flemming

As a Mitsumori the signature is not good, as it is signed Morimitsu, of which there are many generations. This one probably selling as the highly ranked 2nd generation from around Oei. Lloyd

To address the original question; hitachi metals details the 5 kinds of iron sand regionally found in Japan. See section on iron sand... http://www.hitachi-metals.co.jp/e/tatara/index.htm Lloyd Flemming

I would like to just make some observations; it has consistencies with Ko-Aoe, like the visible utsuri, and significant original koshi-sori. It also seems to have notable saki-sori however. Of most interest is the first photo, as it shows the mokume grain crossing through the hamon into the yakiba, also found with Ko-Aoe. Regarding the first picture, it may be a reflection or something else, but along the yakiba edge, there appears to be an old nioi-line quite faded, but running in a Hoso-Suguha fashion above the edge. The hada in the yakiba seems to stop at that point, and below the dim suguha line appears a different steel, like a yakiba insert that has been cut back to re-harden the blade. The nie in the hamon looks dull, and seems to be sporadically above the habuchi, sometimes a sign of saiha. Of course, it may be some reflection, should have it in hand to really see what is going on. Lloyd

Barry, I thought your ko-Naminohira blade was outstanding, it was an excellent opportunity to study it, even for a short time. The members provided some remarkable swords for this event which were a joy to see. Lloyd Flemming

Thanks Ewe, that particular size of hada seems limited to one or two moritakas, with finer chikei and less prominence than Sadamori. That could be a Sadamori. Lloyd

And by the way, if that happens to be the or a Moritaka, then it is likely a convoluted 5 piece construction, in which the interface of the compicated yakiba piece with the ji is above the hamon, related to Hawleys #29 sub-assembly diagram. Lloyd Flemming

Nice photo Ewe; that seems to look like a Juyo Token Moritaka I had in hand yesterday, attributed to the third generation. Is that a possibility? Or is that a different sword? Lloyd Flemming

Hi There all I find hada to never appear fully as original in terms of chikei thickness, intensity and "realism". The pattern is the same, however unless every detail of the original yakiire is known, bake time, bake temp, quench temp etc, the hada will be altered from its original appearance. Here is another yaki-naoshi (saiha) by another big name, but since it is common in Hizen swords many of you will have seen this hada in hand, or reasonable photos. This was konuka hada of Omi-dai-jo Tadahiro ca 1640 or thereabouts. This is not the same quality of the konuka usually seen in the Hizen swords, the saiha is apparent, at least in my opinion. You can also see a ghost of the original hamon, this blade was originally suguha. The mizukage was moved behind the habaki with a machi-okuri operation, then nakago repatinated to hide it, something probably reserved for expensive swords. It would be interesting to know who did this work to the Tadahiro, it is not a terrible job by any means. Lloyd Flemming

Thanks Adrian, we have had some Sadamori blades in hand for photos, so those we already have. I hope people note the date of my first post in this thread, it is about 2 years old, and the book has been published. We may publish an addendum based on Ko-Kongobyoe samples being studied, so are only looking for very early Moritaka and Morikuni samples, around early to mid-Kamakura. Thank you for responding, the Sadamori swords I have seen are quite beautiful works. Lloyd F

I did use one image, you will see it hopefully by the end of next week. I believe your name is included, as is another member who I should contact. Yours was the only image I have seen that had the qualities of the sword photo you have posted above. In fact, I wish you could have photographed all of the book material, since you have obviously mastered this process. To get that kind of lateral focus I have to shoot at f32 for about 15 seconds, using a telephoto with close up tubes at a distance. It never looks as good as your results. I am going to feed your above large image into a pro-1printer when I have time, and I will bet the output is outstanding. In case there is a second printing, we have been adding slowly some of the missing Moritaka generations. Lloyd F.

