Jump to content

Bohi Question


Recommended Posts

Hello Gentlemen,

I always like a nice cut Bohi on Japanese blades and sometimes notice on a variety of different quality of blades that the top end of Bohi is different on either side in shape and distance from the kissaki. Would this be to remove a flaw in the area or is there other reasons? Also if this is the case why not match on both sides. Some even vary in shape of the end of the Bohi? Also would this influence price or collectability? Cheers.

 

Greg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

some differences can also be the influence of polishing. A hi may be slightly shallower on one side and this may be exagerated with later polishes. Also remember these are hand cut so some difference side to side is not altogether unusual (this should be minor) Regarding positioning and shaping of the ends this tends to vary with period and school.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

 

Coming under the heading of other reasons "that the top end of Bohi is different on either side in shape and distance from the kissaki" comes the suspicion that what is being seen may be the end result of changes and adjustments a sword has undergone over the course of its existence, including reshaping of the kissaki due to damage, a shape change to the weapon such as naoshi, an ato bori, it could also be a difference in the ability/skill of the cutters involved over time. Corrections should have been done when the blade is/was undergoing polish, however, not all polishers wish to take on such a task. Sometimes it's best to leave things as they are depending on the circumstances.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Greg, everyone,

 

I've wondered about this as well. Personally i don't like seeing bohi that are different near the kissaki, or atleast for me it really affects the way the sword looks. Sometimes a bohi nearly enters the yokote, or just looks plain wrong, multiple millimeters more on one side or the other. Nice topic.

 

Like this one would be for me personally, not a dealbreaker (plus that blade is TH - so i doubt it would really affect the value), but it i would be noticing it every time..

 

e9367b47adca3db842b56416c26ea602.jpg

 

And this one is even better in showing bad- (to the/my eyes anyway), bohi finish. Mid Kamakura juho.. Here it is probably as described above, too many polishes.

 

2e09a5b3d3bc31a133cd61733fb8be91.png

Edited by Fuuten
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hello, sorry for slightly going off topic.

 

I just read a Facebook thread from Michael Sabatier.

He was asked to groove a bohi in old sword that didn't have one.

Reason was a devilish "ware" in otherwise lovely sword.

He didn't want to do it before studying the subject and apparently it is quite common in Japan and has been for long time.

According to him ,it seems sacrilegious for collectioners but it is seen as adding vitality to the sword and a way to preserve it. 

Any thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys thanks for the good replies and thoughts on the subject, I personaly find it quite interesting.

Ive noticed that sellers that sell many Shinsakuto like E-swords frequently have swords with large bohi that seem to be cut nicely but are very close or against to the kissaki and shinogi and it surprises me that a new sword would have this because each time the blade is polished the bohi would overlap like in the second pic Axel has shown. I thought they would make more room to allow for this and prevent the overlap. I wonder if this has been a deal breaker for many Collectors or if any dont mind it at all. Cheers.

 

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The second example with the weird looking bohi is a sign that the kissaki was damaged and the whole thing "moved back" into an existing bohi. There is no alternative other than to end up with this kind of problem OR keep a broken tip or a big chip.

 

The feature of the bohi starting further back from the kissaki then is supposed to be a Nanbokucho development meant to avoid this exact problem from happening. 

 

If both sides do not match up well and fail the eye test, you have to mirror it in photoshop to make sure there is no illusion going on, because the geometry may have changed more on one side than the other for various polishing reasons (skill or to recover from some kind of problem). And then the alternative is as you have stated, that the hi were just cut poorly. 

 

Poorly cut hi can be a sign of them coming after the manufacture of the blade. Covering up flaws I think is mostly a BS argument, it's come from fairly speculative places. If the shinogiji is badly flawed then cutting deeply into the core is not likely going to reveal beautiful steel but probably even more problems.

 

I think it's more an owner from halfway through the life of the sword that had it lightened at the time of suriage as part of a one stop fixing-upping so he could use what for him was a useless but beautiful and too heavy old blade. Some of those were done poorly and later on fixed up again. Sometimes if obviously added after they were dummied up to made to look like original items. If dummied up well enough there's no way of knowing now. 

 

But I think that it is in the minority rather than majority of cases... either opinion one would take though is entirely speculative.

 

I do know of one American collector that had the bohi recut because he didn't like the look. I was really surprised that anyone would do that. So, it does happen that they are mucked with but I think that the rationale of removing flaws is rare. We all know that even polish is a gamble because you don't know if what's underneath is going to be worse than what you're hoping to take off. If you fool around with horimono you could end up with a real disaster. Surely though some have done it for the reason stated (flaw removal). I just think it's an exaggerated reason that is repeated more often by people who read about it in a book than ever saw a real case where it happened.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...