Favourite school

[peter]

Hello all and happy new year,

i would like to start a thread on members favourite school/smith /era and the reasons for these choices also images of their prized blades for a visual comparison.

if this has been asked or covered before please remove and post a link,

Peter

[hxv]

Kamakura & Nanbokucho/Soshu (not that I can afford it at this point).

 

Hoanh

[SwordGuyJoe]

Kasama Den, Shinshinto - Shinsakuto.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Bizen/Kamakura & Muromachi

 

Ken

[Peter Bleed]

Sendai shinto - esp Kunikane. A strong and persistent line marked by beautiful masame.

Peter Bleed

[watsonmil]

Dear All,

The Mishina School, .... any and all of the Five Smiths of Kyoto [ Kyoto Gokaji ] .

 

... Ron Watson

[Surfson]

I'm partial to Mishina blades as well.

[peter]

thank you Gent for your input i will look up each in turn for examples, i really haven't made my mind up yet as to a particular school, i do like the older blades more as to their history and battle that may have been in but i do see beauty in each blade i have ,

Peter

[vlado]

greetings.

I like all nihonto schools and their blades, especially old ones, as Peter mentioned earlier.

Miha G.

[peter]

Miha

im glad I'm not alone on this one. I was asked recently do I know which school I prefer yet, I know its a personal preferance and the norm in nihonto collecting but as don't get the time I would like to read more and view quality blades I haven't chosen yet and maybe never will. I will enjoy what I have at the moment until I see item I would sell everything I have to own.

Peter

[Jussi Ekholm]

I have a big list of schools which I like, but I don't think I have any single favorite yet.

 

Various Ichimonji brances are among my favorites. Kongobyoe and Naminohira might be bit less known schools which I like. And Soshu & Soshu influenced schools I also enjoy greatly. Now I'll have to stop here before I list more and more in...

[raven2]

Kamakura/Nambokucho - Mihara and Awataguchi

[george trotter]

I don't have a favourite school as such, but I do like the gendaito 1880-1945 and within this period I focus on the RJT "group".

I suppose it is heresy, but I like any GOOD blade from this period that comes along (even unknown smiths) rather than seek only one sector of the period. Among the period I do have a couple of smiths whose work I have had in hand that I would buy again if they came along. The Chikuzen Muto group, the work of Endo Mitsuoki and Suetsugu Shigemitsu.

 

I have owned swords from all periods and can say that I admire work of Kanabo school of Nara 1530s, also Echizen line of Yasutsugu 1660s and Ishido Mitsuhira 1680s. Also, I have had Kotetsu and Kiyomaro in hand...very nice.

Hope this helps,

[Roland]

I prefer koto swords: Ko-Mihara or Aoe, Enju or Rai – both because of their calm, more conservative style, and beautiful hada and hamon; also the fascinating evolution of style from Yamato Shizu, Naoe Shizu to Den Mino and from there on to Michina school in Shinto times;

[Jean]

"Mino Den" Roland, not "Den Mino". Now take Rai school, one of the wildest blade I have ever seen at DTI was a Tokuju Rai Kuniyuki, niji Kunitoshi is also famed for his wild blades. Don't think that Rai is always quiet.

[Ron STL]

Favorite school? That has always been a difficult question for me. Most people, especially Europeans, tend to think of "collecting" as collecting (concentrating on) a specific school, type, whatever... After fifty years I sometimes sit back and laugh at myself for doing just the opposite of this. I have always found myself collecting swords from just about any school or era, if it is an exciting sword with much to enjoy about it. So today, while the early swords -- kamakura/nambokucho eras -- continue to excite me because of their eras, and the wonderful smiths working then, I can become equally excited over the works of shinshinto smiths such as Naotane and Jirotaro Naokatsu and his son, Yamon Naokatsu. Then a sword by Yoshihara Kuniie is placed into my hands and that too deserves to be admired! If anything, I find that blades from Muromachi era are the least found in my collection. Let's face it, a good sword is still a good sword to be enjoyed and admired, from any era!

 

By the way, if it works out as planned, I'll have a display of swords and tsuba by Jirotaro Naokatsu out for study at the next Chicago show, if table space is available.

 

Ron STL

[seppuku]

Hi

Since I've now turned to Kiyomaro school I suppose grand tanto by one of Kiyomaro students.

Of course it's worth the trip for me to see Mr. Hartman's display.