That is a spectacular photo there, in hi res you can zoom into the hada nicely, and I notice your width (depth) of focus across the blade is amazing. Did you take that photo Ewe? I can see some hada in the ha, it almost looks like a Sadamori. Lloyd

Hi There I noticed this post today, and first to Jeff: The Morisadas were two groups at least, from Hyuga and also Hirado in Hizen. They are all after Ei-sho, working around 1530 or so, one in early shinto. There are 2 different types of kanji for "Sada" differentiating these smiths. I have not seen a sample in hand, they are not particularly common. Shame about the saiha re-hardening, but it is possible for the curvature to change on a re-hardened blade, so they do not make good representative samples of sugata, or hamon or hada. The signature is of interest if it is signed. We have been slowly collecting Moritaka generations to finally represent each generation and reconcile the signatures, some still eluding us. Hello to Ewe, that is a nice sample, a quick look at the sugata reminds me of an O-suriage Nambokucho sword, some of the koshi-sori has been lost I think, since the koshi-sori was nearly at the machi originally, like some earlier Bizen blades that now have a bit of a tori-sori look from shortening. In any event, the whole thing is nice and healthy looking and the hada is captured well in the photo. Lloyd Flemming

Hi There, You might consider Sukehiro. Lloyd Flemming

Hi Stephen Happened to have this on my desk, somewhere off the picture there is a date around Ei-Sho... Hope this confirms your fusa determination. Lloyd Flemming

I Just read the previous post erected while I was concocting mine....Kudos to you Sir, I think that sums it up. Lloyd Flemming JSSC

Hi there, if i may I would like to expand Jeans explanation a bit from my experience with Hitatsura; I think Nobuo Nakahara agrees with his definition as he does mention Tobiyaki. The difference between Shintetsu or perhaps Rai hada patches,Sumigane etc., is that a Hitatsura spot or patch is surrounded by a "nioi line". In some cases you can see habuchi activity, but I think to qualify as Hitatsura, you need a stand-alone patch, whether tobiyaki, Muneyaki, Tamayaki, Uchinoke etc, they are all seen with a surrounding of nioi. This is how Hitatsura is shown in some old Oshigata, like Hawleys Koto book. In hand, works like Soshu Akihiro do show the nioi border distincly at least in the 2 samples I have examined. I snapped a photo of such an extended patch of Hitatsura, whether by design or accident it was made, and I have tried to highlight the nioi border. This blade has a dim nioi-guchi to begin with... Lloyd Flemming JSSC

Hi Barry Since the actual swordsmith is not mentioned in the inscription in favour of the generic "Chiyozoru", I might expect that the signature was applied by someone else in the workshop if it is Chiyozoru ha work. In that case, it possibly need not be the same man applying the nengo either. Had this been signed "Kuniyasu" or another member of the group, then I would expect his work on the signature in favor of daimei etc., but that is just a guess. That being said, I think you are right that the nengo was not applied by the same person, for a multitude of reasons, including tagane size as you point out. I have handled similar dissimilarly signed swords without too much doubt of the nengo unless it is out of sync with the sword itself. It seems the date is a little early for the Echizen Rai group which was I think a decade or three later getting in operation than your date shown. I guess the question is, is the sword Echizen Rai group? Also, I cannot be sure from the photo, but is it possible the nengo kanji are fresher with respect to the rest of the nakago? Lloyd Flemming

Hi What you have appears from the photo to be a Kongobyoe Moriyoshi, from late Koto period, signed Minamoto Moriyoshi. Very interesting sword. Lloyd Flemming

Thanks to Martin (Leo) who posted the above pix. I have been delaying a response while I studied the pictures and thought about that blade. I would certainly like to have had that in-hand to study as it has some differences with mainstream Kongohyoe. If handed that blade for identification without seeing the attribution, with some time I would have probably be inclined to call it Ko-Chikuzen. It seems to lack much koshi-sori tendency in its tori-sori, much like a blade by Sairen. The nakago is odd for a Kongobei sword in that they are almost all Kengyo, or rarely a modified "pointy" ha-agari-kurijiri but with quite straight (little taper) nakago. The nakago on the above blade would seem to more resemble some work in the pre-Samonji line perhaps. There are some Morikuni generations and one Moritaka(?) in mild ha-agari-kurijiri, but are not of the sugata of the above sample. Due to the wide distribution of Kongobei swordsmiths in Kyushu, it is very possible for some cross-influence with other Ko-Chikuzen smiths or even Samonji smiths, (as well as Hizen, Bungo provinces) resulting in the above sugata. The hada certainly appears Kongobei, however I believe some other Chikuzen smiths had similar, including some forms of utsuri in some early non-Kongobei Chikuzen smiths. It's a puzzler. In any event, thanks for posting, that was a nice Kamakura sample to see, and it is all of interest. Lloyd Flemming

