Hosho Stripes

[Kanenaga]

Older Yamato Hosho blades from the Kamakura period often show prominent longitudinal bands of light and dark steel which more-or-less follow the masame grain.  There seems to be not much written about these.  Does anyone know what these are called?  

 

Shown is the Kurayama Hosho, a national treasure tanto.

 

[Ray Singer]

They appear to be chikei, where certain layers of the jihada have formed strands of connected nie. I will share another photos of another early yamato blade which exhibits this clearly.

[Ray Singer]

Photos attached.

[Vermithrax16]

Photos attached.

Love that sword Ray.

[Stephen]

Yes wonderful! Which one is it Ray?

[Ray Singer]

Shodai Kanenaga (Tegai school founder).

[Stephen]

Thank you

[Jean]

These are nie lines, found typically in Yamato Tegai blades.

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/17414-achieved-collection-gokaden/page-1

[Peter Bleed]

Great thread for we "masame guys." Clearly the 'grey lines' of the Hosho tanto are hada based, so the "chikei connection" seems off the mark. IMHO! You see that rather broad banding with a masame base is fairly typical of late shinto swords, too, both in Sendai and Mito. I wonder if it might be somehow related to the use of slightly different steel.. I wonder if this is somehow related to what we would today cal "high contrast steel."

Peter

[Kanenaga]

I tend to agree with Peter.  Ray's illustrations are clearly chikei, but these Hosho lines seem different -- broader and more "organized."  Layering of different steels seems a good possibility.  When Norishige did this sort of thing it's called matsukawa.  I thought perhaps these Hosho things might also have a name.

[paulb]

just to add to the discussion heres another one.

I also think there is more to the hada than pure lins of nie, certanly in this example. However the masame is highlighted by nie following the weld lines.

[Vermithrax16]

Masame posts make for an enjoyable Monday!

[Ray Singer]

My understanding had been that this feature was nie-based, and the same is seen in fine, early Soshu where these bands are largely composed of connected nie (but at a distance do appear to be layers of different color). It seems that certain layers may be more inclined to "take nie" during yaki-ire, due to the mixed composition of the material. Regardless, Darcy has some excellent photos of a Jûyô Hosho at the link below.

 

https://yuhindo.com/hosho-sadakiyo/