Tsuku

Fantastic — thanks much!

I'm trying to puzzle out this inscription on a kogatana. I can maybe make out the third character as 州 (maybe), the 六九代 in the middle, and 作之 at the end, but the calligraphy is giving me some trouble here. Anyone mind lending their eye?

I would like to push back on the idea that you need a huge budget to go after a topical collection. If you want to pick a topic like "pristine examples of the early development of the Rai school," yeah, that's going to be expensive (and I would definitely like to see it). But you can pick other topics that are also interesting, but far less capital-intensive. For example, you could try to put something together from each of the three major sword-smithing cities in the Edo period (Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo/Tokyo). After that you could expand to cover the other four major regions. Are we talking about an immense fortune to put this collection together? Not necessarily. But it's, I think, more interesting than "here are three blades chosen at random because I got a good deal on them." That's just my opinion though, and I am just some random person on the Internet! Ultimately, I think the important part is that each collector finds something interesting and significant in the collection process itself, so that they stay engaged with it and keep learning. Whatever fills that niche for you is a good collecting model for you and your collection.

Darcy had an excellent blog post about this a while back that I completely agree with. If a collection tells some kind of a story, that can really make the collection as a whole more interesting than the sum of its parts. So maybe a fun question to ask yourself would be: what story do you want your collection to tell? Is there some particular aspect of the smiths' art or moment in history you find fascinating?

I think I understand what you are saying, and appreciate the comment. I generally do not leave things on shelves and forget about them. (Except for bottles of wine, which sometimes get stuck in corners and forgotten about and joyously rediscovered.) I try not to own many things, but the things I do have are a part of my daily life, and I spend many happy moments regarding, considering, and contemplating them. That's much of the fun, isn't it?

That's very kind of you, but my fiancée may have some objections, and she puts up with me — sorry!

My apologies if I am crossing any boundaries here. I was looking through Aoi's catalog, a few things caught my eye as potentially interesting, and I thought I would ask some opinions. My interest in collecting is around exemplary historical artifacts in two periods: koto from the Nanbokucho period and early shinto (Edo period through Genroku era or so). I don't think most of these are to the level of, say, a Kanemitsu (maybe that Chikakage, though?) — but maybe there are some good examples in here of specific smiths doing superb work. Here are the ones that caught my eye: Koto Sa Hiroyasu https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumeiunsigned-attributed-as-sa-hiroyasu64th-nbthk-juyo-token/ Chikakage https://www.aoijapan.com/tachi-bizen-kuni-osafune-jyu-chikakage-ryakuo-4-nen-gatsuhi-jyuyo-token-46/ mumei attrib. Kanenaga with koshirae https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-kanenaga-kencho36th-nbthk-juyo-token/ (Normally the only wakizashi I would consider is one from Tadatsuna, but this one really caught my eye. The hamon is wild and almost untamed, so bold!) Shinto Masahiro (1st) with koshirae https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-hizen-kuni-kawachi-daijo-masahiro-first-generation61st-nbthk-juyo-paper/ (Of the two currently on Aoi, I think this one is superior.) Kunisuke https://www.aoijapan.com/katanakawauchi-kami-fujiwara-kunisuke-1st-generation/ Yasutsugu (4th) https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-yasutsugu-motte-nanbantetsu-oite-bushu/ I would greatly welcome any thoughts and opinions!