel very tiny. One thing to note that the sword could have been shortened quite a bit as it is now only 51 cm. I think the lower hole might not be the original either. If it is the sword would be c. 60 cm in blade length. With shortened blades it is often bit tricky trying to imagine the possible original shape for the item.

Nice looking koshirae. I personally like doeskin.

Yes you are correct on hira-zukuri. Most often katana in this form are little bit over 60,6 cm in length. Occasionally you see long ones of 70cm+ but yours is very long. My opinion doesn't really give any weight compared to professionals but I would agree with them. For what little I can see Uda Kunimune of late Muromachi is perfectly good judgement.

Ah now I understand. In general I personally have 0 trust towards auction houses. I dislike their business model in general. For example the description of Norimitsu is completely wrong. Of course I am limited to phone but I zoomed images and it seems to be ubu mumei with 1 hole. Description says 2 holes ubu signed Norimitsu. And blade is not papered only koshirae. I think the Daido package is the best of the bunch but none of these items are interesting for me personally. I would skip the items but I am not really a buyer in general. So others will be able to give more "real life" perspective.

I do not think "Art sword" is a really good word to describe good swords. I would rather just use good sword, and also if the sword is famous then it can be famous sword. Historical provenance etc. Also plays a big role. Also I have now understood what my heart wants and what is right for me personally. It is not traditionally "correct" sword appreciation but it hits me. I have seen so many top items of Japanese designations on this trip. Now this might sound crazy but several of the Kokuhō or Jūyō Bunkazai items did not evoke any feelings in me. Sure they were of excellent craftsmanship... but show me a rusty ōdachi or a big naginata with battle damage and I am bursting with joy. I am not an Art sword connoisseur, I like what I like and my feelings just get stronger every year. Now I do feel it is very important to study the best possible items and get understanding of what that work is like. I admit my eyes are not nearly trained enough to understand the fine points of sword appreciation, maybe I never will fully understand quality.

Oh I did not understand that you could buy these, I thought they were sold at auction? So you could make an offer to the person who bought them? I see a price or more but I didn't get that someone just bought an item and would immidiately flip it. For me it shows: Sold on Jun 10, 2024 for: Sign-in or Join (free & quick) The Norimitsu does not show any buy price. As I would look into that item. Notice also wrong information in the descriptions. For daishō the text says about Wakizashi that it has ubu nakago with signature Kanesada, while in reality it is mumei blade with Fujishiro attribution Sue-Seki.

The Hasebe Kuninobu tachi was absolutely stunning. I was very lucky to view this in hand. I have also seen 2 other Hasebe Kuninobu blades now in Japan but them through the glass. Now I might be very biased on what I like as I am not a huge fan of tantō... I do think this tachi might be my favorite out of all 3. Followed by Jūyō Bunkazai tantō of Atsuta Jingū. The Jūyō wakizashi that NBTHK has currently on display does not even come close to these 2. Personally I am starting to like more and more wild Hasebe wakizashi with good Nanbokuchō sugata. Unfortunately for me both Kashū Sanekage and Sekishū Sadatsuna blades felt "normal". They seemed to have average sugata and most likely characteristics of typical workmanship, however for me personally they didn't evoke too much feelings. However I overheard discussion that Sanekage caught interest from experienced pair of eyes. So definately much to enjoy with better eye and knowledge for details.

I would agree with Jacques that I don't think it is utsuri. However I cannot explain what it is or what creates an effect like this. However it is nice looking sword in overall. 😊

Very long hira-zukuri katana. Rare to see them in this length.

I agree with Doug I feel it could be Morimitsu. And there could be potential. I should have few reference katana of Morimitsu that are around this length. I can dig them up next week when I am back home.

Unfortunately I cannot see any prices for the items?

Thank you Yurie, Adrian and everyone helping with items. The meeting was wonderful, got to see some old familiar faces and met some online buddies for the first time. Also the swords we got to view were really high quality. The fittings were also really nice but I dont know enough about them to comment. Here is a list of swords we got to see. I tried to arrange the list in more traditional order. All errors in there are mine if I wrote down something wrongly in my notes. Ken – Awataguchi (mumei) Tachi – Ayanokoji (mumei) Katana – Rai Kunimitsu (mumei) Tachi – Hasebe Kuninobu (signed) Tachi – Nobukuni (signed 1396) Katana – Kanabo Masanaga (signed 1504) Katana – Kanabo Masatsugu (signed 1555) Tanto – Soshu Yukimitsu (mumei) Katana – Kashu Sanekage (mumei) Tachi – Norifusa (signed) Katana – Sanenaga (mumei) Katana – Kanemitsu (mumei) Tachi – Toshimitsu (signed) Tachi – Hatakeda Sanemori (signed) Katana – Aoe (mumei) Katana – Sekishu Sadatsuna (mumei) Naoshi – Hoju (mumei) Tanto – Sa Yasuyoshi (signed) Katana – Ko-Kongobyoe (mumei) Tanto – Gassan Sadakazu (signed)

I would agree with Jacques on this, as I would see that it is a basic practical Sue-Bizen sword from late Muromachi period. I don't think people should think negatively of practical swords. I personally like them even though they will not have as much artistic merits as the top examples of the school from that period. Combined with the koshirae I think you have a nice package there. I do unfortunately think it might be gimei as that type of signature wasn't too common during late Muromachi (from memory without references). While not giving any percentages there are lots and lots of practical swords surviving to this day. And it is understandable why would anyone throw away a perfectly good weapon.

PM sent

Just visited this today and I must say the museum completely blew my mind. 🤯🤯 As Piers said it is difficult to grasp everything in a day. The amount of high quality items is just staggering. As I keep a diary of swords that interest me personally. From Tōken World I wrote down 104 entries that are early Muromachi at latest. In overall there were most likely 200+ blades on display. I just honestly didn't have time for items other than the c.100 swords I liked the most. For example there were probably 5 Muramasa on display in the museum but I didn't have time for them as there was so much more interesting blades for me. Likewise I only got to take a brief overall look into the armor section and likewise the gun section. If possible to include this to your trip to Japan I 100% recommend this.