[Darcy]

Awataguchi.

 

The more I see (so rare to see any), the more I appreciate the degree of sophistication, refinement and artistry, which I think has very rarely been matched.

[Darcy]

Since Aoe was mentioned thought I would just add an example of why the school is cherished.

 

[Pete Klein]

As a non-sword collector, I must say I would love to have a Tachi, Dai/Sho and Tanto by Ôno Yoshimitsu, made as a set at his stylistic discretion. Not asking for much, am I?

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

Not a sword collector but I once had a NBTHK papered Echizen Seki school shinto era katana that I really liked and should not have sold. I sold it to buy a plane tickets to fly off to Japan to visit a ex-girl friend. She later broke my heart in Manhattan a year later. Reflecting on it now I really dodged a bullet with that one.

 

My current favorite school is the Oei Bizen school circa 1392-1441 CE. My most favorite sword is a NBTHK Juyo Token tachi made by Yasumitsu. It has a nagasa of 89.6 cm and the nakago is ubu if I remember correctly! Being a Buddhist I really like the wonderful bonji engravement for Fudo-Myo-O: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acala. I was able to handle this wonderful sword in hand thanks to the NBTHK.

[Jean]

It is first generation David, nakago is ubu otherwise it won't be Juyo. If you search the Board, I have mentionned it in a post. Particularity it has a nagamei with no nengo ....

[paulb]

Since Peter's original post I have been trying to decide on an answer. I have finally concluded I cant.

 

For many years I convinced myself that I liked Yamashiro and Yamato work and didn't like Bizen or Soshu blades. At some point I saw 3 x Rai Kunitoshi blades in quick succession which I found totally boring ( I have seen other work by him I adored) and soon after an Ichimonji and an Osafune blade I would have loved to included in any collection.

The point is I do not believe it is possible (for me) to make a generalised decision that I like a particular school or period over and above another. There are particular swords I have seen that, regardless of maker or period, stand out above anything else .

Based on pure percentages I tend to like more koto blades that I see than Shinto or Shin-shinto. Of Koto swords Yamashiro and some of their off-shot schools tend to produce consistent work with features that appeal to me.

Of the swords I have studied those that I like the most are an Awataguchi Norikuni, an Aoe Tsunetsugu a Chogi an Inoue Shinkai and an early Enju blade.

Having learned a sharp lesson I am trying to re-discipline myself to judge each sword I look at based on what it is rather than who made it and when.

sorry early Sunday morning ramble over!!

[w.y.chan]

Kiyomaro school.

Also the work of Nidai Teruhiro from the early Kan'ei era.

[runagmc]

I pretty much agree with Paul, but to add to the list of greats... Kanemitsu. Who knows if it was one or two generations

 

Also Hasebe school...

 

Also LOVE some of the best katate-uchigatana... Shitahara, Sengo, some of the great Osafune smiths of that time...

 

Edit to say, favorite sword may have to be 'Odenta'... just to go with an obvious one...

[Marius]

Ko-Bizen, ko-Aoe, Awataguchi. Quiet elegance and superb workmanship (as Darcy has shown with his excellent pics of an Aoe sword). Unfortunatelly, I can base my opinion only on oshigata, descriptions and photographs. So, I am an armchair "expert"

 

When it comes to "lesser" schools - at least I have had exposure to some of them. This makes me the worst kind of nihonto student - a semi-educated idiot (which is worse than an utterly uneducated beginner).

 

I highly value Enju, ko-Mihara and ko-Uda. While ko-Uda has more rustic charm, Enju and ko-Mihara show an amazing precision of forging and the steel is something to behold...

[Jean]

Fukuoka Ichimonji, Yamato, Yamashiro.

[Darcy]

I am stuck right now so I am just going to kind of play DJ.

 

Someone said Hasebe. This one can make you cry. Please ignore the "other" sword on the left. It is only probably the best Hiromitsu that exists. I had nothing to do with these commercially just had the blessing to see them and do some snaps. They will be in my Soshu volume. Yes it will be made. I think by the end of the summer. I just have one or two more photo missions to complete.

 

[John A Stuart]

Both are eye catchers. I still wish I could photograph like that. In the upper pic the ha makes a weird detour into blackness. Is that something obscuring the blade or angle or something? Just curious. Looking forward to that Soshu book, BB collaboration on that one as well? John

[Darcy]

Another lustful thing.

 

Attribution up to you.