First Real Wakizashi...trying To Find Info Out About It

[Taz575]

Got my first real wakizashi.  Habaki is very loose to the blade and it's missing a seppa as well.  The tsuka is wrapped tightly, nice big node, menuki I can't identify.  Fuchi/Kashira are the same theme.  Blade has a neat hamon.

 

Blade length: 50.7cm/ 19.96 inches
Sori: 0.8cm / 0.31 inches
Nagasa: 76.5cm/ 30.11 inches
Weight: 1081.0g

 

 

Blade pics:

 

Small Fukure:

 

 

 

 

[Taz575]

Nakago:

 

Overall Curve:

[Taz575]

Fittings:

  Habaki is very loose to the blade

 

Tsuba:

Tsuba is signed Kashiwaya Shirozaemon from Sanyo, Yamashiro.  Blade I am guessing is Edo period?  Any idea of style/school/maker?  Anything is appreciated!

[dominnimod]

Neat looking waki,hope you enjoy it! 

[Taz575]

Oh yeah, it was registered in 1951, 4 digit reg number:

 

Better pic of the kanji on the tsuba.  Tsuba is more dark grey/back in person with some red rust on it; this pic makes it look more silver.

 

Boshi has no turn back (Yakizume?), but follows the cutting edge.  Hada is very fine grain, easier to see on the Shinogi Ji where it's a bit looser.  The Ji looks to be very very fine grained hada to me so far. On the pic where the habaki covers, above the shinogi, I notice there are alternating layers of shiny silver steel and more muted steels, shinier is harder steel, matte finish is softer steels?  i see this on some of my Japanese kitchen knives.  On this one, the harder steel lines are very very fine, maybe from more layers, which would explain the finer hada? 

 

Yasurime is Kesho Yasure, but looks to have some repetitions of this? 

[tokashikibob]

Very nice blade for your first one Taz,  I like the workmanship of the silver habaki and the tsuka is done very nice!  Well done!

[Taz575]

I didn't notice the wavy engraved lines on the habaki until I had it in hand!  The tsuka core is cracked and even with a seppa from a Chinese T10 wak, the handle.habaki.tsuba are still a bit loose, so it may be modern put together.  Been really enjoying looking at the bits and pieces and craftsmanship that went into the sword and fittings.  Saya is pretty beat up, but not cracked and holds tight.  I will prob try to get a shirasaya made for it and then maybe have the koshirae redone/restored.

[SwordGuyJoe]

Interesting yasurime and habaki. Nice little pick up Taz.

[Marius]

Tsuba is a cast copy, sorry.

[Brian]

Agree on the tsuba, but the sword is an excellent one for a first time. Nice polish, great lines...just a very decent sword that is far better than most start with. Very interesting decorative yasurime on the nakago. I think you'll enjoy this one for a long time. Just look for a new and slightly thicker tsuba.
Fuchi looks like a nice Higo one too. You did well.

[Jean]

Tim,

 

Congrats, you did very well very interesting sword.

[Taz575]

Thanks for the info!  I didn't see any casting lines on the tsuba; what do I look for so I know that it's a cast repro for future reference? 

 

From what I found with the kanji online, it was supposedly someone who cast tsubas during the EDO period?

http://www.higgins-collection.org/artifacts/no.574

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/tsuba-Japanese-genuine-sword-guard-dragons

[Gunome]

Hello,

 

Never see these kind of yasurime.

Regarding the blade school,my first thought is Bungo Takada.

 

[Jacques D.]

Kesho yasuri are not original but added later by some amateur.

[Geraint]

Dear Tim,

 

Some of the clues for this cast tsuba centre on the seppa dai and nakago ana.  The seppa dai hs a strange surface texture and slightly rounded feel to it.  The nakago ana shows no sign of having had any adjustment and has an unusual shape.  There are some flaws on one side of the design that might indicate casting errors but the colour and general rounded quality to the design are always worth checking carefully.  The mei will have been cast as well and so you should probably not assume that this was cast at the time the mei suggests.  Here you should look carefully to see further signs that the mei is rather blurry and rounded off rather than crisply cut.

