Tcat

Markus, many thanks for your input; you dont think its "源尚之"? That second character looks more like a 尚 to me...but I am coming at it from a Chinese (as a foreign language) perspective...

Thanks to all for the helpful feedback - but now I am puzzling as to whether the mei should be read Yasuyuki or Yasusada! In any case, is there a good chance that neither this smith nor mei were recorded in any references?

Gentlemen, I recently aquired a tanto which I believe to be Edo period. The forging is quite fine and there are no flaws that I can see so far. I believe the mei reads "Minamoto Yasuyuki", but with my limited resources I have been unable to find anything more about the smith. Nagasa is 31cm. I do not at the moment have the blade to hand for more measurements... I would be very grateful if anyone could suggest who signed like this! School/Dates? Any other thoughts would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

Thanks Ian, this is definately fine grained blue samegawa and not snakeskin, sorry Lorenzo! I believe the technique to have been excecuted just as you described.. Exactly what I thought... I am not sure about this. I wonder why the same would have darkened to such a degree despite being protected by several clear coats of urushi...? Not going to touch it... theres no dirt/grime on the saya. This is a trick of lacquer not grime. Ford, I believe that actually the black lines are where the same has been removed then lacquered over. It is more obvious with the thing in hand however. I include a final pic for interest.

Wasnt sure where to post this but thought someone might get a kick out of it or be able to enlighten me as to its origins. Koshirea is for a sunnobi tanto. The fittings are iron and I believe it to be Higo. At first glance quite subdued and in regular indoor light you dont see much, however under UV something quite interesting emerges. Apologies in advance for the cameraphone quality. In the two comparison photos the upper shot was taken with standard indoor lighting, the lower with a uv enhanced lamp. The details were taken under uv also. The inlay work is far more subdued in normal lighting and disappears entirely in shadows. Has anyone seen this kind of thing done before? I think this is Edo period...opinions?

I have a tanto and a couple of tsuba I may be interested in submitting. Max of 10 items per client? So youre having no trouble getting to the 300+ submissions mark... Good news!

Some hada.

John, many thanks for this, and also for the info and oshigata on your website. Can anyone tell me the reason why people might assume kissakisagaru bohi are atobori? Please see attached pics. Measurements are as follows: motohaba 29.2mm sakihaba 22.3mm motokasane 7.3mm sakikasane 5.2mm nakago 158mm kissaki (measured from yokote) 41mm

To all who have posted, many thanks. I am here to learn and am flattered and grateful that you guys are willing to give your time to this, I just hope the back and forths are tongue in cheek (or mostly)! :lol: This evening (UK time) I will upload some more pics and precise measurements.. Just want to comment on a few posts first: Thanks Mark... This is interesting and seems to give a some backing to the possibility of the blade being sue-koto... Many thanks Guido. I had thought (with my unttrained eyes) this sword was O-Suriage partially thanks to the article by Nakahara (thanks for the translation Paul!) linked in here by Brian. I had read that article here on NMB previously; the diagram at the bottom is part of why I chose to acquire this sword - based on how the hi appear on the nakago after reshaping... (Yes - this is probably quite a n00by approach but I was looking for a genuine koto blade with an obvious coarse "old style" hada... the look of the nakago and the hi made me think o-suriage before I saw Eric's description of the blade and it just seemed like it have a story to tell...yeah, n00by and romantic I know...) Thanks reinhard.. what are your thoughts? Ted, this is very interesting....what might the "(or more)" be? Is there a chance that this sword could indeed have been made by one of these smiths or is this pretty unlikey? Also, are there any lesser known schools or smiths people are aware of that also made swords with Kissaki-sagari bo hi? Is this a rule with exceptions? Guido...would you be willing to comment on the atobori theory? Ted, being a craftsman perhaps you can shed light onto the reason atobori hi stop at the yokote and are not cut further into the kissaki? I was always under the impression that hi are always carved after a sword is completed - Does the hi carving occur before heat treatment if the hi are original? Jacques, please dont keep your mouth shut if you have any other info or ideas about this sword..! Come now guys, no more ad hominem attacks - theories are fair game however!! Sorry I keep saying this but Im trying to learn here so need explanations/reasoning as to why one theory is more likely to be correct than another! New pics (motohaba, mune, kissaki, hi etc) and pertinent measurements coming very shortly...stay tuned!

haha! Jean, it certainly didnt take long huh? I really appreciate that people are willing to offer their insight! Great to see learned folk contributing, all of whom I have read much from in the past. Jacques, I will be very happy to provide these but don't have the sword to hand right now - they will be up here within a couple weeks so please watch this space!

Thanks to all for the quick responses. To clarify...these pictures were indeed taken by Eric M. but I do not believe they were ever up on his website. My memory of the exact details are hazy but I think that the blade was sold on consignment. Jean, it was listed as an O-Suriage blade, c.1350 so I am basing my assumptions on the listing info. The reason I bring this to the board is that a few people have looked at this with varying opinions (which is interesting for me because I am trying to learn from this blade); what I would really like is to know what it is about the features that lead people to their conclusions. Mark, you are not the first person to guess suekoto but the first to bring up Shimada and Shitahara. A while ago I took the suekoto suggestion back to Eric but he didnt agree. Just want to say - I dont want to cause any friction by asking for people's opinions.. One of the things I find most interesting about sword study are the varying opinions about blades and how these conclusions were reached. For a beginner like me I think it is pretty vital to be exposed to differing viewpoints and the reasoning behind them. I really appreciate anything that the knowledgable people on this forum have to offer. I do not have this sword to hand so can not take more pictures sans habaki at this time - but I could do so next week if you good folks are still interested. Many thanks!

Sugata

Greetings all, I would appreciate any information people can suggest about this blade. No papers. Steel appears quite dark and hada seems fairly active and prominent... I think it is koto, I think originally a tachi. Can anyone narrow down the period, smith? Nagasa is 24 inches..

Hello all. Age 26. Long time lurker here (about 5 years). Have been holding my foolish tongue and reading pretty much everything I can digest on Japanese swords and their fittings in that time. Started from complete ignorance and have moved up to a proud current state of mostly ignorant. My research has consisted mainly of reading and reffing the 'must have' sword books (nagayama et al) and a small collection of auction house catalogues of swords and their fittings I have been acquiring...also reading related posts/articles on this and 'other' online sword based messageboards... Always watching the auction sites and recording results of work I enjoy. Currently employed in one of the auction houses I collect catalogues from - although we no longer deal in Japanese... (notice has been handed in...lol) Got into all this through an inexplicable interest in far eastern art and culture from a very young age, which led me to study Japanese martial arts (shotokan and aikido mainly) and then mandarin chinese language at university. Held my first nihonto in an aikido class aged about 17 but then forgot about them (put them out of my mind) for a good 5 years. Not sure exactly what brought the bug on proper, but it 'got me good' and now i think im too far gone...suspect it will be a chronic affliction. I want to thank everyone who has contributed (and continues to contribute) so much to this website from which I have learned a great deal. It stands as a true example of the greatness of collective expertise and could be a posterboy of why the 'interwebz' are a good thing. Such specialist knowledge is extremely hard to come by and greatly appreciated - thank you all in advance for annoying questions I will pose to the forum. One day I hope to be able to contribute something useful to this community. Photos and queries to come shortly. Regards,