kusunokimasahige

Interesting !! Indeed Japan has the benefit of having kept A LOT of their archives. And I guess knowledge would be widespread amongst some in the higher classes. The book on shinto Smiths I once posted here which was printed in 1853 has great colour images of Hamon as well as Nakago and Mei. So yes I guess that they in fact knew a lot more. And Ko-Bizen or not, I just love my little sword.

@ Stephen.... Must have been the Kretek cigarette I have just been smoking..... I am on a clove high..... After Choji oiling my swords smoking Indonesian Kretek clove cigarettes does that, you know

Here are my three Masamune swords. I spent 20K on them and it took 15 years before I had the collection complete. and then some elitist collector self proclaimed expert tells me he thinks they are letter openers ? Geez while he only has seen a real example of Masamune's work in some old Museum in Tokyo and read a few books ! And has the audacity to talk me down on some high-up forum called the NMB ? How rude !

Grey, you are not at all bursting any bubble. As I already stated I think this is a much later sword signed Tomonari. The one Kevin had on his site was made in the 1850's. So only a polish and then shinsa might attest a maker And then, when it is an homage, the question always is. How well known were Ko-Bizen smiths and their work during the later periods ? All the lists compiled roaming around these days, did they also exist in the same form and with the same widespread knowledge and exposure back then as they are now ? (a bit of a philosophical question but well...). Say for instance you could go to a smith in Echigo around 1615 and ask him. Did you ever see Ko-Bizen work and have you ever heard of this or that Smith ? He probably would say no.

Thank you Stephen and Jean !! OMG.... Jean.... are you certain of that ? Ko-Bizen ? That would be awesome indeed !!! KM

Greg, I have seen rugs I would not spend a dollar on go for 25.000 euros in Dutch auction houses. I guess the only tcertain hing you can say about this is : Anywhere the wind blows.....

I must say that even though I can understand why you say what you say in my view there was no centralized system for tamahagane at all during the early Edo period and also not during the later period. Yes there were officially Shogunal approved Tatara but in each han there still were smiths making swords with local ore/iron sand or even later imported Nanban-tetsu. So why the Shinshinto work is considered less good in quality as the Heian period works is in my view purely subjective and not objective. That might be total nonsense to those of you who are deeply into the study of the sword as an art-item, but as a historian I cannot look at only that but must see the bigger picture. so also take into account the Historic, social and political factors which were part of the Japanese Samurai-led era. Therefore I cannot fully agree with your statement on the difference in quality of swords when comparing original Gokaden works to the works of later smiths emulating the earlier works. In general Samurai looked at their swords as usefull or not useful. sharp or not sharp (Wazamono ideal) And indeed later in the Edo period when battles were less frequent the art and aesthetics become more important. However I think that when we would put a Smith or even Samurai from that era into our present day lives and ways that we appreciate swords, they would be amazed and not necessarily agree with the aesthetic over-valuing of swords many of us adhere to. Maybe some other historians could butt in here who have read more contemporary works on swords from the period 700 - 1876. KM

Hello all, Thanks to Roy I am now the proud owner of this sweet little Tango no Sekku (Boys Day) miniature tachi in shirasaya. The maker is Tomonari but which generation the Mei is I do not know. Oshigata for boys day swords to compare mei are quite hard to find. Would of course be cool if it was the first Tomonari but I guess this is a much later one. Whether this is a Sukenaga-Tomonari is also unclear. The only other Tomonati boys day tachi I found was on Kevin's site and the mei is difficult to compare. ( http://www.ryujinswords.com/tomonari.htm ) It is slightly out of polish and a hamon is hardly discernable but maybe just a very careful touch up with hazuya might show something. If that is done I will post additional images. Having this polished would constitute quite a challenge for any polisher I think due to its size. Length total blade including Nakago : 35.4 cm Nagasa : 28 cm Ha-machi to Munemachi : 1.8 cm Zori: 0.9 cm No nakago-ana Signature Tachi-Mei: Tomonari A full album can be found here : http://smg.photobucket.com/user/IMPERIALCOMMAND/media/Tomonari%20Tachi/WP_20150905_13_26_44_Pro__highres_zpslgdbvfzv.jpg.html To view superlarge detail images first press the magnifying glass and then right click on the image and view image.

