klee

@Takezo Swords continued to get longer throughout the 1500s and Tenbun era sue bizen generally ranged from 65cm to 68cm and reached 70cm + from Eiroku up to the Momoyama so I think it s just due to the general time period trend. That Yosozaemon was recently on AOI earlier this year. I made a post about it. It s interesting that a sword this level it would re appear so soon. It did go for well over $100,000 USD. The sayagaki from Tanobe sensei noted it as being Shodai Yosozaemon best work. Which is saying quite a lot

@Takezo I was just looking at them 😆 While I ll always prefer Gorozaemons signature suguha works, he was indeed skilled at hitatsura and this is a beautiful work. I do think however that hadori is a very poor choice for this blade ( or any hitatsura works ). Judging by the oshigata, this sword would look magnificent in sashikomi. And a beautiful sugata and signature by Magouemon. One of the pro s of Magouemon over Gorozaemon for me was that swords became longer during the Eiroku and his works are consistantly 70cm+ while Gorozaemons work are generally in the 65cm to 68cm range. I generally try to avoid bo hi ( except futasuji hi ) bc of the asthetics and I always dread seeing blades where the soe bi is polished off in places over time. Both beautiful works overall however and I certainly would have a hard time saying no if I had the $$$

Every once in blue moon, a piece appears that checks all my wishful nihonto fantasy boxes https://eirakudo.shop/978749

@Bugyotsuji It was a pretty one for sure and a nice length for that time period. I was down sizing my Kiyomitsu collection to add a signed Kongo Hyoe Moritaka blade at the time ( one of my favorite school ). I then sold my TokuHo Kiyomitsu in April to branch out into other yamato temple smiths but I instead fell in love and bought another Kiyomitsu 😂 . Waiting for export currently

Hi @Bugyotsuji This was the Eisho 10 Kiyomitsu I used to own https://eirakudo.shop/018294 I have noticed over the last few years that the mei in Eisho Kiyomitsu blades vary significantly. Interesting since there s only one Kiyomitsu smith recorded. I will say the Jigane and hamon on your tanto looks extremely close the sword I owned

I would love to one day travel to Japan and see top level blades like these. Thank you for posting these photos🙏🙏🙏. After looking at any high quality photos I could find for some time it dawned on me a while back that Sadamune s jigane was more pleasing to me over Masamune personaly. But perhaps seeing them in person will change that preception

I ve sent all my blades to Woody Hall in Hawaii for Shiage togi. His work is exceptional and he has won NBTHK awards for his Polishing. He was trained by Robert Benson who was trained by Koke Ono , a living national treasure. I also know for a fact Mike Yamazaki uses him and speaks highly of him

@RobDam An ubu tachi would be rare ( and pricey ) There are some early muromachi ubu tachi that appears every now and then Here s one https://eirakudo.shop/673537 But things become very muddy when it comes to tachi vs katana in the early muromachi and hard to distinguish

@RobDam One of my long term goals is to collect a long blade from each smith from the main Kiyomitsu lineage. There s obviously Gorozaemon ( Tenbun ) and Magoemon ( Eiroku ) but theres another smith in the Eisho era named Nomura Gorozaemon who is the master/father of the tenbun Gorozaemon. He is the only recorded Kiyomitsu smith active im the Eisho era mostly signed " Bishu Osafune.... " but I have yet to see a zokumyo or an NBTHK attribution to him

I think thats been touched upon on the original thread i started on that sword a while back. But there really isnt anything to be gained by that sword obtaining juyo

Thank you @RobDam I will most certainly take more photos. I do love everything about it so I am excited. The jigane is beautiful with lots of activities. The signature is beautifuly done as well

The best of the best are already in private collections or museums. And the low/mid/high end pieces will continue to circle around as people make room for new purchases or change in taste and many more reasons. That Masamune ,as interesting as it may be to see one , is in a very sorry state on many levels so it s no wonder it would come on the market. There is however a magnificent Go Yoshihiro connected to the Date family for close to that same price . That one will eventually be locked in a private collection im sure

