Mumei, Suriage Katana, With Four Mekugiana

[Prewar70]

Nagasa is 26.25 and overall 34.25, with shallow sori.  Testing what I have learned or attempting to learn, here's why I purchased this sword.  If my assumptions are wrong, please tell me, so I can continue to learn.  I saw the four mekugiana but yet it was still over 26 inches and based on the first mekugiana being almost off the nakago, I thought this must have been a very long blade when original.  When I thought long blade, that led me to think this could be an older sword.  The sugata is graceful, smaller kissaki, and looks like Kamakura period shape, but that is my very basic interpretation.  Also, I thought with four mekugiana, this sword has been cherished over the years and used.  I then received a picture from the seller and in one of the photos I saw an abundance of nie, which made me think better workmanship and higher quality.  I had not seen much of the hamon, only a small taste.  The sword did not have a tsuba nor saya.  When I removed the sword from the packaging I could not believe the hamon.  I spent some time cleaning it, removing finger prints, smudges, etc. with choji and uchiko.  The polish is old, and there are some nicks in the ha, but the hamon is stunning.  In my very limited experience from examining the few swords I have in hand and seeing pics on line, I thought to myself this is what they call a hamon, this is what people mean when they talk about hataraki.  The hamon starts more controlled and then becomes more active and flamboyant as it reaches the kissaki.  It looks like there is tobiyaki, sunagashi, choji, and more.  The jigane is very tight, and there is yubashiri which I tried to capture in some pictures. Outside of the scratches and nicks there are few, if any, ware.  The grain is so beautiful.  I don't know, I am completely enamoured by this sword and I feel like it is something special, that is what my gut is telling me.  I am looking forward to your feedback and education and happy to take more pics.

 

PS.  working on photography skills, it's not easy

[Prewar70]

[Prewar70]

[Prewar70]

[Brian]

Mekugi ana are easy to add. Don't let them lead you in a direction when evaluating a sword. I think the bottom one was used for a second mekugi, not an indication of how long it was.
The shape reminds me of Kanbun Shinto...just my opinion. But I don't get a Kamakura vibe...more Shinto. Nice looking sword though, with lots of nie and lots to enjoy. Let's see what others say.

[seattle1]

Hello:

 I agree with Brian. Ko kissaki tend to be found, if original, in very early blades dating to Kamakura or before. The start of all sword judgement, a super risky task from images alone, is study of the sugata and from the images provided the shape doesn't suggest very early. The best few dollars you can spend, to ramp up knowledge of fundamentals and the pitfalls of hasty inferences from the nakago, should go to buying a copy of Nobuo Nakahara. Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector's Guide (Kodansa, 2010). If the blade is Kanbun, a period when blades tended to be long and somewhat narrowing towards a smallish kissaki, the number of mekugi-ana seen hardly make sense; one shortening, perhaps, but three?

 Arnold F.

[Prewar70]

I appreciate the info guys and I'm hoping to hear from others to get a direction on time period and school.   The kissaki is small, and not in the best polish but the the boshi is there, and doesn't look to run off the edge.  So it could have been reshaped but was perhaps small to start with.  The mihaba (width i believe) of the blade is fairly consistent throughout with perhaps a slight taper.  It is not very wide at the hamachi.  The last set of pictures probably captures the hada best.  I am not very good at guessing as to the type.  I will say that it is tightly textured and dense.  Looking at the Connoisseurs book, I would pick Nashiji?? A fine, and dense ko-mokune and this blade has nie throughout.  I do not see any Chikei but there are some concentrations in the peaks as it follows the hamon.  I can't identify any utsuri.  Again referencing Nagayama's book, the blade has a high and wide shinogi and is "meaty", it is convex shaped below the shinogi, medium to full hira-niku.

[hxv]

James,

 

Does the boshi have a kaeri? Can we get a better picture of the boshi?

 

Hoanh

[Ken-Hawaii]

James, are you looking at the hamon or the jihada? Your blade is almost certainly Shinto, & the small amount of hada I can see is itame. When Shinto blades were made after the warring period (Muromachi), it had been so long since swordsmiths were "worried" about hada (two centuries!), that all of the techniques that had been developed in Kamakura & Nambokucho were lost, & they had to try & develop them again...but they never succeeded. Also, your mekugiana were drilled, not chiseled, which indicates Shinto, as does the sugata. A better look at the boshi would help, as Hoanh says.

 

Ken

 

[Prewar70]

I will get a better picture of the boshi.  Ken, thanks for your direction.  Hada is difficult for me to peg, and I haven't looked at enough examples in my hand to really know at this point.  I totally missed the obvious fact that the mekugiana were drilled, I should have picked up on that right away.  Good lesson.

 

So Shinto most likely, now how do we drill it down further?  Any ideas?  I'm going to check on the boshi.  Thanks everyone.

[Prewar70]

Boshi is difficult to photo so hopefully you can see what Im looking at.  It does have turn back, and I took a pic of the mune to see the color difference as well.  Let me know what you think. 

