Soshu Blade?

[bBark]

Hi all, I am new here although I have used the forums here for reference and to help find information in the past.

 

Recently I purchased a blade for the first time in years and was hoping that some of the members could provide some insight for me. It has a nagasa of 37 cm and sori of 0.6 cm making it either a wakizashi or extended tanto. It looks soshu to me which makes sense as it was sold to me as early Mino/shizu but it also looks sort of Taima. Lots of activity on he blade especially in the thin hamon.

 

Unfortunately I don't have any hands on experience with these kinds of blades and I have been limited to using whatever pictures I can find as reference. Any insight by those more experienced is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you, Brendon

 

Link to older photo of the blade:

 

https://nihonto.dilanhosting.com/archive/images/Blade%20(32)1.jpg

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome to the forum, Brendon. Have you looked through Markus Sesko's excellent kantei series (https://markussesko.com/kantei/) for your answers?

 

Your blade is wakizashi, by definition, although some might call it a sunnobe tanto if it was mounted without a tsuba. The yakidashi tells me it's probably ubu, & the way the ana are cut points at Muromachi.

 

Sugata, where I normally start, is somewhat ambiguous, & did change a lot over the centuries, & hira-zukuri was popular from early Kamakura, all the way to modern blades.

 

Here is a list of tanto sugata characteristics that I keep for reference:

 

Early-Kamakura tanto = hira-zukuri w/slight uchizori, less than 24 cm

Mid-Kamakura tanto = hira-zukuri w/uchizori, usually 25-26 cm

Late-Kamakura/Early Nambokucho = hira-zukuri/uchizori, 27-32 cm

Mid-Nambokucho = Enbun-Joji sugata, 30-40 cm

Late-Nambokucho/Early-Muromachi = hira-zukuri/kanmuri-otoshi/muzori, 23-28 cm

Mid-/Late-Muromachi = hira-zukuri/uchizori. 23-26 cm
                                  = moroha-zukuri/slight uchizori, 20-23 cm

Momoyama/Early-Edo = hira-zukuri/sakizori, > 30 cm

Early-/Mid-Edo = Copies of old Koto, > 30 cm

Late-Edo/Early Meiji = hirazukuri/sakizori, 39-43 cm
 

 

Looking at the jihada, the blade has been around for awhile, & has been polished a lot, with mostly itame, & areas of masame, The midare hamon is thin, but nice, with sungashi, So, probably Soshu, as you expected. I don't see the togari that would point to Mino.

 

Good job on the photography, by the way.

[paulb]

Not sure I am with you on "probably Soshu", although by no means discounting the possibility. The combination of Soshu and Tegai traits is classic early Mino (Shizu) and narrow suguha with a lot of sunagashi points that way too. It is always problematic to tie down swords of this period as many of the characteristics began to merge in to something the schools thought their markets wanted. So late Soshu or early Mino certainly possible but I think it needs a lot more detailed study to try and tie it down more.

[bBark]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Ken, as much as I would like to take credit for the photography it was provided by the seller and better than I could ever do. I thought wakizashi but seller said it was nanbokucho tanto which makes sense given how some tanto were constructed hirazukuri and over 1 shaku but not sure about this long. I read through Markus Sesko's site in the past and admittedly forgot a lot so I started reading through his Kantei series again recently. Lots of information there.

 

Paul, I completely agree that it needs more study. I am mostly looking to narrow any study, especially considering that mumei blades can be more difficult. Supposedly there is utsuri present in the blade. I always have trouble seeing it, but if it's shirake utsuri, it would point more to Mino.

 

Not sure if it helps, but the seller seemed to think it was possibly a Mino Kaneuji work. That seems a little lofty to me, but Naoe Shizu wouldn't necessarily be surprising.

[paulb]

I think Kanuji is a little ambitious from what can be seen,especially if he is talking about the Shodai. The Naoe Shizu I have seen tend to have greater variation in height in their hamon and a more uniform nioiguchi. I cant see any utsuri in the images but that isn't unusual and doesn't mean it isn't there. If it is shirakke then I would agree it pushes you further toward Mino, although not exclusively.

Keep looking and you will be amazed at what suddenly hits you in the eye as you focus in on detail.

[bBark]

I agree that Kaneuji is a long shot. I think the blade shows a mix of Yamato (tegai maybe?) and soshu. Interestingly, I think if there is utsuri that it might be nie utsuri. I can see what I think is nie through the hamon and hada. I am not sure how widespread nie utsuri was outside of Rai blades though and I don't think this is a Rai piece.

 

Thanks for the advice, I will see if anything pops out to me that I might not have noticed. Probably will take some time with my inexperienced eye but will be a good exercise.

[Jacques D.]

IMHO kitae doesn't speak for Soshu, too much straight grains. Mino would be a good guess

[Blazeaglory]

I would like to second the Yamato/Tegai but thats just my opinion

[bBark]

I'm thinking one of the Yamato schools or early Mino (given the clear hada). It's in old polish so there might be hidden activity but I don't know if it can survive much more polishing.

 

I am thinking of possibly sending it for shinsa but I don't know of anywhere that would be able to do so on my behalf at a reasonable price. If anyone has any recommendations I would be interested in hearing them.

 

Thanks for all the insight

 

Brendon