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1,3,5

But frankly many of the other are very good. I think that often we mix quality with personal preferences and tastes. Here that compounds an already difficult situation, where you have a 2D partial shot of one side of a sword without angular shots to observe nie utsuri, nioi utsuri or hataraki in detail.

Kirrill is right that often actually the nakago also matters and especially whose mei it is on it.

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Dear members,

 

Better you take a seat. Take a deep breath. And remember what I wrote before: Don´t take this too serious. This is just an experiment.

 

Whatever your judgement is, it is not important. You never had the chance to hold one of these blades in your hand. All you got was a single photo with a part of a blade.  So, here we go…

 

 

Seems so, that I forgot a very important single word.

 

The name of the game was indeed Find the Tokubetsu Juyo Token…(plural). Means, there was not just one Tokubetsu Juyo Token in the gallery but three.

Bad news first: since it was only an experiment I deleted the gallery. But why comes later. Here is THE LIST:

 

1. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Tametsugu – Juyo Token

 

2. Tachi, signed Nobukuni - Tokubetsu Juyo Token; thanks to Markus Sesko you can find more information about the blade here: https://markussesko.com/2016/05/30/kantei-4-yamashiro-26-nobukuni-%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BD-school-1/

               Picture 7

 

3.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Rai Kunitoshi - Juyo Token

 

4.   Katana , signed Koyama Munetsugu - Juyo Token

 

5.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Sa Kunihiro - Juyo Token

 

6.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Hosho - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

 

7.   Wakizashi, kinzogan mei Akihiro, attributed to Nobukuni - with Fujishiro papers

 

8.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Rai Kunitoshi - Juyo Token

 

9.   Katana, signed Awataguchi Omi no Kami Tadatsuna - Tokubetsu Hozon token

 

10. Tachi, signed Bishu Osafune Nagashige - no papers (if I remember correct)

 

11.  Katana, signed Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

 

12.  Wakizashi, unsigned, attributed to Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa - Hozon Token

 

13. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Ukai Unji - Juyo Token

 

14. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Ko-Bizen Kageyasu - Tokubetsu Juyo Token

 

http://www.japanesesword.de/?site=sword&id=68

 

15. Wakizashi, signed Bizen Kuni Morimitsu - Tokubetsu Kicho Token

 

16. Katana, signed, Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

 

17. Katana, signed Shinano no Kami Fujiwara Daido - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

 

18. Wakizashi, unsigned, attributed to Kongobei - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

 

19. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Shiga Seki - Hozon Token

 

20. Katana, Kinzogan mei, attributed to Rai Kunimitsu - Tokubetsu Juyo Token

 

https://www.nihontophoto.com/arbeitenfuermuseen

 

21. Wakizashi, unsigned, attributed to Enju - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

 

22. Tanto, signed Akihiro - no papers and the worst tourist crap I have ever seen

 

 

 

So, why did I do that? Well, mostly fun. And I didn´t want to do another kantei.

 

It was an experiment: Can I make a photo that shows all the qualities in a blade when I only show a part and are you able to make a conclusion about the status?

And the simple answer is: “No! No way!” Because the better the sword the harder it is to show all the details. And the way I do it is maybe technically correct.

But if you want to see the beauty in a blade, than you should  take a long and close look at Darcy Brockbank photos. And so the answer to Chris question about

finding the Tokubetsu Juyo Token is “You can´t!” You can make some educated guesses. But that´s it.

 

On the other hand, if there is no quality at all you can hide that fact with a photo. See #22.

 

Years ago Michael Hagenbusch did almost the same. He presented 6 blades and you should judge the quality of the blades. A gimei Muramasa, a saiha, only the

core left, kizu en masse and one Juyo blade. So the correct answer was one 1 and 5 x 6 (or one A and 5 x F). And I failed big. But it was a good experience.

 

A few words about some of the swords. The Juyo and Tokubetsu Juyo blades + the Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi and the Nagashige are all in the possession of the

Samurai Art Museum Berlin. You have three blades by Rai. And #3 is my personal favorite when it comes to Rai. Sometimes I guide a group of people (not very

often) and I always ask: “What is in your eyes the best sword?” 4 meter distance and you can only judge by shape. 30 seconds to pick a sword and the answer

is always #8. Rai Kunitoshi.

 

This year a catalogue about armor will come out. Maybe October/November.  And next year swords and tosogu. And here you will find all the blades. An overall

view and some detailed photos. So you have a chance to see all the photos again. And more.

 

I will post some photos of the other blades in the evening. I hope you liked the experience. Conclusion is: You have to hold a sword in your hands to make a correct

statement. Don´t let yourself fool you by a photo. Especially not when it comes from me!

 

 

And so I say Good Bye for the moment. Hope you enjoyed it. I have to go to jail (Don´t worry, I am the First Royal Bavarian Legal Officer and I work sometimes there.

But for what I do with photos I should better stay there).

 

:beer:

 

Uwe G.

