koto wakizashi

[Cello]

So I picked up this 52 cm nagasa wakizashi for the price of a good NYC dinner for two today....I'm thinking it's Koto from the patina on the nagako and the "softness" of the steel. It's a little ruffed up but nothing major all surface blemishes.It looks to me to have a fukura which is not rounded much leading me to believe it's an early koto blade or been reshaped? maybe I'm just not seeing correctly??I think it's O-mokume hada??Can anyone let me know if I'm at at all correct here? I"m looking for some opinions on school era ect ect... and I know there's a lot of opinions on here so please feel free LOL!!!

Thanks-

[nagamaki - Franco]

Need more views to judge, but would lean towards Shinto rather than Koto here.

[Cello]

Heres a couple more not sure if they help....

[nagamaki - Franco]

Could we please see images of the motokasane and sakikasane? Thanks.

[Cello]

I hope these pics will help also the measurements are moto=4.7mm saki=3.7mm nagako behind motokasane=5.5mm........thx

[Tcat]

I'm thinking it's Koto from..the "softness" of the steel.

 

What do you mean?

[nagamaki - Franco]

I hope these pics will help also the measurements are moto=4.7cm saki=3.7 nagako behind motokasane=5.5

 

Will take it for granted that you meant mm, and not cm. Still leaning towards Shinto, and with perhaps a Settsu flavor to it. Thanks.

[cabowen]

The longer length and shape (rather deep sori), along with the o-hada that continues over into the shinogi-ji, would have me leaning more towards sue Koto.

[runagmc]

I agree... looks Sue-Koto to me.

[Cello]

Thanks Chris/Adam ...I will research Sue koto now that I have a place to focus.good to see that I was on the right track with this one,so does the kisaki look correct on it?It looks a bit straight to me is it supposed to?

 

Alex,

here's a excerpt from Sho-Shin "Among its several unique qualities, KOTO steel is comparatively soft. One comes to know, very quickly, the differences between old steels and new."...."SHINTO steel was created from manufactured, traded and even imported, raw material. It is generally hard. A SHINTO can be a short, hard sword that may feel heavy" It's kind of hard to explain...

[cabowen]

The hardness of a steel depends on the heat treatment/carbon/alloy content of the steel. Just because steel is

"koto" steel does not mean it is absolutely softer than later steel. In other words, one could heat treat koto steel so that it is much harder than say, an annealed piece of shinto steel.....It is the heat treatment that determines the hardness for a given alloy of steel.

[NihontoEurope]

Hello,

 

Take a look at Echizen and Yasutsugu school around 1615 and forwards.

 

/Martin

[Cello]

Hi Martin wouldn't that be kanbun era not sue koto which have different charteristics to them?........................

 

So would it be fair to say this was a good buy for the the low price? Does it have the "quality/value" to investigate it further,or just appreciate it the way it is?

[NihontoEurope]

Marcello,

 

I don't know what a good NYC dinner for 2 will end up at when it comes to money : )

 

I'm sure it is good deal though.

 

/Martin

[Cello]

About $200.00+Gratuity the way I like to drink !!!!!

[nagamaki - Franco]

Late Koto crossed my mind and considered suggesting a late Koto early Shinto range, but went with Shinto as there isn't much visible taper between moto and saki haba. The suguha being on the more narrow side favors Koto. Will it be going to shinsa?

[nagamaki - Franco]

Late Koto crossed my mind and considered suggesting a late Koto early Shinto range, but went with Shinto as there isn't much visible taper between moto and saki haba. The suguha being on the more narrow side along with the rather deep sori does favor Koto. Will it be going to shinsa?

[Cello]

Franco, at some point it will get there along with a few others hopefully soon.i will definitely be brining it into my club for an expert opinion next month only one meeting a month! I would like to get an idea of what school it could be??

[runagmc]

Marcello, from what I can tell the sword looks to be in pretty good condition as far as the foundation shape goes, so it may polish up without too much work and removal of material. It would probably be an attractive sword in polish... but even in restored condition, it may not be worth the $2000-$3000 that the restoration would cost. Since you got it fairly cheap, you probably wouldn't lose much, though.

 

It's always hard to know what to do with pieces like this since they really deserve to be restored, but nobody wants to lose money doing it...

[Cello]

Adam that's exactly the dilemma I feel..if I can at least be close to even on it I'm going to go that route with it.Is there any thoughts to what school it might be from or would that be way to much of a guess at this point??

[runagmc]

I don't have a solid guess about school... I was thinking maybe 1500's Nami-no-Hira, but I would kind of expect to see more running hada. Maybe it could be one of the other Saikaido schools... I would be interested to hear other people's thoughts...

 

It's pretty much pointless for me to try to guess from these pictures...