You don't see something like this everyday....Part II

[cabowen]

The owner of these swords sent them to me and I took some photos which I am posting here. I plan to post closeup of some of the mei in separate threads. Once I have everything squared away I plan to offer them for sale on behalf of the owner, who is now much more realistic about what they are worth...

 

Please enjoy.

 

PS- Wasn't sure where to post this- if it is in the wrong place, my apologies...please move it as seen fit...

[cabowen]

Katana:

[cabowen]

Blades:

 

(Note that the wakizashi is about 0.5 inches thick and has horimono on the mune!)

 

 

Katana is short at 24.25" and has a very short nakago due to machi-okuri and suriage. Classic kataochi gunome with utsuri. Blade is signed and dated...Can't read the date. The katana mei is Bishu Osafune ? kage....Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Brian]

Chris,

If these are actually for sale, then they belong in the For Sale section with a price. If not...then are we to discuss them?

 

Brian

[NihontoEurope]

Chris,

 

It's Sane.

 

If you can give me a better close up I can check the last.

 

EDIT: Might be Sanemori...

 

/Martin

[cabowen]

Chris,

If these are actually for sale, then they belong in the For Sale section with a price. If not...then are we to discuss them?

 

Brian

 

 

Well, they will be for sale....there are a few mei that need reading before that happens....otherwise, I thought there were enough interesting features here to make for some good discussion. Please move them where ever you feel is most appropriate...

[cabowen]

Chris,

 

It's Sane.

 

If you can give me a better close up I can check the last.

 

EDIT: Might be Sanemori...

 

/Martin

 

 

Pretty sure the last kanji is kage...???

[NihontoEurope]

Chris,

 

I'm not so sure it's Kage. Difficult to see though.

 

Let's say it is Kage. Sanekage used a different Sane-character and there should be more strokes visible if it was Kage.

 

Produce a better image of the date, then it is easy to rule out possible smiths,

 

/Martin

[cabowen]

Date is a lost cause- just not enough there to read it. Last kanji I am fairly confident is Kage. The one before ??? I don't think it is sane....

[NihontoEurope]

Chris,

 

Think you are correct. I leveled up wrong from the bottom.

 

I''ll reiterate...

 

/Martin

[NihontoEurope]

Chris,

 

If the Nengo is unreadable, perhaps there is a stroke missing from the Niji?

 

Is there a chance at all...looking at the image?

 

[attachment=0]sanekage.JPG[/attachment]

 

/Martin

[cabowen]

Not sure what you mean by Niji...

 

The mei reads Bishu Osafune ? kage

 

The missing kanji seems to be composed of

 

sara 皿　

 

and maybe kei 冂　

 

There is something above sara and inside kei, but I can't find anything that fits....

 

Mori would be an obvious choice but I can't see it....

[NihontoEurope]

Chris,

 

Yes, I looked at the option of Morikage too.

 

[attachment=0]morikage.JPG[/attachment]

 

Do you have a mix of Itame and Masame?

 

I think the Nakago is reshaped after Suriage. What do you think?

 

/Martin

[cabowen]

Yes, it is mokume/itame mix. Nice hada....

 

Hmmm, maybe Mori isn't too far fetched....Have to look into that.

 

The blade is of high quality with all the typical koto Bizen traits....

 

Yes, I wonder if the nakago has been reshaped some....it is quite short.

 

Thanks for your input.

[NihontoEurope]

Chris,

 

Yes, Bizen Omiya (Morikage) made Jihada that way.

 

/Martin