Matsunoki

Bizarrely sweeping generalisation that adds nothing constructive to the discussion……as is often the case.

The angle of the Torii could be suggesting that it has been toppled in a flood. The presence of the two small sailboats suggests we are looking at water…..but the distant perspective is a bit confusing/challenging. The fact that just some the treetops are “above water” is significant? I’d vote flood but wouldn’t bet my home on it.

@Luc T @uwe Thank you so much for your help. I do not own this one (yet🙂but hopefully…) and as I am totally ignorant on armour I just want to avoid the awaiting pitfalls and bear traps…..having seen some of the pieces discussed on here that are modern/fake (but that looked old and good quality…to me) it is obvious that Kabuto and menpo suffer also from the attentions of fakers, albeit very talented ones. This one looked very well made to me in a fairly simple style ……but then what do I know? These are the only other images available at the moment……do they suggest anything else? Would I be right to think the throat guard is of lesser quality? …..and can you point me at any decent reference books (in English) that can assist my learning? …..and thanks again! All the best. Colin

Having nearly sold my whole sword collection I am now just starting to become more interested in armour, especially Kabuto and Menpo in russet iron. My knowledge is currently pretty basic but this piece has crossed my path and I would be really grateful for your opinions on quality, age, school…..anything that’s relevant really that would assist a total novice. Many thanks for looking. All the best. Colin

Elsewhere on the Forum is another current and interesting topic discussing boshi on Naginata naoshi. That has prompted me to pay more attention to this blade and I would welcome all your opinions on it. For what it is worth (which isn’t much!) I think it is an early Koto naginata/nagamaki that has been reworked into this current wakizashi of 47.5cm Nagasa. The hamon and nioi guchi clearly disappear down into the nakago beyond the machi and I’m guessing o-suriage The presence of a clear boshi with small kaeri suggests to me that it was the style of naginata that are sometimes referred to as Nagamaki ie the longer variety with far less sori and swelling than generally associated with later Naginata. Often depicted mounted on a shorter pole. Hada….running undulating masame (quite coarse)with areas resembling very shallow ayasugi. The hada is far more pronounced in the ji towards the ha and diminishes/weakens toward the shinogi. There is what appears to be a very strong wide irregular utsuri over much of the ji which fades in some areas. The hada is visible through the utsuri (if indeed that is what it is). There is a pronounced irregular dark band of steel between the utsuri and the hamon. The hamon is based on suguha with assorted small gunome variations in nioi with no nie visible anywhere. There is a thin dark line running within the hamon just below the nioiguchi…..impossible to image. There are layers of fine sunagashi at various points. Please, I’d love to know what you think. Apologies for lack of photographic skills. Thanks for looking.

Probably not a seal. Just a nice decorative cap to each end. Typical of the Japanese attention to detail. They could have just used plain copper but decided to make something more interesting.

Some of the replies on this post are great examples of how you put “newbies” off. We all have to start somewhere and some tolerance doesn’t hurt. EDIT. the replies to which I refer have since been deleted.

Howard, sorry can’t help with the translation but I think this is Chinese, not Japanese. Does it have a spoon attached to the stopper? How big is it?

Just a dumb question….are we talking purely about naginata naoshi or are we bringing nagamaki naoshi into the debate……accidentally? My understanding is that many nagamaki did not originally have the extreme increase in the sakihaba and sugata that naginata have and would therefore be more easily adapted as swords thus with kaeri far more easily retained?

The tsuba you show is an example of Meiji period pieces that indeed were never intended to be mounted although some crop up on swords where the entire koshirae was fashioned in a similar manner and again never intended to be viewed as anything other than a pure work of art aimed at the foreign wealthy market. They are generically termed “Shibayama” which refers to the family of craftsmen that originally perfected the technique. Other manufacturers followed suite under different art names but again, all lumped together into “Shibayama” for descriptive purposes. The plate on these is wood covered with luxurious gold lacquer and using many varieties of seashells, horn, stained ivory, coconut shell etc to create the stunning inlays. Sometimes silver or shakudo metal ana liners and mimi. Some are found with an ivory plate but similar with inlays in the same style. Highly sought after and if in good condition, very expensive. I used to restore these for some of the big boys. The London dealer Kevin Page has a few on his website.

Couldn’t find anything about Japanese swords in it, had to read it twice just to make sure……..nor anything that would specifically help collectors and GUIDE them…..and after all, that is what we are talking about here. To create something aimed at helping others requires considerable effort and is to be commended. Pointless non-constructive criticism of a GUIDE is pretty mean-spirited, extremely negative, and utterly unhelpful. So I’ll add my thanks to you Kirill, along with all the others who appreciate what you’ve done and who will doubtless find it utterly helpful.

Brilliant work again. Dune sand worm? hmmmmm…..but then I love the traditional pieces so what do I know! Nice to see you pop up on here again. You can always message me in view of our previous discussions. Hope you’ve sorted the legal stuff out!

Even IF the Mei was genuine I still wouldn’t pay anywhere near the asking price. Focus on the quality of the work…..it lacks finesse.

Imo vastly overpriced and not great quality. I think they’ve had this one for a while.

So what actually is this utsuri like effect? In what way is it not the same? Method of production (there seems to be several), metallurgical structure? Be good to know what looks like utsuri but isn’t. @COD has the benefit of having the blade in hand vs working from images….plus he saw the smith at work. In what way is koto utsuri higher quality? Does it improve flexion tolerance? Does it improve cutting? Does it improve longevity. Observing this interesting topic (as a real novice) it seems we have very few hard facts but a great many opinions.