nulldevice

Just for fun, 2 more oshigata of the Kosetsu Samonji

Here is another photo of the blade

2nd Kanji looks like 聲

於江府雲州高橋信秀作 - Oite efu Unshu Takahashi Nobuhide Saku 文久三年二月吉日 - Bunkyu sannen nigatsu kichijitsu

I didn’t grab any decent sugata shots so that’s my bad. These I had from the owner when he first showed me photos.

Some fittings:

Hamon photos:

I was looking at a bring back sword in type 98 fittings for a friend today and helped him get it apart and was very pleased to find an Emura signed blade underneath. The books and references I’ve seen posted all have his longer mei references or “Emura Saku” but I haven’t seen many references to just a 2-character mei except for a small handful of posts here. Someone said that blades signed just “Emura” might be made by Emura himself and not one of his prisoner swordsmith apprentices? Any confirmation on that? The blade is in rough polish and the monouchi area has nicks and chips in the ha but it is stout enough that I think the owner might look at a polish for sentimental reasons. I was pleased to still see a pretty bright suguha based hamon with lots of nice small activity throughout even through the old polish. The saya is the most damaged part of the package and is missing a lot of parts and probably needs a restoration or just a new saya to complete the set. The other fittings are all stamped 231 and match the paint marks on the nakago which was good to see.

The best advice is always to buy the blade and not the papers. The internet makes that very hard and many of us are no novices to what you said, the lies of omission, downplaying of kizu, and romanticizing the blade to discount its flaws. A good buyer should know that the fluff is just that. Fluff. Even papers, which are supposed to be a certificate of authenticity aren’t always the source of truth many claim to be. I’ve seen faked papers posted here. I’ve also seen blades faked to match real papers but with a different sword posted here from a notorious Jauce auction. And most disappointingly of all, I’ve seen real swords pass Juyo Shinsa with fake mei to grandmaster smith’s showing that even Shinsa judges have been duped by nefarious means. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as we are in a hobby where gimei blades are abundant and we have a saying “green papers are no papers. Even then, right now on eBay I can go and purchase the only other extant daito signed “Sa” in the world besides the Kokuho daito! My Samonji collection would then rival that of the TNM and most seasoned collectors for only a few hundred bucks!

Amazing work Brett! An amazing writeup on these wonderful treasures. I've really enjoyed your deep dive posts recently and this is yet another great writeup!

As for the TJ9/J31 example with the extra radical in the Shige kanji, the TJ translation makes no mention of that but since this is a dated work (1314) it is considered an early work of his. "This tantō has less standing hada than usual, the chikei and kinsuji are mild, the jiba is bright, showing a quality connected to Shintōgo Kunimitsu and Yukimitsu, and is considered an early-period work. The jiba is sound, and as a work showing one aspect of Norishige's style it deserves attention, while the Shōwa 3 (1314) date is also valuable research material for studying this smith."

Here's a reference I threw together for the NMB Note the J25* mei was labeled "mei ga aru" at shinsa and the J23 example was labeled as the nidai (top row 4th from left)

This doesn't satisfy the o-kissaki requirement but there is a TH Kencho for sale on Aoi as well for 1.7M JPY. I think it satisfies the other requirements of yours TH - Den Kanenaga - Aoi Art

Interestingly, the tanto describe by Kanzan that needed additional research may have been this very one. As @Lewis Bpointed out above from the later part of the article. Kanzan mentions a Genkyo 2 dated tanto with the Kamakura Junin Yukimitsu signature as one that required additional research. As you pointed out, it would be cool to be a fly on the wall in the shinsa deliberation when they discussed this very tanto.

Wonderful photos Michael! @Lewis B Just a bit earlier in that same article he also mentions: "However, there are also somewhat wider pieces with hiro-suguha that are difficult to distinguish from Shintōgo Kunihiro, slender uchizori pieces with monotonous hitatsura that at first glance might be confused with late kotō but whose jigane is unmistakably that of a superior Sōshū smith and whose nakago is clearly old. This corresponds to Muromachi-period texts that record this smith's broad working range, tempering not just suguha but also notare, ko-midare, ō-midare, and even hitatsura." I'll be excited to see what the shinsa judges had to say about the sword in the zufu.