@RobDam I believe that token bijutsu blade reads Tenbun if im not mistaken. And no I think what you paid for is very resonable for what you have. A very fine sue bizen work with a nisshu sayagaki. While he doesnt carry the reputation of Tanobe sensei. He was still recognized as a living national treasure and his calligraphy is most beautiful of all in my opinion. His sayagaki certainly adds value

Hi @RobDam You are most welcome. Always love seeing fine Kiyomitsu blades come around. It is generally difficult to evaluate bo hi due to many variables. Yes they are somewhat time period / school /smith associated but there were always exceptions. And more importantly, they were often added later ( ato bi ). Meaning yours may have started without a bo hi but was added later. It s often hard to tell Your s ends in Maru-dome at the bottom which is a common feature of muromachi Bizen but it is also ryo chiri which could be considered an outlier. Again it is often difficult to evaluate bo hi so I wouldnt really worry about it.

Very nice blade @RobDam 👏👏 I ve collected many Kiyomitsu and this one was tempting but I passed on bidding since I try to avoid blades with bo hi ( just personal taste ) While I love Hon'Ami Nisshu s caligraphy, he is known to be wrong often and this one was a bit surprising since Eiroku 5 ( 1562 ) is quite outside of his normal range. He produced most of his work in the Tenbun era. This falls right into Magoemon ( son/apprentice ) s time line who followed in Gorozaemon style. Regradless, it s a great sue bizen Kiyomitsu blade. One of my favorite era and smiths to collect I have currently have a Kiyomitsu waiting export in Japan. It is signed similar to yours but the NBTHK attributed it to Magoemon. Waiting to hear if Tanobe sensei can do a sayagaki.

Nice @Sukaira 👏👏 what will you be looking for next ?

Well yes and no. The proper location of yokote line is bound by the swords geometry. It needs to be located precisely at the mitzukado where ha turns upward and the sword s geometry changes and turns inward towards the tip. Some swords may have a very defined geometric yokote and some less depending on the time period

Interested but also a bit confused . If we consider the shinogi / ko shinogi to be original and base the picture a proper yokote line, wouldnt this mean there was a big loss of kissaki here including the boshi ?

@Sukaira Have you considred trying for juyo ? There s a juyo Gorozarmon on Asahi token and I would think yours compares very well to this one. https://www.asahitoken.jp/contents/01_token/details/token-A/A_sd406.html Personaly, I prefer the jigane on yours more than the juyo piece

@Elias6677 It s a great endless journey for sure and I hope you find great satisfaction which ever way you decide to go. I dont think theres really a wrong decision here from a financial point of view. Its always difficult deciding on that 1st piece but once you do , I think you will quickly find a direction you want to go. You are much more fortunate than others in that you are able to start from a much higher financial starting point. You might want to delve more into the same school, a different time period, different tradition, or maybe focus into the same smith even. There are great people on the forum like @Mushin, @Rivkin and many others who ve helped me a great deal over the years. And when it comes to data, we are extremely fortunate to have @Jussi Ekholm Great wishes on your journey and looking forward to hearing about your decision and hopefully more details of the blade when you receive it ( esp if you go with Sa 😁 )

Extremely well written and explained as always @Mushin 🙏🙏🙏

Im very biased since I love Sa and ichimonji never quite did it for me. The jigane on the Sa is incredible. I would never get tierd of it. Im never a fan of koshirae inflating the price so that part is a little off putting but oh well

Thank you for the link and the sayagaki image @Sukaira ! Beautiful jigane and has everything I love about Kiyomitsu for sure. I really like that it has an unusualy thin suguha which showcases more of the jigane. Looks like tanobe sensei liked the blade as well ! Komaki san from Samurai Nippon said he can request a sayagaki for my blade but the timing would depend on Tanobe Sensei s schedule. Waiting to hear back

I have a sword in the export permit process so I ll update this after the end result but I do believe things are back to normal -ish after the cout ruling. I have ordered oil for my swords from Namikawa and finger stones for the chef knives I make and there have been no import fees in 2026. I was hit with a bunch in 2025 This is all through UPS who seem to be proactive about not charging questionable tarrifs now.

@Sukaira Do you have a close up images of the hamon and jigane of your Gorozaemon ? I know that Magoemon followed his father/master s style very closely so id love to compare . There must be something distinct in their workmanship for the NBTHK to attribute it to magoemon specifically