eternal_newbie

Tadahiro was indeed defined by "consistency" - the most prolific individual smith of the Edo period and with the most consistent output. Basically a one-man production line turning out a river of TH-or-higher blades like clockwork.

To be fair, the naginata is (in modern budo/Japan) somewhat associated with women and femininity. This despite the fact that it was the main workhorse of the average (male) soldier in the Koto period.

Jussi's had a real makeover on that last Japanese trip!

Agreed... but until then here's a bit of an insight: https://web.archive.org/web/20210126050337/https://blog.yuhindo.com/naginata-naginata-naoshi/

I suspect Elon Musk and African-Americans alike would be equally offended by this statement

That would be Ko-Nyudo Kunimitsu 古入道国光, who is considered the founder of the Uda school. So a pretty significant name in its own right, even if it's not quite Norishige.

The shodai and nidai Hizen Masahiro were also known for their stormcloud-like gunome midare.

As someone who works with websites and other online systems, I suspect you will need to know your password, or at least have control of the email address linked to the account so that you can receive a "forgot/reset my password" email.

Interesting piece for sure, wonder if @Jussi Ekholm saw it

It's an old site and their secure HTTPS certificate has expired.

Woody Hall?

I can't quite make out the mei - would you happen to know who made this one? I imagine polishing this would have been a hell of a job too!

@Cookie_Monstah For your consideration, I recommend this recent thread: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/56723-the-three-dated-norishige-tanto/ There is some quite in-depth discussion around the possible functions that mei serve, and why a smith may have chosen to sign (or not sign) a blade that came out of their atelier.

If you'll permit me a slight deviation from the subject of Norishige and Soshu, the discovery of the Kinoe-Inu Nagashige and a few other blades have upended a relatively recent consensus. Nagashige was traditionally thought to be the younger brother or even son of Chogi and a peer of Kencho; not only is the new consensus that Nagashige was the eldest and likely the one who taught Chogi and Kanemitsu the secrets of Soshu smithing, but there's an increasing volume of evidence suggesting that Kencho was in fact a junior peer of Chogi and Kanemitsu under Nagashige's supervision (much as Norishige was to Yukimitsu and Masamune under Shintogo).

"Masamune Juttetsu" can be thought of in the same sense as the phrase "God created the world in 7 days" – even most modern-day Christians believe it to be, at best, an allegorical phrasing or a mnemonic for teaching scripture. Here's where, to my knowledge, the current consensus stands regarding which Juttetsu may actually have been taught directly by Masamune: YES (with an asterisk) Norishige - As we now know, he was less a pupil/disciple of Masamune than a peer, yet nonetheless he would have learned directly from Masamune in the same way any artisans in the same workshop will generally trade techniques and provide assistance Go - The same as above; the large amount of crossover between Go's work and both Norishige and Masamune suggests he was an active presence in the same workshop (as do the records of Norishige mentoring Go's son, Tametsugu, after Go's untimely passing) MAYBE Shizu Saburo Kaneuji - The abrupt change in style — combined with many of his works being so similar to Masamune's that the two often swap attributions — suggests there's truth to the tales of him being, if not a direct student, then at least in the same location and learning from someone with direct instruction on Soshu smithing Samonji - Again, an abrupt change in style with a clear delineation between his more provincial style and his excellent Soshu work. Given just how different the techniques and materials are between the two styles, it's likely that he was either a direct student, or had close association with someone who was Hasebe Kunishige - Opinions currently divided on whether Kunishige learned in Kamakura, or sent someone there to pick up some techniques and bring them back. There may in fact have been several smiths with that name working concurrently, one of whom made the trip to Kamakura to get some tips or scope out the competition UNLIKELY Rai Kunitsugu - While his work does show a more dynamic and nie-rich hamon than his predecessors and contemporaries, I hesistate to actually call it Soshu or even a Soshu hybrid rather than simply an evolution of the mainline Rai style. We see other Rai works with the same qualities, even from his father, suggesting the Rai group were able to come up with these innovations on their own as a response to changing tastes Kinju - Similarly to Rai Kunitsugu, he was likely influenced by changing tastes among the clientele in the region and as a result made "Soshu-like" work Sekishu Naotsuna - The dates don't add up, and there's evidence of other smiths in the region around the same time and even a little earlier experimenting with Soshu-style innovations. Most likely Naotsuna was simply the latest and most successful among the smiths in that region to blend Soshu technique into his own workmanship Osafune Chogi and Kanemitsu - Again, the dates don't add up. They likely learned Soshu techniques from Nagashige, who is now believed to be their older brother or uncle and who currently has the oldest dated and verified Soden-style blade (the Kinoe-Inu Nagashige, dated 1334) Kongobyoe Moritaka - Was, in some older texts, sometimes considered to be one of the Juttetsu despite his work being further from Soshu than any of the current Juttetsu; this further supports the idea that the Juttetsu are more of a mnemonic/allegorical construction than a literal one In the same vein, the best smith we know who most definitely was Masamune's pupil was Soshu Sadamune, yet he is not included among the Juttetsu (presumably by dint of being Masamune's heir; a student of nihonto would not need a mnemonic device to remember him among the luminary adoptees of the Soshu tradition).