Jump to content

Ray Singer

Dealers
  • Posts

    4,483
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    114

Everything posted by Ray Singer

  1. I am not sure that I would personally submit a Muromachi period blade for Juyo which has an orikaeshimei. That's not to say it isn't a wonderful blade and might pass at the Tokubetsu Hozon level. At Juyo, consider that there may be ubu examples submitted in the same session.
  2. The Fujishima has gone to a good home and is now sold. Thanks all who expressed an interest.
  3. Very sad. If nothing else, he was extremely passionate about Japanese swords and seemed to do extensive travel around Japan to locate pieces for his collection. He dropped out contact around January of this year when was on a sword buying trip and had apparently just located and purchased an ubu Ko-Bizen Tomonari tachi (I believe from Sokendo). No further communication/postings after that point...
  4. I am unsure if any of the members here knew Alun, but he was once an active member in the Facebook groups. http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/15/samurai-sword-expert-killed-act-hara-kiri-bedroom-7162061/
  5. Mune-ware is not a fatal flaw. I do think it should have been disclosed though.
  6. This last part refers to the time period: Jidai - Bunmei
  7. Kaga blade. Nakago-jiri is typical. The first kanji is 加 (beginning of Kashu). The last parts of the mei are difficult to make out, but perhaps 國平. It is also common for Kaga smith names to end in 光.
  8. That is possible Luis, but a cheap polish with heavy handed hadori can look similar. Would seem strange choice to have given a mass-produced Meiji / Showa blade the mei of a rarely seen Kii Ishido smith, fitted with manji niju habaki, etc. Again, hope we can hear an in-hand evaluation at some point...
  9. I did not find this one as 'troublesome' and thought it looks like a potentially interesting piece. The mei if good is for Tachibana Yasutsugu, a Kii Ishido smith who studied under Bitchu (no) Kami Yasuhiro. The sword looked generally healthy, ubu, and if I am seeing correctly appears to have a mitsumune. There appears to be some glue on the nakago, but that is easily addressed. If purchased by a NMB member, I would be curious to hear their in-hand assessment.
  10. The sword attribution is Bizen (no) Kuni Osafune ju Norimitsu. Date is estimated as bunmei period c. 1469 - 1487
  11. While I am not familiar with a Juyo example, there is a Tokubetsu Hozon Rai Kunitoshi which papered with both the separate nakago and the now osuriage wakizashi blade. I do not know for certain if the NBTHK would paper a sword with an attached nakago such as this but my feeling is that they would not because, even if the mei is found to be correct and the nakago is believed to belong to the blade, it would still seem that this sword is structurally compromised. With the Rai Kunitoshi wakizashi, the blade had a fully reformed nakago (was structurally sound) and would have received papers (to some smith/school) even if the associated nakago did not exist.
  12. That is what I was indicating as well. Perhaps 'extension' was a poor choice of words, but a repair intended to restore the length of a nakago which was broken. When this is done with the intent of deception to use the nakago from another sword it is referred to as a tsugi-nakago (接ぎ茎・継ぎ茎).
  13. Looks like a nakago extension, which may have been done to replace a broken nakago. Very unusual. Is the nakago only pinned in place?
  14. Machi-okuri? My gut feeling when I saw the photos were ubu and late work. I'll hold off on further opinion pending better photos...
  15. My impression it that someone put a lot of effort (gone a bit over the top) to make the nakago appear old. There are some unusual mekugi-ana present. A few examples for comparison. https://www.aoijapan.net/?s=hasebe&x=0&y=0 http://www.nihonto.com/hasebe-kunishige-and-hasebe-kuninobu-%E9%95%B7%E8%B0%B7%E9%83%A8%E5%9B%BD%E9%87%8D%EF%BC%86%E9%95%B7%E8%B0%B7%E9%83%A8%E5%9B%BD%E4%BF%A1%E3%80%80/
  16. Looking at the style and condition of the horimono, it looks quite late to my eyes and I would assume it to be ato-bori. Notice that there is absolutely no wear to the horimono from past polish, and compare with the condition of horimono which are original to the time period.
  17. The kanteisho places it with Monju. The sayagaki more specifically gives the sword to Nanki Monju Shigekuni. http://www.nihonto.com/nanki-shigekuni-%E5%8D%97%E7%B4%80%E9%87%8D%E5%9B%BD/
  18. Not sure that this brings value to your post, but your sword brings to mind an interesting osuriage Sendai Kunikane wakizashi which was shortened by Shibata Ka (with the suriage documented on the nakago). http://www.sho-shin.com/ss3-2.pdf
  19. I believe this is Hattori Tantosho Yorimasa. This would be WWII era work. My understanding is that Enomoto Sadayoshi used this mei when he was producing standard gunto.
  20. I love this documentary and have watched many times. Here is a link to the Yamato (no) kami Yasusada featured in that film. http://new.uniquejapan.com/a-yamato-no-kami-yasusada-wakizashi/?com=Swords
  21. Bends can often be resolved by a professional togishi. It is not necessarily a deal breaker.
  22. Shorter naginata with deep curvature in the monouchi is typical for the Edo period, seen in both Shinto and Shinshinto. From the look of the tsuka, I would guess that it has a short, ubu nakago (rather than an osuriage one). The naginata-hi are simplistic, also pointing to later work.
×
×
  • Create New...