Kantei Section For The Raffle "who Wants To Win A Nihonto"

[Guest Rayhan]

Actually Stephen thats a great idea!

[Brian]

Awesome offer Stephen. On all 3 though...just to make it interesting. I'll volunteer to pay half of your prize if someone scores atari on all 3.

[Stephen]

oh yes on All three absolutely!

 

era cant be mid edo ect.   must be kanbun or genroko ect. and not den school the smith, which i hope is in the kantei

 

Complete Atari on all three, yes pot is getting sweeter, Thanks Brian!

[Alex A]

Thought id crack this in an hour whilst the Misses was at the shops, that was Saturday, anyways dont laugh.

 

1) Bizen Suke Fujiwara Munetsugu, Shinshinto (circa 1860). Originally thought one of the Suishinshi school pupils, Naotane or Naokatsu maybe.

 

2) Inoue Shinkai, Edo (mid to late 1600,s). Difficult from pics, but sure I see Masame in the Shinogi-ji, originally was thinking Hizen.

 

3) Rai Kunitoshi, Kamakura (1300). This one was the most difficult. The hamon is interesting, seen it before but cant remember where. looked at everything from Awataguchi to Naoe Shizu, but finally settled on Rai, mainly because I read of the mix between midare and suguha..

 

Wish I could give a better explanation as to the answers, but the reality is 4 hours of muddling through internet and books

[Stephen]

Well done Alex

[Surfson]

Alex, I assume you mean 1863 for Bizen Munetsugu?  b

[Alex A]

Yes, thanks Robert, ive corrected it, cheers!

[DRDave]

Kantei 1 –  Sizeable sword, but the nakago has me thinking it’s not that old.  Makes one wonder if the size is an indication it was ceremonial or commemorative.  Didn’t find a smith in the Shinshinto Taikan that I have any confidence in naming, but I’m going to go with Hisayuki.       

 

Kantei 2 – The appearance throughout the monouchi area says Tada-something to me, but the boshi is worrisome.  What the hey, I’m going with Tadahiro.

 

Kantei 3 – I’m afraid one thing this exercise has emphasized is that I haven’t enough years remaining to ever get any good at kantei.  Nakago looks old to me, but how old?  Calling it Sue-Enju; I’m picking Kunihiro.

 

 

[Guest Rayhan]

Keep them coming guys!

[Bryce]

G'day Guys,

This is my first ever kantei, so feel free to laugh yourselves silly.

 

Kantei 1. Bizen Yokoyama sukenage, shinshinto about 1840. Hada looks to be very tight itame, very long sword, but doesn't look that old. Choji midare hamon.

Kantei 2. Yamato shizu, Kamakura about 1340. Itame hada going to masame in the ha.

Kantei 3. Yamato tegai Kanenaga, Kamakura about 1300. Itame hada going to masame in the ha.

 

Cheers,

Bryce

[Guest Rayhan]

Nothing to laugh at Bryce, excellent effort! Ganbatte!

[Mark S.]

Hope I’m not out of place, but just as an added bonus Kantei (and assuming the lottery winner is completely comfortable with it once selected), could the winner be named, but before the big reveal of what the prize is, could the prize be posted and a separate Kantei be conducted? Maybe just a short period of time for this Kantei?.. just for fun and education?

[Guest Rayhan]

But what's to say the prize isn't already in the kantei?

[Surfson]

What a hint Rayhan!   Niban desuka?  

[Guest Rayhan]

What a hint Rayhan! Niban desuka?

Not telling but yes, it is in there

[Surfson]

Wow.  How much time is left for people to sign up for the raffle?   Is there two weeks left or less?  As everybody can see, the kantei part is fun and nobody is questioning or teasing anybody about their picks.  Let's get some more players in this - the prize is one of these great swords!

[Stephen]

Looking at #2 again i think a few of us were a bit hasty with shinto. Id be happy to be wrong.

[cisco-san]

Here my beginners try.

I think we have here blades from Shinshinto (Gendaito), Shinto and Koto area.

Kantei 1:
Hada looks tight itame, seems long blade, choji midare hamon, nakago seems  not that old
Therefore my guess . Gendaito – Horii Toshihide (I would like to have a blade from him...)

Kantei 2:
I can see a little bit of masame in the shinogi-ji and ko-itame, blade shape has Kanbun looking, suguha hamon, the yasurimei makes me crazy.. :-)
I think it is not Tadayoshi and not Shinkai (because of yasurimei and too popular.. :-) )… so I would go for Kawachi Kunisuke (school)

Kantei 3:
For sure Koto, but too difficult for me as I have very little to no experience with Koto blades and there is no Oshigata
Based on the condition of the Nakago I think mid-end Kamakura period, maybe a little bit later. Hamon is very difficult.. Suguha..notare. – itame and mokume hada… I´ll go for Rai school

 

I know that I am for sure wrong, but I will take it as it is "just a try"....

 

[Guest Rayhan]

Excellent effort!

[Jussi Ekholm]

I really hope we will get lot more entries as this is incredible opportunity and lots of fun at the same time. I was sure that we would have 100+ entries for the raffle but so far I counted 15 entries. I hope towards the end we will get people jumping in.

[Mark S.]

Only because I brought it up and Rayhan gave a hint that the prize is amongst the Kantei options, I’m guessing the prize is blade #1.. If selected, I also have a certain % in mind as an additional donation.... can’t believe what an excellent opportunity this is!!!

[Surfson]

I'm guessing the prize is #2.  If correct, then my guess of Sukehiro is way off!  Must be a later generation shortened Tadayoshi.....

[Mark S.]

Not sure which is more fun... the Kantei process... the anticipation of the lottery... or the wild speculation of which blade is the prize!!! This whole thing is fun on so many levels!

[Curran]

I actually tried. I hate to admit my sword knowledge so lags what I know of fittings.

 

Here goes:

 

(1)   Koyama Munetsugu

 

(2)   Hizen no kuni Kawachi no kami Fujiwara Masahiro     - this one kept trying to lead me away from Hizen because of the nakago filemarks

 

(3)   Yamato Shizu 

 

 

Curran

[pcfarrar]

I'm not very confident but here are my answers:

 

1. Shape and length suggest shin-shinto, hamon is definitely Bizen and it reminds me of a Sukenaga I saw recently. So my answer is Bizen Yokoyama Sukenaga, Tenpo period.

 

2. Shape suggests kanbun period, kesho yasurimei just don’t fit with Hizen, I’m guessing it’s possibly an Osaka Shinto smith, my guess is Shinano no Kami Nobuyoshi.

 

3. Shape suggests koto and the bo-hi terminating in the kissaki is also something you’d expect to see on a koto sword. The hamon is also quite different on both sides particularly in monouchi. It has a nice tight ko-itame jigane visible in places.  I’m going to go for Yamato Tegai late kamakura period.

[Mark S.]

So... just wondering (in an effort to make myself feel better)... is anyone else with OCD keeping a spreadsheet of answers???

[Stephen]

Nope!

[Guest Rayhan]

Not a bad idea Mark!

[Vermithrax16]

So... just wondering (in an effort to make myself feel better)... is anyone else with OCD keeping a spreadsheet of answers???

Nah, that's just crazy.......

2018_NMBSwordKanteiTracker.xlsx

[Stephen]

Thanks Jeri

 

Wow them some pretty good odds one in 21? hope we get a rush over the weekend, not! LOL