Jussi Ekholm

Oh I just record every sword of the school I see in references, unfortunately I do not own any. Highest designated Hōju swords are Jūyō Bunkazai, and lowest ones I have on record are NTHK attributed ones or NBTHK Hozon. Of course some do not have "designations" so to say but are in collections of Tokyo National Museum, Kurokawa Research Insitute, Temples, Shrines etc. so they are legitimate.

For Hōju short swords I have so far 9 wakizashi (7 signed, 3 dated), 7 tanto (5 signed, 1 dated) and 4 ken (2 signed, 1 dated), and in overall bit over 100 swords for this school. Liking this school might be bit weird, and lot of it for me personally it is because it being northern rural work, and I don't mind some rougher looking items.

Thanks for further info Piers I think I have had Jaku and Kyo mixed/mashed up. So it is good to know that info. Of course by actual length the scale is in mm in this case but it is important stuff in general.

The sayagaki reads 左衛門三郎 左 Saemonzaburō Sa, pushing attribution towards one of the top swordsmiths in Japan. That Hōju tachi is a wonderful sword, unfortunately couldn't afford it in 2016, and couldn't afford it now... Perhaps it will pop up again in 2030.

Thanks for the correction Steve, I had misunderstood the meaning, so it is very good to know for the future

I am not good with WWII smiths but could it be 兼英 Kanehide?

Here is a reference Yari that has mei Masazane and has been attributed towards Sengo. https://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2009/0910_4008syousai.htm

As I saw your other thread about your sword. I would think the one in length would be half. NBTHK paper would have the length as 2 shaku 1 sun and bit Tanobe would have 2 shaku 9 bu and half in sayagaki if I see things correctly.

I do not have access to ChatGPT but I would strongly advice against using it in do research like this. On all cases where I have seen it to be used regarding nihonto, it is just giving misinformation that it is creating out of thin air, usually misinformation that is fitting exactly to the question that the person asking the question wants to hear, creating a false narrative. As for the reference books provided by ChatGPT, I believe for the Japanese reference names, it is also creating them, making them appear as looking like genuine references. I am not a fittings guy and I have limited resources on them but hopefully someone can verify the authencity of the provided references. 1. 日本刀装具図鑑, I cannot find a book by this name. I believe it is a mashup of real books, like most in the list. 2. 刀剣の美術館, I cannot find a book by this name. I think names of the books by Tokyo National Museum are always more specific. 3. 刀剣装具の世界, I cannot find a book by this name, I think it might be created from 刀装具の世界 (an exhibition of Watanabe Museum of Art): https://watart.jp/exhibition/刀装具の世界～技巧・造形美と鳥取藩の鐔師たち/ 4. 日本刀装具大鑑, I cannot find a book by this name. I think it is creation from Nihontō Taikan 日本刀大鑑 5. 刀剣装飾の美術史, I cannot find a book by this name. 6. 日本刀装具の美, I believe this is false creation of 刀装具の美 Tosogu no Bi 7. 日本刀装飾大鑑, It created the same name as in 4. but with incorrect kanji (刀装飾), someone more proficient in language can add insight on this 8. 刀剣装飾大鑑, I cannot find a book by this name. 9. 刀剣の美術, I believe this is miscreation of NBTHK monthly magazine 刀剣美術 Tōken Bijutsu I think ChatGPT just added NBTHK, Tokyo National Museum etc. as authors to make the information sound real. @GRC Can you find a single Japanese book reference in real life book that ChatGPT gave to you?

Unfortunately I don't have many books focused on koshirae. However Uchigatana Koshirae book, features pretty much most famous uchigatana koshirae in Japan. There are 9 daishō in the book that have their blades mentioned, 0 of them are matching and these were owned by some of the most pretigeous people in Japan. Many of these Daishō however predate Edo-Period and have swords made or attributed to famous smiths. To me personally daishō is about the koshirae. I decided to take a look into the dates of dated Jūyō daishō blades, and here they are. It is easy to see that c. pre-1800's are extremely rare to see. I think I missed one daishō in my earlier Jūyō calculation, added it here. 1626 1671 1795 - 1795 (2 different daishō by same smith) 1802 1803 1808 1817 1828 1836 1837 1838 1840 1843 1844 1845 1848 1849 1852 & 1853 (same daishō but blades dated to different year) 1854 1855 1859 1865

I think people might be too strict on the classification of daishō. The true daishō that has been mentioned in this thread is actually extremely rare. While Jūyō passed items are not the definitive in anything I can just put the numbers that there are 25 Jūyō papered Daishō blades. Only 3 of these Daishō had attachment Daishō koshirae being listed in the papers. 1 Of them has been at later shinsa "elevated" as Daishō & Daishō koshirae. This was Daishō with attachment koshirae in Jūyō 16 but both were added on the same appraisal in Jūyō 47. This is pretty much ultimate rarity. There are 87 Daishō Koshirae at Jūyō, and it seems that 3 of them have Daishō blades attached to the koshirae. There are probably some more completely matching sets in Daimyō collections, Museums, Shrines etc. but as the daishō paired blades are so new by default I don't really have personal intrest in digging them out.

