Lewis B

Looked like a nice package back in February. Now not so much. Sad situation if the mounts were original to the blade.

And whats up with that offset munemachi and hamachi?

Fraudulent Sayagaki are a thing, as are spurious blades being married to genuine Sayagaki to boost value.

Ticks many boxes for a potential collector of Ichimonji. Certainly a rare, early tachi with Yoshimochi Nijimei. Starting price seems way under market. Are the condition issues dragging it down, tired, little ko-choji midare activity? The usual references offer minimal info about this smith. https://www.aoijapan.com/tachiyoshimochi-ichimonji-school-nbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token-nbthk-certificate/ YOSHIMOCHI (吉用), Kenchō (建長, 1249-1256), Bizen – “Yoshimochi” (吉用), Fukuoka-Ichimonji school, according to tradition a student of Sukeyoshi (助吉), there are relative many blades of Yoshimichi extant, most of the tachi have a slender, rather small and refined sugata and only a few are larger and have a wide mihaba, the kitae is a very dense and finely forged itame with midare-utsuri, the hamon bases on suguha and shows regular ko-chōji, in some cases he also hardened a pure suguha, blades which are dated around the Shōō era (正応, 1288-1293) are attributed to a supposed 2nd gen., the bōshi ist sugu with a ko-maru-kaeri, the tip of the tang is a kurijiri and the yasurime are katte-sagari, his niji-mei ist quite small and chiselled on the shinogi-ji of the tang, jōjō-saku ◎

The sword was part of the Tsukamoto Sozan museum collection and had an historical attribution to Go. The excerpt you highlighted gives some credence to that possibility. The more I study the few early Go pieces with Yamato (Senjuin) and Soshu influence, the more I think it has a chance.

Hi Kevin, Not a Ko Mihara but a very nice Mihara signed Masachika. Kanzan liked it a lot. Very unusual vermillion lacquered Hi. https://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_ja_tachi&katanaA060426.html

TH currently but I will submit it for Juyo at some point in the future. I think it has a chance at a named attribution.

The sayagaki Tanobe wrote in 2024 was a long one with blade length, date and Kao written on the reverse side. Like you say the reader will know in the subtlety of the writing whether it's a blade he likes. This is what he wrote for the Senjuin blade with Soshu and Yamato features. "This blade exhibits a graceful and slender form with a small kissaki (ko-kissaki). The grain (hada) is a flowing itame that becomes more pronounced near the temper line (hamon). It is richly covered in thick ji-nie (crystalline particles) and displays distinct chikei (dark lines of steel). The temper line is a suguha (straight) style mixed with small gunome that becomes wildly irregular (midare) in a 'grass' (kusa) pattern. It is brilliantly charged with nie, featuring frequent sunagashi (sand-drift patterns) and kinsuji (golden streaks) intertwined throughout. In several places, yubashiri (spots of concentrated nie) are formed, and the tempering in the point (boshi) transforms into a 'flame' (kaen) pattern. The workmanship presents a masterful synthesis of the Yamato and Soshu traditions. Historically, there is a strong convention to attribute blades with such exuberant irregularity—rarely seen in the other four Yamato schools—to the Senjuin lineage. In this regard, the current attribution is entirely appropriate." I personally prefer the longer script as there is more opportunity to see Tanobe's personality. The shorter ones from the early 2000's are quite matter of fact and here the chin chin cho cho is about the best you'll get in terms of an especially positive opinion. Reminds me of his predecessor Kunzan's sayagaki that were very minimalist. Good thing we have his KantoHibi Sho volumes to study.

It would have helped if someone was handed the torch when Tanobe retired as Head of the Appraisal Dept. An anointing of the chosen one so to speak. That would have provided an air of continuance and a feeling of confidence for those looking in. Was no-one worthy? Contrary to previous generations it seems that this time a committee-style leadership approach has been adopted and I think to the detriment of the appraisal process.

And this to my mind is the clear inference. Yukimitsu being the actual defacto founder of Soshuden and not the more traditionally influenced Shintogo with his roots in the Kyoto Awataguchi school and Yamashiro-den. Its precisely this blade that has muddied the water, unfairly reducing Yukimitsu to a follower rather than a true innovator. It should be fairly easy to undertand where Yukimitsu was getting these ideas. Swordmaking technology rarely evolved in a vacuum and so that begs the question what led Yukimitsu to experiment in nie deki and midare tempering styles. Its said his father was 2nd generation Bungo Yukihira so could this connection have been the progenitor for this new style of swordmaking? Knowledge and techniques were being shared throughout Japan at this time (Goban Kaji and the Kamakura Bakufu bringing Bizen and Awataguchi smiths together in Sagami, to name two). Sho-shin has this interesting figure showing the 3 "style-rivers" which may offer some leads and help explain Yukimitsu's urge to experiement in this direction. I need to do more research on the swordmaking styles of these earlier smiths from Mutsu, Bungo and Bizen Ichimonji.

Another interesting tidbit is that the Midare-Shintogo has iorimune, thus strengthening the notion this was not a piece directly made by Shintogo. Atypical Mei, atypical mune and atypical hamon. I would say that was quite compelling evidence for daimei-daisaku.

