A Very Intense Day...

[Peter Bleed]

I have just had one of the most intense days of sword inspection of my life. Please let me process it here on the NMB.

I've known and worked with Paul Davidson for years, but yesterday was the first time he has been able to visit me since we moved here to Arkansas. He arrived at mid day yesterday and we looked at swords til well into the night and them again this morning. And it was ALL my stuff but it was amazing. It was an excuse to get out stuff I have overlooked. It also allowed me to look broadly and compare categories  Paul is also a very bright guy and he taught me a lot!.

To begin I got some "good" Sendai stuff out so I could review the beginings (1-4)  of the Kunikane line. The first 4 generations of the Kunikane line really are worth looking at .I sure don't have examples of all those guys. But I was able to show the categories. . . and explain why the shinsa blew it on this on or why I never bothered to submit these blades to shinsa. Yahhh dahh,

Then Paul  let me get out my Sendai odds and ends. There are blades by tangential Sendai schools that I have "examples" of - Kanekunra, Kaneyoshi, Nagashige and even a really nice Yasutomo. I can't say I have more than a "stamp collection"  for these groups.  Getting them out way made me think once again about why swords were being made in the Feudal town that was Sendai of the 17th and 18th century., Clearly there was a demand for swords in Sendai at that time, but I really can't describe stylistic patterns of that community.

After that, we got to talking about the "ato-mei" Sendai swords.This is a challenge of the Kunikane line since in Meiji times lots of swords made by generation 5-9 of the line seem to have been "signed" with the name of 1, 2, and 3. i. So I got out some swords that probably fit that description. Then to round out the category, we looked at some niji-mei blades that probably were made and simply signed by one of those middle generations. And the I got out a couple of short swords that look like they were made as mumei blades that somehow escaped having been signed when that was going on. A true collection of Sendai shinto has to recognize this full range of swords.

Individually, most of the swords that Paul let me present were either suspicion or only so-so. Obviously I had seen them all before, but looking at swords with an expert friend was  is really a good thing to do. We all love the NMB, but interacting with real people and real swords is great fun.

Peter

 

[Brian]

Sounds like one of those days that will be remembered for a long time. A day spent looking at and discussing swords is never a day wasted. Nice one Peter.
Oneday I would like to get my one poor out of polish katana looked at. Nakago messed with, and the signature doesn't look original. But with a well cut bo hi and soe hi, and a nice looking suguha hamon I think, not sure if it has a chance of being a Sendai product. I'd like to find out more about it. Oneday....like many of my blades.
Rust has been fully stabilized since.

 

 

[Vermithrax16]

Sounds like an excellent day to have Peter. Really glad you put fresh eyes on your collection, nihonto always has a tale to tell if you keep asking.