Ato-Bori

[Kanenaga]

I'm moving my question to a new topic in order not to hijack the previous thread about this blade:

 

http://www.nihonto.com/05-07-18/

 

This is a Juyo sword with hi that must be ato-bori (i.e., added later), but the Juyo paper does not mention this.  I guess it's a matter of personal preference, but I prefer blades, even old ones,  that are as close as possible to how they were originally made.  We speak about the "health" of a blade, meaning how little aging change it shows, as a positive attribute.  Deliberate changes such as suriage diminish the merits of the sword, and for me decorations added later do the same, even if tastefully done.  At least it should be mentioned, although in this case perhaps it was considered "obvious."  I wonder how others feel?

 

Les

[Fuuten]

Well that depends, for me personally. In this case i would be hesitant not to think this hi was added when it was last shortened, and if so then i would see it just like any other blade, its better to have it as is than not to have it, better to have it altered than to have it been scrapped..

[Shugyosha]

Hi Les,

When I was growing up in the UK we had a saying “well…I wouldn’t kick her out of bed if she farted”.  

So essentially I’m saying that, if this is to be considered to be a flaw, then the addition of the hi doesn’t greatly detract from the beauty of the whole thing in the context of the criteria of “age, condition and rarity”.

I’m probably in the camp of taking each example on its own merits: there are some truly awful ato hori but I don’t think this is one of them.

Best,

John