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Hataraki Question


Kanenaga

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I'm having trouble copying the image from the website and putting red circles around the areas of concern.  But if you look at the magnified image of the blade I don't see how you can miss these irregular oval bright whirlpools.  There are two right at the machi, different sizes, one on each side.

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My take on this is that a sword which is made using kobuse or other method having core steel, and if the construction method is uneven, may show areas of shingane from the beginning (ie. from the kaji-oroshi stage). There is a shinsakuto in the general area where I live which clearly shows patches of o-hada/shingane in what is otherwise a tightly forged jitetsu. It appears clear that this was not the smith's intent, but the core was not centrally placed within the body of the blade and 'broke through' at an early stage in the sword's life.

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Kaji-oroshi is the initial foundation shaping done by the smith before it continues to be refined and completed by the togishi. I had photos of a shinsakuto I purchased from Enomoto Sadayoshi in kaji-oroshi condition, but can't seem to locate those now.

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Oh, I see.  I had a sword that was like that - never touched by a polisher.  I think that there is a NMB thread on it since it had very interesting mounts.  It was made by a guy trained in the Suishinshi lineage but then moved to Hokkaido.  I have no idea how to find the thread, but I had no way to know if it was ever tempered.  

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We've all seen inazuma and kinsuji, they don't generally look like this.  I prefer Andi and Ray's interpretation, that these are patches of shingane, but I'm surprised that a smith -- especially a notable one like Sokan -- would release/sell a blade with such flaws.  Perhaps it had a very thin kawagane that came away with the first polish? 

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That is what I am thinking as well. It was surprising to me that the local example (by the noted smith Tanigawa Moriyoshi) was released with patches that were obviously shigane showing, but the overall work quality was very high and he may not have wanted to scrap/recycle the sword even with this issue. 

 

 

Perhaps it had a very thin kawagane that came away with the first polish? 

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BTW, it is worth noting that the sword is only Hozon. Granted that many times collectors in Japan are happy to have their swords only validated at the Hozon level, it seems more common that dealers want to sell swords such as this with Tokubetsu Hozon (if it will achieve that level). Of the five Sokan daito which Tsuruta has on his aoijapan.net archive, only one has not achieved Tokubetsu Hozon.

 

The price is also around half (or less) of what a Tokubetsu Hozon Sokan daito would typically sell for in Japan.

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Is it also possible that Sokan made a perfectly good sword but an inexperienced polisher worked too long on those places on the blade and polished deep divots into the blade?   We all see swords that have huge polish valleys in them when viewed longitudinally.  

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The fact that the o-hada is so plentiful in all areas of the blade, I would lean towards this being a problem with the construction. You would not expect to see so much shingane in what appears to be still be a large and healthy sword, even with a very inept polish. Although there is something funky going on at the mitsugashira, the polish from what I can see seems generally competant (but I do get your point that a poor polish could have been given earlier). Something else interesting is that large machi-okuri. Maybe done because the hamon was too disrupted at the original hamachi on that side and to hide the worst spot in the jihada under a habaki?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Seems like a Chikei coming out on the borderline of shingane & kawagane (lamination oxide makes quite optimal place for chikei to form). Next polish will be quite likely to remove them and expose core steel. Basically it's not by-the-book chikei, rather in between O-hada & chikei.

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Hello:

I am glad to see some support from Ryubiken. It took me a long time to distinguish chikei from inazuma and other similar hataraki. While the image is now gone I think the key is that they are not necessarily bright but follow transition boundaries in the kitae. A good definition is that provided by Gordon Robson in the JSS/US's Glossary of Japanese Sword Terms: "Lines of fused ji-nie that follow the hada pattern. This feature is blackish in appearance, and is similar to kinsuji and inazuma that occur in the hamon. The feature is characteristic of Soshu works". If I recall correctly the subject blade was hardly a beautiful example.

Arnold F.

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