Mumei Wakizashi, Mino?

[Prewar70]

So much talk lately about Kanemoto, and I couldn't believe the timing of my recent purchase.  So as I'm learning, a template for describing the main points of a sword makes sense.  Maybe this is whats referred to as Kantei?  Here's my description, along with pictures.

 

Length/nagasa:  53.3 cm

Nakago:  14 cm / ubu

Sori:  2.2 cm

Mekugiana:  1

Shinogi-ji:  at the munemachi 1cm wide and tapers to .6 cm at the yokote

Taper:  not sure what this is called in Japanese, but seeing as this sword tapers, I wanted to measure.  From the munemachi to the yokote, width from cutting edge to mune, 2.8cm - 2cm

Hamon:  sanbonsugi

Hada:  itame and mokume, more itame in the shinogi-ji

Signature:  mumei

Mune:  lori

Sugata:  shinogi-zukuri

 

In the hand, this feels like a serious, utilitarian, strong sword.  The hada is very visible, swirling and some straight, but there is little to no ware or openings.  From everything I have read, the hamon is classic Mino School, Kanemoto or Kanesada.  Not sure about generation, except perhaps later, as the hamon is not relaxed, but very uniform.  The boshi is a little different on each side, hopefully you can see that in the pictures.  It has a graceful curve.  It has high shinogi.  The mekugiana almost looks punched on one side vs drilled, but if I had to answer I would say drilled.  The yasurimei is strongly sloping as you can see, but this didn't seem consistent with other Kanemoto examples I looked at.  Not signed, although there is one vertical looking chisel mark visible below the mekugiana in one of the pictures.

 

i'd like to hear your remarks and feedback as to what I have.  Thanks for taking the time to have a look.

[Prewar70]

[Chango]

Ok, now this is just getting weird. Did someone recently dump their entire Kanemoto School collection on the market?

 

Otherwise it looks like a very nice sword, I'm very interested to hear what the experts say about it...

[paulb]

Gentlemen

you seem to be becoming a little Kanemoto obsessed. Alongside these two famous names of which there were numerous generations and workshops of people using the same signature there was a huge ( in relative terms) industry not only in Mino but also in numerous off-shoot locations where Mino techniques were imported and used. Next to Bizen Mino was the most prolific school, if you add all the country schools working in Mino style it is very common.

Every recent mail on Kanemoto has understandably talked about sanbansugi hamon which was a defining feature of later kanemoto work. However it wasnt exclusive to him.

The  quality of swords produced by Mino smiths range from the sublime to the distinctly average and throughout that range you regularly see sanbansugi. You need to look beyond the three peaks and start looking at the actvitiy within the hamon, the jigane and what is going on there. As a good start look at the shinogi-ji what is the hada pattern there? If it is masame it is telling you something about the age.

Regarding the above sword, if it is ubu and the mekugi ana is drilled then it is late. If the shinogi-ji is masame then this also indicates shinto or later. It looks to be a better than average blade with a good shape. I cant see too much going on in the hamon but that may be a combination of polish, photographs and me looking at 6 am on a Sunday morning.

I think your original call of a "Mino Sword" is a good assessment. To try and pin it down further and to kanemoto is a little optimistic.

It looks to be a good, well made Mino blade in good condition.

[Prewar70]

From my eye, the hada in the shinogi-ji is more coarse, and closer to itame but the grain is not long and continuous. The hada in the ji, is much more fine, and dense, that part is very clear when comparing the ji to the shinogi-ji. I would describe the ji-hada as more small swirls, or mokume. You can see some of what I'm talking about in the pictures. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[paulb]

Good Morning James

Thank you for the additional information. Looking again at your images I can see what you mean about the hada in the shinogi-ji being coarser than that in the ji. From what I can see I would describe it as nagare/masame combined with looser itame. While I hate to generalise I tend to think of this as being indicative of Kabuse construction which was started by the Mino school in the late koto period and used continuously by them and their followers throughout the Edo period and beyond. It was simple, and efficient and produced robust utilitarian swords (and some very good ones as well)

This being the case the law of averages suggest your blade is later Mino work (or Waki-Mino) I would say post 1550, but that really is more gut feel than anything else.

I would be interested in others ideas.

regards

Paul

[Prewar70]

What is the the boshi and yasurimei telling me about this sword and where it was made? It is not takanoha yasurimei. The boshi is not exactly zigzagging to my eyes but neither is it ko-maru with turnback like the picture in the Connoisseur's book. I haven't seen enough true sword examples to do any comparisons either.