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Muramasa fever on yahoo.co.jp


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Indeed, and not a good tanago bara at that. The angle is off. Also, the lower mekugi-ana indicates shortening or at least a good portion of machi-okuri, however then they reformed the tang to its original shape whereas it should be kiri at the end. And the mei should be placed lower as well then. It could also be a second ana for grip as you sometimes see with gendaito, however, the placement is well off for that. In my opinion, if the 2nd ana wasn't there, it would've been a lot more convincing. Just my opinion though...

 

/edited typos/

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I must admit, I had that though, too, after a cursory glance, But I wouldn't be so sure if the second mekugi ana is proof of anything. If you look at the Okanehira (http://www.sho-shin.com/biz4.htm) you will see that two (or perhaps more, as they are overlapping) out of several mekiugi ana on its ubu nakago are in really strange positions (or so it would seem).

 

PS: you have meant tanago bara and mekugi ana, of course :-)

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OK, discard the mekugi ana (and thx for pointing out the typos! - lack of sleep is catching up with me :) )

 

Compare the Yahoo JP nakago + mei with these 2 and you'll see what I mean when I say that the tanago bara is not quite what it's supposed to be (also compare mei and nakago-jiri)

From Nihonto Wo Miru:

 

post-502-14196892443599_thumb.jpg

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Hi Jean, my picture is shodai. I know the nakago of the one for sale is more in line with the second generation, but it's still off in my opinion.

 

" The finish of the tang of the first generation as his students Masashige and Masazane shows a conspicious roundness at the back and also the edge of the ha-mune is noticeably round. Only the second generation finished his tangs with an angular back but a round ha-mune.....

Another important characteristic of Muramasa blades is the typical tanago-bara which tapers along the side of the cutting edge. Also forgeries try to emulate this peculiarity, but the ha-mune is too thick which proves that the tang was just reduced but not thinned later. Authentic work show a constant thickness of the hamune at the upper and lower areas, whereof we can conclude that this shape was applied right at the beginning "

 

I know we don't see the blade from the mune side (just put that in for the benefit of the readers) , but my main issue is the weird form of the tanago bara - it has a more accute angle than any example of Muramasa I know of (obviously I can be wrong)

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Usually a sword needs to be a "textbook" example of a smith's best work to receive Juyo status. I have seen my share of Muramasa blades and I can't ever recall seeing one that looked anything like this one. With the large jump in value associated with a Juyo ranking, I find it beyond belief that the seller did not verify the claims made on the saya and found it not listed. It is possible someone wrote "Juyo Token" on the saya with the literal meaning in mind...

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This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

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