Muramasa Back From Polish In Japan

[Derek]

Hello all,

I took a few photos of my Muramasa Katana back from polish in Japan, utilizing Kunitaro San's service.  Master Koichi Eto did the entire polish himself, and I am thrilled with the results. 

http://www.geocities.jp/touken_kenmajo/english/eng-index.htm

Please excuse the poor photography.  Any faults you see are purely reflections caused by my technique.

I will try and post more photos this week, as my work schedule is demanding at the moment.

I will have the sword on display at my table at the Chicago show.

Kunitaro san was a pleasure to deal with, professional, and very patient; a true gentleman.

I have a few other swords that need polish, including another Muramasa, and I would definitely work with him again.

Cheers,

 

Derek

[vajo]

:clap:

 

Very, very nice! Enjoy it.

 

 

[YOJIMBO]

:clap:

 

Very, very nice! Enjoy it.

??? 

 

Do You see something? I do not.

[Greg F]

Congrats Derek, Some good photos would show more of what you enjoy seeing in hand. The hada looks good and the hamon im sure is better than these pix show. Well done having it polished and thank you for sharing. All the best.

 

Greg

[e_v]

Thanks for sharing: Muramasa always always radiate a particular charm.

 

I agree with Greg: the hada is awesome.

[kunitaro]

Thank you for posting photos Derek san,

I am happy to see them because, I haven't seen the blade after polished.

The balance of Mune, Shinogi and Ha lines are very good.

I think that the first impression of the blade (the sugata) has changed before and after.

It became not only sharper lines but, looks healthier. because of the sugata remains an original shape.

The Mune line with very fine Funbari with Funbari of Nakago.

The Shinogi line from Mitsugashira till Nakago-hiri.

and The Ha line.

The balance of those three lines were perfect when the sword was made.

the job of the polisher is to remain the original shape without taking material off.

Mr.Eto says that it is not possible to polish back to the original shape.  it is just control those lines to trick eyes that looks perfect.

and I can see Ji-hada only small part of photo is focused, It looks fine. rougher parts became tighter.

and we can not see real activities of Hamon by photo...

Mr.Eto used Hazuya Jizuya , Old Narutaki stone from Edo period.

I think that almost nobody has such kind of stone anymore.

This kind of old natural stones bring Ha and Ji brighter especially koto blade.

When you see activities with candle light in dark room (like Edo period), you can see 3D.

 

Be alone in dark room with one candle. be quiet, deep breath. empty your mind, ready to face the sword.

After examine the sugata, 

stare at one area for at least 5 min, you start to see all kind of activities in different dimension.

When you move the blade, the activities move 3D.

That is what Samurai and Kantei-ka were seeing in Samurai period.

We can see exactly what they were seeing under same condition. 

then we can start to communicate with the sword maker, polisher and the Samurais.

I think that it is very important part of appreciating the art of work and to understand Samurai culture.

 

We can have a lot of information and high quality photos and scanner image on Internet today, It is big progress and it is very good. however, It is still limited compare to studying swords in hand with traditional method.

 

Our workshop has problem taking photos. nobody in our workshop can take photo,,,

[Derek]

Thank you for your kind words. Again, I am sorry for the poor photos, I lack the proper lens, time, and technique to capture how beautiful it turned out. Maybe I will just try a video....

Kunitaro San, thank you so much for your time and effort. I appreciate the way that you let us understand what the thought process is and vision that goes into a polish.

[Darcy]

It's extremely hard to do good photos of swords. Don't feel you have to apologize about bad ones. It's hard enough to take good photos of people, let alone a tricky subject like swords.