As I am lucky to have collected a very good library of books, I think I should have images and info of at least 100+ surviving tachi koshirae from Kamakura to Muromachi. I think in general old battlefield tachi of Nanbokuchō & Muromachi were often quite plain when it comes to fittings, usually nothing too fancy.

How many qualified armor restorers there are in Japan? How many there are outside of Japan?

It is a great deal, like Marius seems to have very often. I think one possibility for mounting could also have been naginata / nagamaki koshirae.

I must say I am bit confused about their judgement. Is there lot more written on the evaluation paper?

It is actually Kanbun 3 like in the paper, it seems the gold inlay is missing on the middle stroke on 三. Aoi has lots of incorrect things on the description of this particular item. As Ray pointed out there are some older blades with cutting tests too.

As there is not yet a thread on the subject, I thought I would make one. Japan Art Expo returns to Utrecht, Netherlands, after few year break. https://www.japanartexpo.com/ Great event to visit, and hang out with likeminded folks, view some swords and related items. I will be there on both days, and will be very nice to meet NMB members like last time. I'm there to socialize so feel free to stop for a chat with me.

Thanks for the show reports guys, seemed like a great event

Bruce I would believe it is 正. The WWII mei are often bit hard to read

I think others above me said it well it is quite nice blade (of course with some issues that were discussed). Naoe Shizu is very rare attribution for a tanto, so far I am only aware of 7, 3 Jūyō, 3 Tokubetsu Hozon and 1 unknown. For the Tokubetsu Hozon ones - Darcy had a very nice one (that came with free Nanbokuchō period katana) for 23,000$. I remember I liked it a lot but it was lot over my budget. There is the one in this thread for X amount Aoi Art sold one for 550k yen, and to me that seems like it was an awesome deal: https://www.aoijapan.net/tanto-mumeinaoe-shizu/ I haven't seen any of the Jūyō ones appear on online market Short swords for Nanbokuchō Mino smiths like Kinjū I have seen in range from 850k to 2,5M (Hozon to Jūyō range) yen for the few examples that I have seen sold online. For very rare online sale Aoi Art had Tokubetsu Hozon tanto attributed to Shizu, I believe asking price was 2,2M and it sold very fast if I remember correctly.

The nakago condition is very apparent on the paper.

I think it is possible that some of the information about the sword might have been incorrect. Out of the 48 (if I counted correctly) Jūyō Bunkazai swords by Aoe school only 1 is a mumei katana. It has been attributed towards Moritoshi. You can find current information of the sword in this database (it has most up to date info on all Kokuhō and Bunkazai that I am aware of): https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/201/6338 The sword is currently listed as being in private collection in Aichi. However in a book from 1977 that I have the sword was at that point in the collection of Rendai Temple.

There are lots of highly designated tachi from Aoe smiths. Here is the Masatsune that was featured in Rays linked story. It is back in the collection of Kumano Hayatama Shrine. It still has the itomaki tachi koshirae too (unfortunately I don't have a picture of that). The Masatsune that Jan linked is another Jūyō Bunkazai that is owned by Tokyo National Museum. Unfortunately I don't think there is currently a public database of pictures that would feature all of the items. I think I should have pictures of all of Kokuhō and somewhere around 90-95% of Bunkazai and Bijutsuhin swords.

Already sold and paid for. I'll update the topic once the buyer has received the books.

Well just before Easter I got another big patch of books from Japan, I am getting more and more specialized in my book collecting. To gather up some funds I'll list this set as I plan to buy some more books in Japan when I get there this summer. (Sorry for picture orientation, I can make it appear anything other than correct position) The books are in good condition as I collect books I take good care of them. Part 1 and Part 2 are from same set with front page text from Afu to previous owner. Part 1 is February 1996 print, Part 2 is October 1997 print. Part 3 was purchased at different time it is January 1994 printing. I've had this set for a long time and paid a lot to get them originally. I think I'll offer them at fair price of 500€ + shipping (I'll calcute it for your country). Shipping shouldn't be too much within Europe but can get expensive internationally. Like usually would prefer bank transfer as payment method but Paypal etc. are possible just that they have more fees.