 

Casting lines are pretty simple to get rid of in most cases and so are not always evident.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Enjoy the sword and should you wish you can keep an eye out for a replacement tsuba that will add to your enjoyment..

 

All the best.

[Taz575]

Good things to look for on the tsuba!  There is red rust and maybe dirt on there, but I am hesitant to try to clean it.  Would oiling it and brushing it with a tooth brush be OK to do or leave it as is?

 

Looking back at the Yasurime, the Shinogi isn't straight at the Kesho portion and the patina is a little different there as well, so I will try to get some better tang pics.  I showed pics to someone who may be polishing it and he remarked that the tang may have been reworked as well.

 

When I was trying to take pics of the hamon, I saw there is a little loop going vertically up from the regular hamon; when I shifted angles, I could see scratches all over it like someone tried to hide it.  Would this be a Kesho style polish where the hamon is kind of generalized with the milky white look and the finer details are lost?  When I look at it at different angles and light, the hamon changes from the milky white hazy look to the sharp white line that looks like a choji hamon.  Been enjoying trying different lighting to see the hamon more

[jason_mazzy]

possible O-suriage ad nakago was reshaped?

[Taz575]

Tried to get some better nakago pics outside today:

 

 

Tsuba pics of the cutouts.  The hole for the nakago is was oversized to this blade.  No casting lines out the edges are seen, but there were some file marks on the edge of the tsuba as well as little voids that may have been casting flaws/bubbles which is making me lean towards a casting repro.  I tried to get pics of the edge of the tsuba, but the camera wasn't focusing correctly.  The seppa dai surface almost looks like it was filed flat?  The kanji doesn't seem to be sharp or chiseled, either, but if the surface was filed flat at some point, that may explain it?  Part of the mystery!

 

Habaki fit:

My T10 diff. hardened knock off has the habaki almost perfectly flush with the mune.  This one is pretty poorly fit and very loose with large gaps.  I am wondering if the sword was cut down and they may have used the orig habaki? 

 

Keep the info coming guys!  I am really enjoying learning more about this sword and the other side topics we get to travel down!

[Ken-Hawaii]

Very nice close-up photography, Tim! Few people seem to realize that taking shots outside works this well.

 

Scratching my head over yasurimei. My first thought was that your blade was saiha (retempered), but later closeups don't show that. No idea why anyone would lay in a pattern like that.

 

Nice blade overall. Excellent start. Now get some books, & learn all you can about your blade!

 

Ken

 

[Taz575]

Menuki are persimmon on a branch. 

 

Tried to get some good pictures of the overall shape of the blade today.

 

Kissaki, boshi and hamon:

 

Still struggling to identify the hada.  I am leaning towards itame?

[Gunome]

Hada is itame with shinogiji en masame

[Taz575]

Is that common or is it because the steel hasn't been ground down to expose the other layers?

 

I got some measurements, too.  At the top of the habaki, the blade is 30.8mmwide, kissaki width is 22.3mm.

Shinogi thickness is 7.45mm at the habaki, 5.8mm at the kissaki/yokote area.

Mune thickness is 6.88mm and the habaki and 5.55mm near the kissaki.

[Taz575]

Any ideas what the design on the fuchi is??  I am stumped at that one!  Kinda looks like an upside down palm tree.

 

Hamon I am leaning to ko choji with some kawazuko choji in there with a few tobiyaki in there.

 

Also, one correction.  What I thought were the layer lines under the Habaki area I learned today is the polishers mark!  Learn something new every day!

[Taz575]

Heard the Fuchi is Sun, stars and lightning bolts possibly (any other ideas of the upside down palm tree looking items?), and the kashira has the same sun and stars, and also with some pine needles or straw? 

