Milne Bay Sword - Lt Gordon Harvey 42nd Bn 2/AIF

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

Regardless of which definition of funbari you want to use, I don't see either one in the oshigata (or pic) of 'Odenta'

 

The description says clearly that funbari is present.

[Brian]

David,

Just for the benefit of any other novices reading...

It is far better to just live with the inability to read a signature, than to do any cleaning to a nakago..as this will cost you half or more of the swords value. A note for those for whom the advice is not too late

 

Brian

[Jean]

In the first 9cm, the decrease of width is 2mm, it is not what I call funbari, BTW the description given is little funbari. This shows the relativeness of such a term. Were it on a shinshinto blade, I am not sure it will even be mentioned, reason why it is not mentioned in the English text, it is considered as peanuts due to the small difference of width between moto haba and saki haba.

[ROKUJURO]

Jean,

 

as far as I understand the technical term FUNBARI, it does not describe a considerable difference in the width between MOTO HABA and SAKI HABA. Instead, the increase in width, going daown the blade from the KISSAKI, is related to the part of the blade just above the HABAKI/HA MACHI. I was told that this was a technical feature in times when blades were quite thin in construction (little KASANE) to increase their durability in combat.

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

In the first 9cm, the decrease of width is 2mm

 

 

Mesured on the sword itself ? The Japanese description i provided say there is funbari nothing else.

 

All the swords have a difference between moto and saki haba not all the swords have funbari.

 

 

a late Miike sword :

 

[J Reid]

Guys guys guys.. This all leads to Jeans initial opinion that miike swords had little funbari to none as they're quite robust throughout. The oshigata shows a blade with minimal funbari as per what Jean had said due to it being robust. There are some blades that have signifigant funbari and some that have very little. Some blades are generally thin throughout their sugata and others that are thick throughout their sugata. Both can hide funbari depending on when and where the taper begins, whether they are ubu, and depending on the original shape and design.. whether or not they're suriage or O-suriage? If we are arguing about whether the oshigata portrays a blade with funbari, we would say yes it has little funbari. Both Jacques, and Jean are right...

[Stephen]

what a FUBAR post, nothing like a good old NMB dust up. when i think of fubari i think of no1! yes others have it but when will this end.

[cabowen]

Funbari, a rather rapid narrowing in the width of the blade ( man standing with legs apart) all happens within the first 8-10 inches of the blade from the habaki moto up. Whatever happens after that has nothing to do with funbari. There, now I have added my ¥2.

[Curran]

 

That nakago.

Cleaned within an inch of its life.

 

Painful lesson to learn.

[dnmmilo]

Thank for the guidance Brian. With regard to value, I intend keeping this sword so I suppose its a notional drop but a painful one nonetheless.

[Jean]

Here is the entry for Mitsuyo in Markus Sesko e-Japanese swordsmiths book, which shows that the expert shall always disagree:

 

founder Mitsuyo (光世), Jōhō (承保, 1074-1077), Chikugo – „Mitsuyo saku“ (光世作), he lived in Chikugo´s Miike (三池) and is considered as the founder of the Miike school of the same name, his priest name was „Genshin“ (元真) and it is said that he was the son of Masatoshi (正世) who is dated according to source to the Kōhei (康平, 1058-1065) or Heiji era (平治, 1159-1160), the earliest extant Mitsuyo-blades can be dated around Hō´en (保延, 1135-1141), his successors used the name „Mitsuyo“ until the Muromachi era, from the second half of the Ōei era

(応永, 1394-1428) the Miike school divided up into two lineages, the other one based in Ōmura (大村) in Hizen province where the successive smiths worked under the name „Mitsuyo“ until about the Meiō era (明応, 1492-1501), the most famous sword of the Miike founder is the Ōtenta-Mitsuyo (大典太光世), one of the tenka-goken, it has a very broad mihaba, a pronounced koshizori, and tapers not that much to the ikubi-kissaki, the jigane looks soft and appears as dense ko-itame with fine ji-nie, the hamon starts with a yaki-otoshi and is a

hoso-suguha in ko-nie-deki with rather few hataraki, the bōshi is ō-maru, such a sugata is commonly found only from the middle Kamakura onwards, that means the Ōtenta-Mitsuyo and the Ō-Kanehira were exceptions for their time, the nickname „Tenta“ is written with

many different characters like (伝田), (典田) or (太田), typical for Mitsuyo is also a noticeably broad bōhi, saijō-saku