A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

[paulb]

Yesterday I received my copy of the book translated by Paul Martin (As always he has done an excellent job, thank you Paul)

I am at a little bit of a loss regarding the way the publisher has chosen to mount this work. The substantial and heavy pages being cased in an extremely flimsy soft cover. However that aside this is a beautiful reference work and the illustrations are of exceptional quality. Provided I can stop myself drooling over the pages I will enjoy referring to them regularly.

One fo the first pages I opened hit me very close to home. For a long time I have preached about the beauty of Yamashiro jigane and in particualr the work of the Awataguchi smiths. In an article listed on this site I have tried to explain and illustrate why I found it to be the finest example of sword making I have ever seen Now looking at this book there is an image of a National treasure tachi by Awataguchi Norikuni that I think demonstrates exactly what I have been tryng to explain.

Remembering that this man was working 800 years ago with a hammer and anvil and only his eyes and ears to guide him he folded combined and quenched a piece of steel that is about as beautiful as can be seen.

I have often talked myself in to believing that work from other schools was "almost" as tight or clear or covered in ji-nie as Awataguchi steel. In my opinion the reality is nothing else comes close to the level of perfection achieved by this family in the kamakura period.

As always what is best or better or...... is to some extent subjective and there are incredible examples of other work from all periods  illustrated in the book. But in the "one sword makes a collection" stakes I think this would come pretty close.

[Alex A]

Hi Paul, is this the hada you once photographed?

[paulb]

Hi Alex

The image in the book are a lot better than my efforts but it is a sword by the same smith. The one I photographed is almost identical sugata, except it had bo-hi and was suriage.

I have attached my images below as a reminder and those with the book can compare.

[Alex A]

Excellent Paul, I remember thinking id get me an example one day, until then, Konuka hada will have to do:)

[paulb]

it has often said that konuka hada was an attempt to reproduce Rai-hada and Enju hada which followed straight after Nashiji so they have much in common.

Someone much wiser than me once said the skill levels were as high but the material was different, andf I think there may be a lot of truth in this observation, after all these people were serving long apprenticeships and working under direction for many years so their technique should  be comaparable. The Awataguchi smiths were producing blades for the top levels of society and therefore had access to the best materials. Likewise the Nabashima were using top line Hizen work as diplomatic gifts so made sure they used good steel.

Before going in to this phase of interest I was totally besotted with Konuka hada and would still like to have a good example of a Hizen blade again some day. I still think it ranks close to the top of shinto wormanship alongside good Osaka work.

[Alex A]

Yes, ive read that some of the Osaka master works hada, Sukehiro, Tadatsuna etc  is referred to as nashiji.

[tagheuer]

I just browsed this particular page and I was blown away by photos of the Awataguchi Norikuni blade.

 

Both hada and hamon are very serene. It's just a beautiful piece of sword.

[paulb]

I believe Awataguchi jigane is as good as it gets and fully agree that it offers a very serene and beautful result. However I also long ago gave up the idea of having having a favourite or defining the best as I keep seeing new examples of other work which are as appealing and just different. That is a great place to be because you can start to appreciate work for what it is rather than who made it. My overiding personal criteria is that it should look "natural" and spontaneous. I prefer it to be small scale and tight (hence the Yamashiro preference) and to have a lot of activity in the form of ji-nie and chickei. However that doesnt stop me lusting after work with very different attributes

Below images of two masterworks produced at around the same time and in the same country. Totally different in technique and end result. Who would dare say which was "Better"?