Quick Question About An Old Blade

[The_ozzy_samurai]

Hey guys not sure if this is the correct section to ask about this but i recently purchased a sword that i feel judging by the tang patina is very old maybe koto or even older?the blade itself is pretty good slight wavey hamon,anyways my main point of this story is its in an old shirasaya mount scabbard that has writing down the side of it translated to something along these lines im told is attribution Ichimonji Yoshifusa nagasa 2 shyaku 1 sun,not exactly sure what it means the blade is un signed and has a cutting length off slightly over 24.5inch,cheer's guys

 

Julian

[Jean]

Julian,

 

Tang patina does not mean anything by itself.

[Brian]

2 shaku 1 sun is of course the length.
The sayagaki is alluding to it being by Ichimonji Yoshifusa, one of the most important smiths of the Ichimonji school of the Bizen tradition in the Kamakura period. But ANY sayagaki is to be taken with a huge grain of salt unless very well done, and signed by a sword authority. Most of them seen on old swords are sloppy, done by owners themselves with a sharpie, and are very wishful thinking. If this is indeed by Yoshifusa, then it would be a significant find. But don't get too excited just yet. Post pics of the sayagaki.

[The_ozzy_samurai]

Hey mate,

 

It should be in my hands in the next few days,the the web site i got it from doesnt allow me save images the right clicker does nothing? i will ask the guy directly for email of pics,and yes the only information i could find about it was high end stuff or museum grade items,im not one to get to excited, i see some un signed yoshifusa blades out there,it does have those straight lines under the habaki i think i counted 7 maybe,although the sword is missing original habaki,the only ones see online have solid gold habaki's which wishful thinking maybe my one had one at some point but the price of gold was too tempting for somone? cheer's i should have pics soon i hope

 

Julian

[uwe]

Julian,

those straight lines under the habaki are most likely togishi marks. But curious about your pics....

[The_ozzy_samurai]

Thanks for the replies,so here is a couple images i used my phone to capture from the website,the quality is not the best,but some detail can be seen,cheer's

 

Julian

[paulb]

Hi Julian

Cant see much. I think it is an older blade but not as old as Yoshifusa who was working early 13th century. The nakago should be a lot blacker. As he is such a famous smith just do a search on him there are many images of his work for comparison. I cant see to much of the hamon or boshi but neither appear to be as flambouyant and active as you would expect for an Ichimonji smith and this one in particular. The sayagaki does not offer too much help.

Interested in seeing better images when you have the blade in hand.

[Brian]

Not a professional sayagaki, just one done by an owner.
But get it to Andrew Ickeringill and ask for his opinion, or at least a window polished.