 

[hxv]

James,

 

I think I see the kaeri.  I concur with others that it's Shinto. It looks to me to be a very well-made sword, and it would look outstanding if polished.  The big issue I see is that if you have it polished, you will never recover the expense.  Mumei Shinto daito don't command any pricing power at all. May be just clean it up with uchiko and enjoy as is.

 

Hoanh

[Prewar70]

Thanks Hoanh, I don't think I can resist a polish on this, it's way too nice. And, I don't have much money into it. It seems like a worthy project to me. Still would love to know more about this blade if anyone has more ideas as to school or smith perhaps or point me in a more specific direction. Thanks

[Darcy]

Curvature is not in its favor but the rest of it is. The work looks like Soden-Bizen and curvature is not the majority of the game. The generalities in the books and the handwaving that is involved in shoehorning things into little boxes which make tutoring and authoring convenient do not always line up with realistic examples.

 

There are Tokubetsu Juyo Kanemitsu that are saki-zori so if you want to look at something like that and make a one feature kantei saying it cannot be Kanemitsu because it has saki-zori then probably you end up being wrong.

 

The work is the first and foremost thing about making the attribution and the boshi doesn't look very shinto to me, nor does the hamon. I agree that the sugata looks interchangeable with an ubu Kanbun blade but I don't think that is the only thing to look at.

[Prewar70]

So happy you chimed in Darcy as I have enjoyed reading your posts and appreciate the experience you bring to the table. I hope this spurs more discussion as I am eager to learn.

 

I just finished looking at it, again, and I have to reverse my statement about having a high shinogi. It's wide, but it is not high, definitely low.

[Jacques D.]

I disagree with Darcy, when we want to make an attribution we always must refer to the works generally made at a certain time and not to a exception (even if it is tokuju). The best examples we can find is NBTHK kantei  and their comments.

 

All i can see based on that pictures  is the sugata suggests Shinto, yakiba  width suggests Shinto. We don't see jigane and nioiguchi so we can't go further. This sword seems pretty tired, kissaki maybe repared.

[Prewar70]

When a sword is described as being tired, I take that to mean used and polished one too many times. To me, this sword seems very healthy, no openings, some ware in one spot on the mune but that is it. I've been searching Soden-Bizen, and found some swords with similar nakagos, so I thought I'd do some close ups and see if that means anything.

[hxv]

James,

 

Being polished many times is not interchangeable with being tired. A sword is said to be tired when shintetsu begins to show through. Do you see spot/spots on your ji surface that seem featureless/bland? Below is a good link for terminologies. To be able to say your sword is tired or healthy, we need much better pictures than the ones you posted. As things stand, I would hesitate to say one way or the other.

 

http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kizu.htm

 

Hoanh

[Prewar70]

To my eyes I do not see any shintetsu. Tried taking pics in different light, hope it helps. Grain and texture seem pretty consistent throughout. It's a sunny day here in MN, wish I could find the right setting for a good overall pic. Thanks.

[Stephen]

I keep going back to the sori, get the feeling of shinshinto loyalist sword 

[hxv]

James,

 

I don't see any tired spot, either.

 

Hoanh

[Prewar70]

I was able to get this sword to Chicago, courtesy of Swordguyjoe as I wasn't able to be there. It papered to Musashi Ishido Tsunemitsu. Not sure if it's the first or second but both are rated jo saku and ryowazamano. I believe the first is higher rated by Hawley. Now to see if the sword can handle a polish.

 

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/TSU475

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/TSU476

[TheGermanBastard]

Congrats ony our very positive Shinsa result!

[Ken-Hawaii]

James, as shinsa teams require a good polish, are you certain that your blade really needs another right now?

[Prewar70]

You can see from the pics it's out of polish or old polish and has a couple nicks in the ha. Certainly not at its best. There are no forging flaws and I'd hate for a polish to find one. You raise a good point though and wise to consider. I did have a quality shirasaya and habaki made for it to protect what I have.

[TheGermanBastard]

James, as shinsa teams require a good polish, are you certain that your blade really needs another right now?

 

Hello Ken,

 

they do not requrire a good polish. You can submitt in rather bad polish and it can paper but possibly with just a lower number of points which in the end does not matter ...

 

However the better the polish the btter the blade can be determined and in general the better the condition including polish the higher the number of points given. It is said that the NTHK puts more weight on the conidtion so also state of polish.

[PNSSHOGUN]

No need to get a new polish on this one IMO.

[Prewar70]

John thanks for responding.  What are you thoughts?  Good enough to see enough or cost benefit does not measure up.

[TheGermanBastard]

Hello James,

 

it is Shintio Mumei Suriager. So I would not recommend polishing. You could well be buried with teh cost involved.

[Surfson]

It is interesting that they first wrote down a specific Bizen Osafune Sukesada smith and then crossed it out.  The Ishido smiths can sometimes be confused for Bizen and I wonder if that is the explanation - that they changed their minds at the last minute.