Thanks to forum member Martin for his extensive photos; I have made another donation to the NMB for his efforts. I wonder where all the Kongohyoe swords have gone...? Lloyd Flemming

I agree with Geraint; I now use "vellum" drafting paper with good result. An old draftsman's electric eraser and an erasing shield are two very handy items to have on hand for oshigata drawing I find. Lloyd Flemming

Thanks to members Matus and Uwe, they are now sending some files, and another member getting some ready. I am donating $50 for Matus and Uwe right now, before the exchange gets worse. Thanks also to NMB. I hope members can find more material, I am sure there are some very good Morikuni, Moritsuna, Morishige etc swords out there... Lloyd Flemming

Thank you Uwe and Brian and others, and for the messages of support. I am happy to say we have gotten off to a good start with 4 possible candidates so far. I am including Brians NMB link, if I may use it. Lloyd

Do you have a Kongobei school sword, and are good with a camera? I am offering a chance to help us with our project, and help NMB (see below). You will also have the opportunity to have your sword published, with acknowledgements, which certainly adds to accumulated provenance of your sword. I have been researching Kongobei swords for a couple of years, and am co-authoring a book on the subject. While the project started out as a compilation of every scrap of printed information in English and Japanese, it turned into a correlation of the information revealing new facts, insights and genealogies. Because the charts, graphics and lists are new, I would very much like to include fresh illustrations of swords, rather than the usual handful of fuzzy photocopies we usually see. We already have some fresh pictures including two 1st generation Moritaka tachi, but would like another 8 or 10 to make this really something. They may even further illustrate the surprising role that Kongobei played in the development of the Japanese sword after the first Mongol invasion. In the unlikely event you have the original koshirae, we would like some photos of that as well. Your own very thorough description of the blade would be helpful as well. Therefore, for each set of useable photo files, I will donate $25US to support the NMB in the contributors name. The blade need not be papered, but that is preferred. If you are not sure what generation your blade is attributed to, just send a photo of the paper with the other files, or we will try to identify it ourselves. I would like to complete this effort sometime soon, so I would say you have until the end of February before we must finalize that chapter. As there are 95 Koto Kongobei smiths, we are not too particular as to period, but late Kamakura and Nambokucho blades are of special interest. If you are interested in participating, please send me a PM, and I will give you the details of what we need in terms of photos. The contributor can retain ownership of the images (as long as we have permission to use them), and could even post them here to assist and encourage other Kongohyoe enthusiasts. Lloyd Flemming JSSC

It would be nice if more people were upset by this post, not because of the un-stated “problem”, but by the degradation of a man without any statement of facts. A man I would call a “Grand Gentleman of Nihonto study” who does not deserve unsubstantiated condemnation. It would be wonderful to see the facts step-by-step of this “case”, including the resolution, revealed by the person who has been “wronged” somehow by Mr. Fimio. As I am aware of the full details, in my opinion it would be found laughable. I would be happy to provide the details of Mr. Fimio’s credentials which has much to say about his credibility, since they apparently could not be found. He has had some of the best teachers in the world, including Albert Yamanaka and Yoshikawa sensei among others. He has been studying and researching Nihonto for over 60 years. He has published many good books on Nihonto. He founded the Toronto Token Kai and was president for 15 years. He founded the Japanese Sword Society of Canada, primarily a learning venue related to the N.T.H.K. courses. He developed the Western N.T.H.K. novice and advanced courses with the scrutiny and blessing of Yoshikawa sensei. He is past director of the Canadian branch of the N.T.H.K. He has owned one of the best collections in private hands in the West, and shared examination of them with his students for study of representative smiths. These are the reasons I consider myself extremely lucky to have had such a person as a teacher. I am not concerned with legal issues regarding my statements; adhering to the truth, especially with documentation, limits one’s liability. I hope my next post will be of a more pleasant nature discussing swords, not ridiculous web politics. Lloyd Stanley Flemming