Pretty much sums up my recent experience. Blade was purchased from Choshuya and they organised delivery and retrieval after getting Tanobe's Sword was returned in less than a week. I've heard it said that the length of the Sayagaki is directly proportional to his interest in the blade, but I have my doubts about that urban legend. I think it's more to do with time he has available with other competing responsibilities. Since retiring the sayagaki seem to have gotten longer

Items provided from the Samurai Museum Berlin collection. Definitely worth making the trip if you can.

Caveat emptor, I don't have much experience with tosogu. But I thought the punch marks around the seppa dai were to fine tune a fitting to a particular blade. Wouldn't the 3 strikes on the left and upper one on the right have little effect in this respect. Or would enough force have been applied to cause the metal to bulge into the nakago hitsu ana space. Were non circular punches used often? I'm asking to calibrate my observations in case I come across a similar tsuba.

Not something you see every day. NBTHK papered Mogusa tachi from the late Heian period. Almost 80cm https://eirakudo.shop/651823/

Paul, nice find. Thought you might like to see what Markus wrote about this 2nd Gen Kanesada. Interesting story and name evolution that fits with the 1684 date. KANESADA (包貞), 2nd gen., Enpō (延宝, 1673-1681), Settsu – “Sesshū Gorō Terukane” (摂州五郎輝包), “Echigo no Kami Kanesada” (越後守包貞), “Sakakura Gonnoshin Terukane – Echigo no Kami Kanesada kore o dōsaku” (坂倉言之進照包・越後守包貞同作, “joint work of Sakakura Gonnoshin Terukane and Echigo no Kami Kanesada”), “Sakakura Minamoto Terukane kore o saku – Echigo no Kami Kanesada” (坂倉源照包作之・ 越後守包貞同作), “Sakakura Gonnoshin Terukane – Echigo no Kami Kanesada inkyo” (坂倉言之進照包・越後守 包貞隠居, “joint work of Sakakura Gonnoshin Terukane with the retired Echigo no Kami Kanesada”), “Sakakura Gonnoshin Terukane” (坂倉言之進照包), “Sakakura Echigo no Kami Terukane” (坂倉越後守照包), “Terukane saku” (照包作), real name Sakakura Gonnoshin (坂倉言之進), he came originally from Mino where he had been a student of Terukado (照門) who was active around Manji (万治, 1658-1661), later he went to Ōsaka to study under the 1st gen. Echigo no Kami Kanesada (= Yamada Heidayū), first he signed his name Terukane with the characters (輝包), he was eventually adopted by the 1st gen. Kanesada and signed from the second month of the sixth year of Kanbun (寛文, 1666) with “Echigo no Kami Kanesada” too, when Iwamatsu (岩松), the natural son of the 1st gen. Kanesada came of age in the first half of the seventh year of Enpō (1679), it was Iwamatsu who took over the name Kanesada (包貞) and “Gonnoshin-Kanesada” had again to sign with “Itakura Gonnoshin Terukane”, this return to the name of Terukane can be dated to the second month of the eighth year of Enpō (1680), but from the second month of Tenna four (天和, 1684) onwards he once again added the honorary title Echigo no Kami in the form “Sakakura Echigo no Kami Terukane” to his signatures, one theory says that he officially received this title in Tenna four and that he had signed it before as a kind of trademark that he had taken over from his master and father-in-law, he made blades in Yamato-style with a wide shinogi-ji and a high shinogi, the jigane is a dense and finely forged ko-itame with masame in the shinogi-ji, the hamon is mostly a gunome-midare, chōji-midare or tōran-midare, sometimes he also applied a suguha or ō-notare, in his early years he tempered mostly a chōji-midare, from the time when he signed again with Terukane he focused on a tōran-midare in the style of Sukehiro (助広) whereas the valleys of the yakiba have a striped appearance because of the hakikake, he was superior in quality than the 1st gen. Kanesada, ō-wazamono, jōjō-saku

Hiro kindly informed us of a major Maeda Exhbition at the Tokyo National Museum. Here are some details of the swords on display. Not mentioned in the other thread is the Tarosaku Masamune. Wish I could attend. Hopefully some skilled nihonto photographers will be in attendance.

WOW. Thats an unmissable All-Star lineup.

@MassiveMoonHehI'm sure you saw the 2 posts in a thread in the Nihonto section with Kunzan's opinion of the blade when he examined the Kaikuni-Go in June 1973 (I assume shortly after the rediscovery). Compare with this much earlier oshigata while in its fire damaged state before it was saiha.

Just watched the video and I think it nicely represented the quality of the armour and artwork. The Hokusai painting of Minamoto no Tametomo and the Oni was wonderful.

Baking soda is abrasive. Do not use baking soda.

Looking forward to seeing what you bring to Utrecht in June. Apart from my uchiko You have one of the most interesting tables at the Show

A few more images and an oshigata.

Are those nie crystals in the Hi or an artifact of the scanning. If the former thats impressive. Peak Soshu?