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1st Nihonto piece 1st post. o-suriage? o-pinions please :)

carlitobrigante

By carlitobrigante
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carlitobrigante Explorer

carlitobrigante

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Hi there. i was only previously a collector of production made swords (paul chen etc) but have always had a fondness for antiques (kukri's and dha swords are my other weakness) so have made the leap into the fabulous but complex world of nihonto. I asked for opinions on this piece i recently aquired from a very nice chap throughy ebay, on other sites but didnt get much response (after id posted the newer better pics)

 

I still new to this so apologies if my terminology is wrong. The length is 17 inches in total from tang to tip. It has a fanastic hada in what ive matched up in a book to be in a style called 'mokume' (tree grain tight). The hamon appears a simple straight suguha (sp?) pattern at first but on closer inspection it has constant small undulations which seem to make it more a komidare (sp?) pattern?

 

Id say its in 80-90% polish. There are very tiny parts of the back of the blade where the grains are slightly open and you can see the core metal coming through so another polish is probably out of the question.

 

Im really interested in what you think. The tanto has a hira zukuri profile. Does this mean its likley not to be a shortened kat / wak? (i.e werent there many katanas or wakizashi's made in hira zukuri?). Paid £350 ($700). I have no idea of age and its unsigned, ill try and get better pics of the tang if it will help you give me any idea of a likely age of the piece. Shirasaya is WW2 it seems but blade was sold as possibly shinto era?

 

(p.s - any other british posters here. theres an militaria antique fair at the national motorcylcle museum near where i live and im going in June. Just wondered if anyone knew if there was nihonto there?)

 

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pcfarrar Veteran

pcfarrar

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(p.s - any other british posters here. theres an militaria antique fair at the national motorcylcle museum near where i live and im going in June. Just wondered if anyone knew if there was nihonto there?)

 

Quite a few people from the board go. I was there on Sunday and got an interesting hitatsura sue-seki tanto. There aren't many bargains but plenty of stuff to look at.

 

Your tanto looks nice. It appears to be Mino den, could be late muromachi early shinto.

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Mark C Proficient

Mark C

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As Peter says, There are is quite a few on the board.

 

The International at the motorcycle museum is a good show and I've picked up a couple of bargains in the past but these bargains are harder to find, especially if the boys get there first :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Let us know nearer the time as I will be going also in June and maybe we can all meet up for a coffee or :beer:

 

Regards

 

Mark

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Mantis dude Rising Star

Mantis dude

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Its hard to tell a lot about a sword without seeing in hand. Showing overall shape can help, showing the tang can also. Seeing the grain (hada) which you described as mokume is important, there are many variations and often mokume may have itame in it, or a mixture of masame. There is also the size of the mokume. Same thing with hamon, the temperline can tell a lot, is it nie based, nioi based, are there other activities in there. Basically, to get pics to demonstrate everything going on is hard. Sometimes you can gleam some insight or there are some characteristics that point to a school or time period. I will be the first to admit I am not very good at this. I don't see a ton of detail from your pictures, so that is probably why you don't get a lot of responses. Taking photos that capture these details is hard, so don't be discouraged. This is a hard hobby, but that is part of the fun. In fact, the best thing is that you can meet up with people and have them help evaluate what you have. Hands on study will be a real must. Keep on reading "The Connoisseurs book", get familiar with the introduction chapters that cover details of the sword and keep on going back to your blade (get the book if you don't have it- it is very cheap relatively speaking to the knowledge contained within). There is a worksheet out there somewhere that can help you fill in your answers and is good for your records. I can't remember where I found it. (go to Rich Stein's website, it might be there). It is just a sheet for you to systematically fill in the descriptive attributes of the sword, so even if you don't find it, just go through each chapter describing the sword on each subject and write it down.

 

Your new mate thinks it might be Mino, so read up on the school and see if there are characteristics that match your sword. There are generalizations like a certain grain with a hamon type equals a certain school, ie mokume with nioi based hamon points to Bizen. Just keep in mind these are not hard based facts. I have found getting pricing advice hard, how much is it worth? as much as someone is willing to pay for it, is the basic answer I have always gotten. That is where personal contacts really help. There are a lot of factors that go into that decision and I think it takes time to get that understanding, as well as, I think a lot of people don't have that knowledge. Getting an idea of what similar blades sold for takes time and you have to be careful of comparing apples to apples. With all the variations, it is easy to be comparing apples to oranges. I think with your blade, age will be a big factor, flaws/imperfections in a shinto sword are going to effect the price more than in a koto blade (as you alluded to). Go to Rich Stein's website, I think he has articles on the subject. The best though is to meet some of the "boys" and gain from their knowledge.

 

Hope this gives you some understanding what you can expect in seeking answers over the internet. The reason you may not get answers is because they don't know themselves, hard to get those clues. Good luck.

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carlitobrigante Explorer

carlitobrigante

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where is the shinsa based? and how do you go about making a booking?

 

is it worth taking a piece like mine or will they laugh at me? what is the actual purpose of a shinsa? do people take there items to get it graded, or do people also take it along to find out more about what it is they have (i.e do they tell you about age, smith etc?)

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