Toryu2020

Miyoshi Izu (no) Kami Minamoto Naokuni 三好伊豆守源直国 Student of Sukenao - Sig looks OK but the color of the nakago looks funky - heavily oiled or...? -t

All - Got a chance to review the article in the Token Bijutsu and the kantei sword that had us posing the question in the first place. Han Bing Siong's explanations were a little difficult to comprehend at first but as we had a terrific Fukuoka Ichimonji Yoshimoto blade to compare them with, I feel I have acquired a much better understanding. The dark patches like thumb prints within the utsuri running the length of the blade were evident and from the descriptions this was the antai we were looking for. What a happy coincidence it was when we found one of the swords that Mr Han Bing Siong used to illustrate his article was a work by none other than Fukuoka Yoshimoto! So we had the blade in hand, an oshigata of Mr Siong's juyo Yoshimoto and several examples from the Juyo Bijutsuhin catalog. A terrific lesson for me and I thank you Paul for pointing it out to us... -t

David - According to Akiyama Kyusaku Sensei older tsuba which had hitsu-ana added later should properly have those openings filled. In this way when viewing them you could more easily imagine them as "ubu". Of course as John as pointed out Edo period artists found that you could fill these openings with all kinds of soft metals, add fancy punch marks and patterns and these in turn would become part of the overall presentation. I believe that in the late Edo period it became quite a fad to add ume-gane. Now I only know this from articles in our own newsletter so there must certainly be more informed opinions than mine... -t

Franco - Thanks I won't have a chance to pull it from my library till this weekend - and I agree, an excellent excuse to lose an afternoon rediscovering the TB. Seems to be pretty specific to school time and place so my definition may just be poor memory... not the first time, -t PS John pics are good!

At Sundays NCJSC meeting Paul Martin brought up an interesting question, Well interesting for me and I hope Paul doesn't mind me invoking his name. We were considering a sword which we as a group thought was Late Heian or Early Kamakura, Ko-Bizen or Yamashiro. The question concerned the quality of the utsuri and the presence of antai. My understanding of antai is that it is what we call the ji or dark area BETWEEN the hamon and the utsuri. While Paul was saying that antai was dark spots within or under the utsuri, seen as dark thumbprints randomly placed all along the blade. I had not heard this definition before and we didn't have time to really deal with the question at that time. So I ask, what is antai? where do you expect to see it on a blade? Have you seen it? and on what type of blades? Any help appreciated, -t

Fukunaga Suiken Sensei has a whole chapter on Women Swordsmiths in one of his books BTW... -t

Thats what I get for looking at the pictures sideways... -t

I am thinking Noshu ju Kamei Sukehira saku but have been wrong before... -t

A fantastic find and a marvelous restoration - few would recognize an item like this and fewer still would have the skills to do the proper restoration. Hats off to you, -t

My guess would be Omura Masamichi... -t

Eric - I agree with John on the reading - however there are at least 20 artists that signed Daido and according to the Nihontoko Zenshu the Mino ni-dai and san-dai both used Izumi no kami. I have no references for Mino smiths so cannot help with examples for comparison. Whatever it is its a neat find... -t

John - Isnt that Koei Gan-nen? 元年 -t

Looks like a Model 1898 Cavalry sabre, pretty sure that is what you are looking at is the blade length like 31"? If so these are not that uncommon... -t

Klaus et al - Iai-to could mean my sword I use for practice, a sword made specifically for practice or a koshirae that is built for practice versus a historical restoration. Therefore; 1. There are individuals who use a traditionally made blade with antique fittings, handle and scabbard for the practice of iai. This would be their Iai-to. (not recommended BTW) 2. There are many shops selling nickel blades of varying qualities with stamped out fittings modern made specifically for the practice of Iaido. Some are very very nice and if you spend some time looking these can be very satisfying to own and practice with. (recommended) 3. When you go to a proper saya-shi and request a koshirae - there will be questions as to the quality you wish to acheive - fittings are one question, but the wrap, quality of same and lacquer are another. If you want a complete period restoration do not expect your sword back for 3-5 years while the artists confer and slowly put together all the right elements - If it is just an Iai-to you want, you'll get good same, a strong wrap and decent lacquer in much shorter order, but not the same time and attention to detail - it is not a What so much as a How you want things done, if that makes any sense... -t