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Love it!
Good fun, not to be taken too seriously. And really..the difference between Juyo and TJ is not easy from pictures alone. Kirill, you nailed a few there.
I would love to see more exercises in spotting good swords. But maybe one or 2 juyo among regular swords. In other words, how to spot the potential great sword in a table full of swords.
Uwe, you are officially nominated to attempt that at some point, since you did such a good job here :)
Would like the pics to remain up a bit so we can go back and reflect. But I suppose you have reasons for that.
Thanks Uwe.

PS - Glad my gut feel is not dead when it came to #2

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Uwe,

Thank you - that was a great experience and your photos are very good. I have repeatedly had technical difficulties viewing your gallery on the iPad and had to open it on a Windows machine in the office and the photos are very detailed but as you rightly say - a blade needs to be held in the hand to be experienced properly.

Or at least if not held, viewed in person from a near distance. So, you have not failed in your experiment but demonstrated what has always been said - handle swords to learn them and that Internet surfing and studying by photos is not enough.

 

But again- many people picked the Juyo swords as favorites, so clearly could identify quality. Bear in mind that often personal taste prevails and we ascribe higher “mental’ value to what we like while in fact another sword might be better or, if not better, might be ranked more highly due to its rarity, being signed, exceptional health etc.

 

For instance, that Ko-Bizen Kageyasu. I am still scratching my head about it. Juyo.... OK , I get it, but TJ? Given that it is mumei and the smith is only a sort of middle-level, rather-late (Ko-)Bizen maker, I think TJ was awarded due to the exceptional health (eg look at the boshi, kasane, width of the hamon) and the vigorous hamon

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So, here is a photo from #22 - Akihiro. But the photo is better than reality.

 

A word about the Kageyasu. There are two signed tachi by Rai Kunimitsu, both kokuho, The condition is better for one and one the condition is worse.

But even with this information in mind I would rather pick the Kageyasu than the Rai Kunimitsu. And I am not a Bizen fan at all. Just personal taste.

 

I will do something like that again in the future. But i t takes time. :)

 

Uwe G.

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Thank you, Uwe, for an interesting exercise.
With good photos and quality blades figuring out what they are is by far more straightforward and very much rewarding vis-a-vis typical questions here where the blade is out of polish something-shinto-waki. Very enjoyable!

I assume #1 was attributed to Mino period of Tametsugu, which has less of Norishige and more of Kaneyuki-Kaneuji semblance, and no signed/100%
certain examples...Well, just trying to make sense out of it for myself. With regards to Yamashiro and Rai specifically, I don't know them that well, and judging these blades by photo alone tends to be a complex task, so I can't really comment.

Other than that, #2 and #14 were not completely unexpected. #2 is a very strong Soshu work, which is rare in daito space, and apparently in exceptional condition and signed, so TJ is expected. I doubt there is another Nobukuni to fully match it, but maybe its just my ignorance. #14 goes towards how rich and diverse ko-Bizen craftsmanship can be. One can say it is beyond any other koto school.

My reaction to TJ paper level is sort of bifold. On the one hand, I understand collectors who buy only TJ on the premise that really good blades were already sifted out by centuries and are residing around this niche (JuBa etc.).

On the other hand, papers did create a lot of weirdness in nihonto collecting, something as a non-nihonto-psyche person I would be much better off without. You start talking to someone who supposedly can give a great advice and all they tell you - don't buy this blade! Its a waste of money! It has to be whole 1.5cm longer to qualify for TJ! No blade of this maker ever got TJ being 1.5cm shorter! Or like you are not supposed to ever buy Tsunahiro without horimono. Because these blades have really hard time making it to Juyo.

In this batch certainly even in photos some of the quality shows. Though one can imagine a set of conditions (ubu, signed, early Edo papers) that would propel a number of others here into TJ. Very enjoyable photos, thank you!

Kirill R.
 

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Thanks for this fun game and explanation Uwe. I was really surprised to see the answers and having seen 5 of the good swords in hand I did not recognize them and I was way off with some of the makers that I thought they would be.

 

2. Nobukuni tachi was the last sword that was brought to lineup at NBTHK meeting at Samurai Museum Berlin, it was a spectacular sword and I was amazed by it.

3. & 8. Rai Kunitoshi were probably the 2 Kunitoshi swords that were for us to look at the meeting?

13. Unji was Paul's addon to lineup for us?

20. Rai Kunimitsu is a spectacular sword and it was a joy to view it in hand.

 

I really liked the signed Nagashige and Sa Kunihiro too. Although they were in display case during the meeting like the Kageyasu.

 

Enjoyed this one a lot it is always nice to see games like this.

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Hi Uwe,

 

Your clarification on the Akihiro, politely speaks volumes.

 

"I am amazed that this Akihiro, is Akihiro"  It is frightening tp my eye that this is really a Akihiro. I can't believe it is 1st, 2nd, 3rd gen and yet it is consider one of the.them!  Just my humble opinion.  Peace.

 

Tom D..

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My apologies, nothing really deep here - towards #15 I was already somewhat tired; despite so many good Rai-related blades, due to my poor knowledge of this school I just decided not to dwell any deeper.

 

Kirill R.

 

Hi Krill,

 

You omitted your viewpoint on the other TK #20 Rai Kunimitsu  which I found to be outstanding. Would you please elaborate somewhat on Rai Kunimitsu.

Thank you. Peace.

 

Tom D.

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