Pincheck

Thanks, I think. Like I said earlier, people can’t even agree on an approximate age of this one.

Now that I’ve had time to do some research, I think there is a way you could be right on all counts. I showed this sword to a Hizen collector who said he didn’t think it was Hizen Tadayoshi line which threw me off the hizen theory and I had discounted Bungo since I seem to remember them producing a coarse mokume hada and generally having a much wider shinogi ji, neither of which this sword has. But, the hada, hamon, the narrow shinogi ji and some other characteristics do resemble a sword I’ve seen by 1st gen Shizuhiro of the Igo Ishida school, which was an offshoot of Bungo Takada. Shizuhiro signed as Hizen no kami (lord of Hizen province). His work seems to be rare and I’ve only seen two Shizuhiro swords on the net, both had a very tight ko itame hada that looks a lot like mine, one had a laser straight suguha hotsure with no ashi like mine, both had narrow shinogi ji and seemed to follow a kamakura/nanbokucho style sugata, although both slightly different. Shizuhiro worked around the mid to late 1600s. Whether it is Igo Ishida or not, who knows, but it seems like a possibility. So thank you, I appreciate the help.

Well, here are some more photos of it. What do you think? 686mm (27”) nagasa 12mm of very even sori Chu kissaki 33mm, 28.5mm width at machi 21mm width at yokote (26% taper) Kasane across shonogi: 7mm at machi, 5.5mm at yokote Kasane across mune: 6.6mm at machi, 4.9mm at yokote Weight 760g

I would dearly love to date this sword but in this case that seems to be easier said than done. Several knowledgeable people have seen it IRL (including you Paul, you thought Hizen at the time) and so far bids have ranged from early nanbokucho to late edo. It seems like this one is a tough nut to crack because the sugata suggests late kamakura or early nanbokucho, but the hamon is laser straight ko nie suguha hotsure with not much else going on besides some feint sunagashi and one short patch of nijuba. No Ashi, no yo, nothing. It does look to me like it has bucket loads of ji nie and some fine chikei, plus some feint bo utsuri and hakikake on the boshi. But it’s all subtle stuff, nothing outrageous at all. Not what you might expect from a typical koto blade. The ryo chiri bo hi is of a style I’ve only ever seen on one very tired mumei sword thought to be koto and the hamon I’ve only ever seen on an Iga Ishido sword, of kanbun Shinto vintage. Maybe it could be a shinshinto copy but the patina on the nakago looks too deep to be shinshinto and everyone that’s seen it IRL says it’s older than that, so who knows?

Maybe this topic has already been done to death, if it has then I apologise for dragging it up again. But, I have a sword that has a really fine koitame hada, almost nashiji hada (depending on your perspective) but there's almost no way it is an Awataguchi. So I was wondering, in the entire history of nihonto, who in your opinion came closest to reproducing nashiji hada? Can it be done now? Aoe Chirimen Awataguchi Nashiji Hizen Konuka Rai ko-itame Mine

I've been taking some photographs and I'm wondering what people see in this hada? Chikei? Ji nie? Nothing? I'm just trying to calibrate my brain to put the right name to things I see, and rule out things I think I see that others don't.

Thanks guys. I’d heard of nishiji, chirimen and konuka hada but I’ve never seen anything like this in the flesh and wouldn’t want to label something I’ve got no experience with. Ko-itame is probably the safer label. It’s very subtle and has a slight sparkle to it in the right light. Whatever it is, it’s quite pleasing to see. It’s a really nice thing, a couple of chips the polisher couldn’t get out without changing the shape so he left them in, but the quality of the workmanship looks very high to my eye No flaws, straight as they come, crisp lines. 68cm Nagasa but o suriage by at least another 10, mu Mei, noticeably thin shinogi-ji, super straight suguha in ko nie (maybe? Not that you can tell from the photos). The polisher said it felt like koto steel, other knowledgeable people that have seen it thought hizen. I’ve no idea but it sure is pretty.

Hi all, Has anyone got any idea what you would call this hada? It's from a sword that I just got back from the polishers and it was a real pig to photograph. It's super tight, almost muji unless you get the light just right then you see a kind of mottled finish, maybe itame, maybe masame. Any ideas?

Dimensions as requested Shinogi zukuri O suriage (3 menugi ana) Mumei 686mm nagassa 12mm torii sori Chu kissaki 33mm, with ko maru kaeri boshi 28.5mm motohaba 21mm sakihaba kassane across shonogi ji: 7mm at machi, 5.5mm at yokote Kassane accros mune: 6.6mm at machi, 4.9mm at yokote high shinogi Ryo chiri bo hi (0.9mm deep) Iori mune Suguha with nie guchi? Hada - not clearly discernible, could be ko-itame? For what it's worth, my sword is eerily similar to this: https://nihontofrance.com/nihonto-2/katana-ko-mihara-masahiro-2/?lang=en Similar shape, dimensions, similar bo hi, same boshi. Mine is slightly thicker in the motohaba but has slightly wider hamon. If I polished mine, I bet it would be within spitting distance there too. If I were a betting man, I'd be tempted QD photoshop side by side

I know this is an almost impossible ask, it’s hard enough with the blade in hand, let alone on some vague description and a few blurry photos over the internet. I’ll take some measurements when I get home. Unfortunately removing the habaki will probably mean destroying it which I would rather not do until I know more about it he thing, it’s pretty battered and won’t budge.

Well, thanks for your help, I do appreciate it. Maybe you’re right, maybe it is Shinto. In some ways that may be a good thing, it means I’m less inclined to send it to Japan for polishing which would be a head ache removed. I mainly wanted to be sure I wasn’t sending a rare and special blade to the wrong person. If it isn’t very special it gives me more scope. I still have a hard time buying it’s Shinto though, but that may be wishful thinking. The steel is quite blue which suggests to me older rather than newer, O suriage which maybe isn’t definitive either way and where you see a wide nioi guchi, I see poor photography as on the blade itself it looks narrow and nie to me. I’m not sure I see utsuri either, just poor photography. But it does look uniform and featureless, (which is one of the reasons I like it), although a lot of that could be the poor polish, it looks like some of it was done with 80 grit. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Shinto blade that looks like this, but I have seen various koto blades that are reminiscent. My current wishful thinking favourite is mihara although I am probably wrong. Who knows, I could probably convince myself of anything right now.

If I am correct in thinking this is O suriage, it could have had a 33" nagassa at one time. I may be wildly wrong, but that seems awfully long for a shinto katana. Did shinto smiths generally make katanas that long? I assume some must have done.

This isn't my first sword, I've been interested in nihonto for a long time, but this is my first non-gunto so I've never had the opportunity to do any kantei other than Aoi Arts appraisal quiz (which I am just about good enough to discern koto from shinto or shin shinto), I definitely have a lot to learn. I'm aware of the Token society and have applied to join. I certainly won't be doing anything except cleaning and oiling this one until I know a lot more about it. It came in Gunto mounts, but had a silver foil habaki and a family mon on the tsuka so I'm inclined to believe that whoever had it during the war thought it wasn't junk. It's been polished with a brillo pad but what hada I might have been able to spot looks like this

Hi, new guy hoping for some help and advice on this one. It needs a polish and a shirasaya but I'm wondering if it's good enough to warrant a lot of expense. I think it looks fairly good but probably not shinsa worthy as it appears to have a patch of shintetsu. 27" nagassa, 1/2" of koshi sori, O suriage, mumei, shinogi zukuri, suguha with ko maru boshi, the polish is poor and hada is difficult to see, might be ko-itame. My kantei skill are not great and all I can come up with is probably koto, maybe yamato related. Any ideas?