Niten Ichi Ryu or Musashi Koshirae - No secret - the original Musashi koshirae had an enlarged iron Higo kashira, the hole for the tsukaito being much larger than it needed to be. It was not extended however. Attributed to Miyamoto Musashi and copied by students of his Niten Ichi Ryu, it slowly but surely became more extended and more pointed. This example is a much later example of this idea. I have seen this piece in hand, a nice blade and koshirae for the price if one is looking for an Iai-to Strikes with the kashira, tsuka, tsuba and kojiri are common to many schools and not really hidden if you are looking... -t

Moriyama San - I wanted to revisit this and say, thank you. This is something that I have known for a long time or thought I knew but until your post did not realize I had let the knowledge slip and was labouring under a false assumption. You are quite correct. The Nengo changed in the third month of the year, 1860. The correct practice is that once this happens the first few months of the year in question become "Manen". Thereafter the whole year would be referred to as Manen and official documents would have to be rewritten to include the correct nengo. Thank you again. Therefore if this sword was made in the second month of 1860 it would have been dated the 7th year of Ansei, since Manen had not been promulgated as yet. So this dating is strange. I think Louis needs to compare his piece to other works by this smith, check the signatures and dating closely. Only because there is the possibility that the smith dated the work much later than when he actually made it.... -t

Rheinhard - I am not sure we are "arguing". I don't see this as anything special, not to take anything away from the koshirae, it all appears to be Bakumatsu work. The iron in the core tsuba shows a lot of red rust and does not appear all that old to my eye. It is a neat item but also not the most ingenious thing I have seen done with kodogu. In the end I like it and the koshirae overall. As it happens I do have the National Museum book you mention and you are right the item in question is the other half of the tsuba and not a seppa. You can clearly see it in the photos peeking out from different angles but it does not appear in the photos where the back has been separated to show all the constituent parts. In the end I'll repeat what I think I tried to say earlier, the iron core clearly looks to have been a tsuba at some point - it was a convenient piece of metal for the artist to build his new tsuba upon. my opinion only... -t

Rheinhard - I believe you can see it in the first three photos and from different angles - it is the back plate, not a seppa and not I think photo-shop foolery. I do not as I said earlier, believe this was put together to preserve the iron tsuba inside. The plate does not appear that old, there is no signature, and the original has been too radically altered for this to have been "a preservative" mho... -t

Rheinhard - Isn't that the second seppa peeking out from the back? -t

Announcing the 2010 NTHK San Francisco Shinsa - August 20,21 and 22, 2010. Registration packets are are now being sent out - Please visit the website or email NTHK2010@toryu-mon.com for info. Heres the webpage; http://tinyurl.com/y8u2pkn Note: you can also renew your NTHK membership via Paypal on the registration page. -t

Peter - since the original tsuba seems to have been greatly altered, I would posit that this was not to preserve the old piece but rather an inexpensive base to build the new tsuba on. In other words, the man was rich in soft metals but not so much iron so converted an old tsuba into the base on which to build his new work. All speculation of course... -t

Tips & Warnings * Keep the sword on display in temperature-controlled case and periodically remove the sword from the sheath to allow the blade to "breathe." * You should never use swords to "duel," as blade clashing could severely damage the blade. Also, don't use the swords to strike any equally hard object such as trees. Doing so risks damaging the blade. Not only does my sword have a soul it needs to breathe! :-) -t

Steve - we don't want to rob you of one of the pleasures of owning a sword, the search for just who the artist is. There were at least 8 artists working as Kiyoshige in Choshu during the Edo perod. Three that would be considered Shinshinto; Bunka, Tempo and Gen-ji. If you consider that an artists working life is thirty or forty years either side of these dates, you might even say that the man dated to 1781 worked toward the end of the Edo period... -t show us the nakago if you've the chance...

You sure thats not a hidden yari!?! :-) -t

All - Took me a while to figure this out. Here are photos of my Shikomi-zue; a mumei piece papered to Hojoji Masahiro, extremely light wood, not sure if it is honoki which has been carved to look like bamboo and then covered in what appears to be cherry-bark. Hopefully from the photos you can see the seam that runs the length. Also it has an iron tip. FWIW -t