Takezo

Posting my TH "ko-fujishima" naoshi (in the hands of Tanobe right now getting some alternative input) to compliment the discussion. Would like to hear anyone else's thoughts on this one as well, as ko-fujishima seems like an unusual and (to me at least) hard to classify attribution. What makes this blade in particular scream "ko-fujishima"? Ko-Uda? Yoshikage, Motoshige or more subdued Bizen? Anyway, 71.5cm nagasa, 0.92cm kasane, 2.7cm sori and 3.12cm motohaba. Koitame with jinie and faint utsuri, nioi based gunome midare with sunagashi and kinsuji.

very nice, so a 4x more or less. Still pretty small numbers overall. Is the ko-fujishima I have counted in there also (71.5cm nagasa)?

@Jussi Ekholm What about numbers on Kamakura - Nanbokuchō naginata-naoshi over 70cm nagasa? Are those far more numerous?

@YourBabyBjornBorg I was able to feed your paragraph to ChatGPT along with the sayagaki images and here is where it landed: Hizen no Kuni jū Musashi Daijō Fujiwara Tadahiro Bearing the twelve-character long signature together with a date inscription of Kan'ei 3 [1626]. Blade length: 1 shaku, 5 sun, 5 bu. In the autumn of the hinoe-uma year [2026]. Tanzan, appraised and inscribed [kaō]. The blade has a broad form. Its jigane is finely and excellently forged in the kome-nuka-hada style and displays variation. The hamon is a gunome-based midare, intermixed with ko-notare and yahazu-like pointed elements, with tobiyaki occurring. The nioiguchi is bright and clear; nie accumulates in the valleys of the midare, forming band-like areas. The temper gently undulates and terminates in a ko-maru bōshi. It exemplifies the style of workmanship at which this smith particularly excelled during this period, and the execution is excellent.

This is the piece in question

Hey I know this guy - yes Musashi Daijō Tadahiro era!

Thank you!

Requesting some help on this one. Seems Tanobe-sensei has thankfully made it out of the hospital for his back and is doing sayagaki again. If any paid translators see this, please feel free to DM me for a transaction. Thank you in advance.

I can see why someone might attribute it that way. I think you might be inspiring everyone to get their swords and cameras out. Maybe we should pin this thread and everyone can practice their skills. I might try today after seeing these!

@ROKUJURO well that is what being up late with a few glasses of saké will do 😂 Will repost this

@eternal_newbie apparently so, as that’s exactly what he elaborated on. He was able to send me what I assume are 3 entries from the upcoming book, showing the breadth of ability from Kanenobu. There is one that he labels as having Aoe style dan-utsuri. 119 兼延2.pdf 121 兼延.pdf 117 兼延1.pdf

I was able to contact Kondo-sensei (head representative of NBTHK Gifu) directly and it seems he personally chooses the swords on these calendars every year. Also he let me know that he is releasing a new book of oshigata called Mino-tō Zufu (『美濃刀図譜』) next year (Gifu members only?) and that this Kanenobu will be featured in it, as he has stated that long swords in hitatsura from Mino are extremely rare, but found that this one was valuable/significant as a representative of hitatsura from Shiga-Seki.

Snake eyes iron tsuba attributed to ko-shoami. $850 shipped.