Lewis B

Yes, thats him and same tanto..... with the habaki installed correctly

These are the kanji for tanto I think thats what we have here. Bayonets have a very different design and shape. I doubt Tamahagane would be used for such a mundane application. Regarding the habaki I wonder if someone installed it upside down. The design with the step over the hamachi looks odd, as does the mune sitting proud of the habaki.

Yes, Andrew won a prize in this years NBTHK togishi competition. I would put him up against any top level Japanese polisher. His work speaks for itself. Checkout his FB page to see examples of his work including the 2 Go's he's worked on.

I think Jean is correct with a Tomomitsu translation. Can you provide the specs. Nagasa, motohaba and motokasane. Tomomitsu is best known for armour piercing yoroi-doshi tanto.

Spectacular sword.

Was that one of the Go's Andrew polished?

Are you sure? In hand it feels like the menuki bulges give one a little more purchase on the tsuka and offer more control when the sword is wielded. Plus they give the hands reference points when held 2 handed. But the menuki bulges do look a lot more pleasing to the eye.

Hi Mason, Sorry for the late reply. I was waiting to get the sword in hand before I could decide if it would fit. Its tight but without 1 seppa I'm pretty sure it will work with the existing mekugi ana. My offer is $175. Regards Lewis

Sage words of advice.

Interesting.

PM'ed you

That was my immediate thought too. Odd place to carve the Hi and I couldn't find a similar example when I had a quick look.

Another tidbit that could have some interesting connotations. Norishige produced tanto that have mitsu-mune as well as takenokozori-style tanto with iori-mune. This tanto was made in the latter style with slight uchizori curvature. And as stated by Markus "a takenokozori points to late Kamakura in general and for example to Norishige (則重) in particular." Signed Norishige tanto. Sugata: hira-zukuri, takenoko-zori, iori-mune, nagasa 23.8cm, from the Compton Collection

While not a style that personally appeals to me I can appreciate a blade for its technical excellence. Could there be more than one Kunishige? Shintogo Kunishige was said to be the oldest son of Shintogo but died in 1302, yet the Soshuden Museum seem to suggest they are one and the same, yet with an active period in Kenmu 1334-38. Kunishige (國重)—Son of Kunimitsu, Shintōgo Tarō (太郎), born in the 8th year of Bun’ei (文永, 1271) and died in his 32nd year in the 1st year of Kengen (乾元, 1302);

It never ceases to amaze me just how strong private collections in Europe are. Gems like this pop up at almost every NBTHK-EB meeting. "Most representative of the entire Hasebe work" and in "excellent state of preservation". Doesn't get better than that. Wish I could have attended but Manching is a little too far from Hannover.

For reference here is a rare signed and dated (1406) Sanemitsu. Nagasa 64cm https://eirakudo.shop/665120

I would also add Naomitsu in the hat NAOMITSU (尚光), 1st gen., Ōei (応永, 1394-1428), Bizen – “Bishū Osafune Naomitsu” (備州長船尚光), “Naomitsu” (尚光), his early works have a slender and elegant tachi-sugata, at that time he signed mostly with a niji-mei, the hamon is a more or less flamboyant gunome-chōji-midare in nioi-deki, later he hardened a koshi-no-hiraita gunome-chōji which reminds of Morimitsu (盛光) and Yasumitsu (康光), in addition a clearly visible utsuri appears, we know date signatures from the eighth to the 27th year of Ōei (1401-1420)

Some interesting relationships between these three smiths. From Shoshin.com. What makes you think its Sanemitsu, who seems to have favoured bo-utsuri ____________________ SHINZAEMON SANEMITSU(1) O-EI 1394 ___|_____ SANEMITSU(2) CHO-ROKU 1457 SANEMITSU(1) O-EI: SHINZAEMON. SANE form: JITSU "Truth." It is taught that MORIMITSU, YASUMITSU and SANEMITSU collaborated on the making of a sword, it is taught that their styles are the same and that they signed in the same way. His MOKUME HADA will have the OEI style, standing BO-UTSURI. His HAMON will resemble MORIMITSU and YASUMITSU's OEI KOSHI-HIRAKI GUNOME-CHOJI BA. The MEI appears with the old and familiar O-EI hand. SANEMITSU BISHU OSAFUNE SANEMITSU BISHU OSAFUNE SHINZAEMON SANEMITSU SANEMITSU(2) CHO-ROKU: From BUN-AN 1444 to EN-TOKU 1489, when he moved to IYO to make swords. MOKUME HADA. SUGUHA and GUNOME HA. Possibly incorporated his father's name to his MEI. BISHU OSAFUNE SANEMITSU

This was the fingerprint that caught my attention. Maybe its an artifact

Very nice what appears to be midare-utsuri. Since utsuri is said to have disappeared after the late Muromachi, its presence would date the blade to end of the Muromachi at the latest. I'm not very familiar with Bizenden so curious to hear what others think. I think I can spot a couple of fingerprints so I would wipe the blade carefully with a soft lens cloth and apply the thinnest coating of oil to slow down oxidation.

I think we are mixing up our Kamakura's. Kamakura era vs Kamakura the geographic location. Obviously this 1293 Shintogo tanto isn't the earliest signed and dated Kamakura era sword. Its the earliest signed blade with reference to location ie resident of Kamakura, the seat of the Kamakura shogunate. This is what the Sano were trying to convey.

You could well be right. I was just going by the descriptions provided in the Sano Museum Catalogue, where they quoted the specifications and some further details about each of the 50 or so blades in the 2002 exhibition. Rather than earliest Kamakura blacksmith, perhaps they should have said the earliest Kamakura blacksmith in the Soshuden style.

I think you've done REALLY well. I would make another thread in the nihonto section for the blade. I'm sure you will get a lot of feedback there. Take a full length photo of the bare blade against a dark background. Is there a signature on tsuba?

Consistency of koshi-bi horimono carving's on dated Shintogo tanto 1293 tanto (earliest dated blade by a Kamakura blacksmith and reason why Shintogo Kunimitsu is considered the founder of Kamakura blacksmithing). Image from the Sano museum Masamune: the genius of Japanese swords and his lineage exhibition catalogue. Length of koshi-bi is 37.4% of nagasa 1306 tanto which could be daimei-daisaku work by Yukimitsu Length of kochi-bi is 40.6% of nagasa 1308 tanto Length of koshi-bi is 37.3% of nagasa

I will give you that. But this one appears to be an early Etchu period blade and there are clear differences between his forging style there and later Mino output. The Etchu blades are far more appealing to me. There is clear a connection to the work of Go and Norishige in this blade with that more emphatic Midare hamon, a tighter forging style and the fully hardened kissaki.