Curran. If you let the internet have ANY influence on your daily life you are looking at it the wrong way. In a situation where you are at a sword show or meeting and someone acts rude I can imagine you have a " Breaking point" On the internet however I cannot..

Polishing vs buffing. Btw, rhere should be some finesses in the English language but I semm to miss these. Oil and copper oxide powder and other materiala applied as a film on a sword do not polish a sword in my understanding. But I guess it is a matter of semantics and I am not a native speaker. So please elaborate.

I can add a Kamon wax seal if necessary.....

True Brian. Proper nice kinpun-mei should look like this : The sword is not a bad sword from the looks of it. And hopefully some carefully applied paint remover (terpentine) will get rid of that hideous writing.

Nugui is NOT a polish material Nugui is a mixture of several components and oil to enhance the hamon and bring out more of the steel differences you can see as well as slightly darkening some parts. Read this for a start : http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/hada.htm Then move on to the book "The art of Japanese Sword Polishing" To add to this. NEVER EVER polish yourself unless you have been fully trained by a Togishi (Polisher) Preferably by living-in for 10+ years. KM

About the sharpie pen..... For your information : Kinpun Mei This is an appraiser's attribution inscription written in gold lacquer (gold powder mixed with lacquer). Though I must add the writing is not that proficient or even nice to look at.

Ha! That is what you all think! But we were there already in 1495. The captain of that ship just lost his map in a storm so we only found it again after 100 years or so!

Wondering what you mean.... I see the old guard still discussing swords an art and helping people as well as teach novices and where necessary scold them gently. So what happened Peter?

Well the most simple explanation for Tosa specifically I can give is that Kashi were lineated to people who fought against Tokugawa at Sekigahara (Chôsokabe) and Joshi were lineated to people who fought on the side of the Tokugawa.(Yamauchi) Tosa was handed over to the Yamauchi after Sekigahara. Outside of the Tosa-han it mattered far less if you were Joshi or Kashi or member of a Tozama or Fudai han, especially in later centuries. The Tosa han kept this strict division till the end of the Samurai era. I am not sure what status would be attached to retained artisans but where and when an artisan was also a retainer this meant that being a retainer and performing your duty came first at all times. Kashi were lower in status than Joshi which during the time of Ryoma Sakamoto and the Sonno Joi campaigns in several Han led to extreme problems, in Tosa especially when the Kashi came up with their Tosa Loyalist Party "Kinnoto". Under leadership of Takechi Hanpeitai. But of what status an artisan was, Kashi or Joshi is almost impossible to ascertain since most records have been long gone. More info here : http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Tosa_han. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakamoto_Ry%C5%8Dma By the way, Aoi-art has a sword made by the same smith who made the sword of Ryoma (5.406,88 USD) http://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashi-yoshiyuki-mutsu-kami-tosacutting-test

Change that into and/or please.

What a pity ! Even when you get someone to remove that nei the sword still is ruined Sent him a question about the gimei via ebay. Let's see what I get back.

I have shared this in the closed Koryu Bujutsu facebook group. You could also put it on here, though that is a Public group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/nihontodo/?fref=ts

Also take into account that in Tosa there was a rigid division between retainers of Kashi and Joshi status of which the latter one were higher in rank. It is virtually impossible to ascertain if a swordsmith was of either class but the better swords would probably have elevated a smith. Ryoma Sakamoto was of Kashi class but his sword was by a well known Smith who probably was Joshi class. KM

I must agree that in this case restoring an item to the state it had when it was first made is not a bad thing, Where each sword polish removes stuff from the sword making it thinner and when one polishes antique silver to the brink of extinction yes there can be some debate about the necessity of it all, In this case I see an item properly restored to its forner glory, as I see items in Dutch Museums restored to their former glory also (especially in archaological exhibitions). So value wise it is of no great concern I think. Ford's work rather adds to than detracts from the value in my opinion. KM

That simply looks gorgeous Ford !

I WANT THIS. The site provided though says out of print. But I guess that is normal for a book which is not out yet. KM

I am discussing the sword with Kunitaro via Pm on Facebook at the moment. More on that later.