 

Found this tsuba on Ebay; it kinda matches the kashira a bit, so I decided to go for it. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Antique-Iron-TSUBA-samurai-sword-katana-pine-needle-/262403338492?hash=item3d187530fc%3Ag%3AreYAAOSwgApXDQpT&nma=true&si=%252BHbG228MtGEzVxOwWhVOi%252Fg8lLc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

Been researching the hamon styles on Markus Sesko's site in the kantei section trying to narrow it down.  Never realized there were so many variations to the choji pattern!  The hamon on my wakizashi has elements of a lot of different things in it.  Been trying to match up smiths who did a Choji hamon with a suguha yakizume boshi, which is unusual.  The polish isn't the best at the tip and one side almost looks like it has a turnback, but the other side seems to be clearer that it doesn't unless there are different boshi on each side?

 

With the masame hada in the Shinogi and itame elsewhere, I am guessing it is more in the Shinto period where this was more common?

 

Read thru Yumoto's Samurai Sword Handbook so far and enjoyed it. The Art of the Japanese Sword from Yoshihara is on deck next and the Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Swords is en route!

[Taz575]

Tried to draw the hamon today:

 

Been reading Markus Sesko's kantei series lately and his hamon/boshi e book.  The hamons that seem close are some bigger names like Hatakeda Moriie, Masatsune, Tatara Nagayuki, etc.

 

When is the next Shinsa in the US?

[SteveM]

Motif on kashira is pine needles. You can see more of the same here

http://www.tokka.biz/fittings/FK168.html

And a nice tsuba which would make a good matching set here (same shop, actually)

http://www.tokka.biz/fittings/TS642.html

 

Not sure about the fuchi as I can't get a good look at it (normally one would assume its the same, though). 

Interesting sword. I wonder about the boshi...maybe this together with the unusual yasurime is is an indication the blade was re-shaped. 

[Shugyosha]

Hi Tim,

 

That's a really nice sword to start this hobby with.

 

Masame in the shinogi ji is thought of as a pointer towards shinto blades but was used in other schools especially Mino in the koto period.

 

My understanding is that it's usually an indicator that the sword is kobuse forged and what you are seeing is the difference in the forging patterns of the core and outer steel.

 

Best,

John

[Taz575]

It has masame in the shinogi ji, but right near the shinogi, it opens into long oval shapes for mokume pattern.  The shinogi ji tapers back to the mune from the shinogi line, too.

 

I tried using fluorescent and LED lights to look at the blade.  Had a very interesting effect!  I saw that there was a milky look to the area directly above and below the Shingi and a dark strip of steel between the kesho/hadori finish and the milky area, which looks to be Utsuri.  Also, with the LED light, it looks like there is some faint Muneyaki as well.  These areas were very difficult to see with regular or natural light, but with the bluish LED, they popped right out.  Under the LED, most of the steel looks like a milky white and the hada is a little easier to see.  The Nie crystals also jump out more with the LED as well.

[Taz575]

I got the little straw theme tsuba in, but it's around 2" in diameter, so it will be a bit small for this sword, but it makes a great paperweight for work to keep my papers from blowing around when the window is open!  LOL.  I have another tsuba I picked up on the classifieds, so I will probably go with that one.

 

I was doing good until I saw this one on Ebay and saw the hamon pictures in the weaker light and I was done.  I have a thing for funky hamons!  Don't really care about the blade length, style, fittings, etc, just give me a cool hamon!  I made knives for a while and just really marveled at the steel, activity in the steel, grain, etc and I was hooked ever since!  Something about it makes the steel feel alive.

 

This is the one I just got on Ebay today while I am at work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WAKIZASHI-sword-w-White-Sheath-YASUHIRO-EDO-30-3-x-20-7-870g-/121971184451?autorefresh=true&nma=true&si=4OHYjVbOG2CZIAxKnbRJbUmiISo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[Dr Fox]

Most of the visible yasurime slant downwards across the tang, but there are also horizontal and contrasting file marks, filling in the space below the machi down to the slanting file mark pattern that covers most of the tang.

Its called Kesho yasuri. I would like to think this is what we have here.

It is a change from the norms seen, and it was the feature which caught and held my attention to this blade.

What a bonus, well done.

 

 

Scanning back Jaques D, had this pinned down.