Jump to content

What did I just buy?


Recommended Posts

Bought this from someone that bought it from a old lady in England. Rough shape but looks nice for some reason hmmm, some places near the tang you can see Togari hamon and in center of sword switches to gunome. Habaki is stuck guess No one really cared for the sword. I like it what do you guys think? Some pics I brightened up.

post-5079-0-10063500-1572072637_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-24772300-1572072661_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-41884600-1572072677_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-15128400-1572072712_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-45620800-1572072729_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-51183000-1572072746_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-12356800-1572072766_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-10690400-1572072787_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-09353800-1572072800_thumb.jpg

post-5079-0-31339800-1572072822_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's definitely real, you can see the the hamon at certain angles when very bright. I also think it's Shinto period blade. But can't say that geometry has been altered it does look like that in the pictures but when looking at it in person it's even I think that's because if the rust patches on the sword makes it look that way

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No earlier than shinto, but since the shape is substantially altered can be anything. Kambun "straightness" is likely an artifact of a bend, originally it was probably something with very uniform curvature.

There is certain freshness in nakago (lack of visible deep rust spots), besides the really bad condition, that might argue even for a poorly handled and patinated wartime item.

 

Kirill R.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A sword which has been sanded down to round off all of the lines of the blade, such as you see with the shinogi, yokote, ko-shinogi in the attached photo, has had its geometry comprised.

 

 

But can't say that geometry has been altered

post-457-0-32078700-1572115557.jpg

 

PS: the sori being a disaster is a whole other issue.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear Yuri.

 

What made you buy this?  Have you ever seen a habaki like that?  During yakire the blade curves first forward and then back to form the lovely sugata we all know.  Now imagine if a part of the blade had lost it's hamon due to over heating.  What would happen?  The sugata of this blade is unnatural, a very peculiar straightening from the mid point to the kissaki.  Even if you find a continuous hamon and spend the money on a polish you are still going to end up with a blade which has no grace.  Sugata first.

 

If you want to remove the habaki several kettles full of boiling water, each followed by cooling in cold water will help but I don't think you are going to be delighted by what you find.

 

All the best.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear Yuri.

 

What made you buy this? Have you ever seen a habaki like that? During yakire the blade curves first forward and then back to form the lovely sugata we all know. Now imagine if a part of the blade had lost it's hamon due to over heating. What would happen? The sugata of this blade is unnatural, a very peculiar straightening from the mid point to the kissaki. Even if you find a continuous hamon and spend the money on a polish you are still going to end up with a blade which has no grace. Sugata first.

 

If you want to remove the habaki several kettles full of boiling water, each followed by cooling in cold water will help but I don't think you are going to be delighted by what you find.

 

All the best.

Yes, fire is actually the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the sugata.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not so negative on it Yura.  It's a josun (standard length) katana at 28", and while I agree with Ray that somebody has probably sanded the monouchi a bit (the hamachi looks better), I think that the polisher won't have to take off too much meat to make the shinogi crisp again.  Probably less than what has to be removed to remove significant chips.  The problem with thoughts of restoration is that it is mumei shinto, and therefore unlikely to be cost effective to send to Japan for polish unless it comes back amazing or gets an important attribution.  I suspect that a Iaito artist might like it a lot.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly Robert I'm not so negative on it also when held in hand looks very uniform if it is off it's very very minuit. I really like it and think it's a well made piece and has a beautiful hamon that runs all the way thru also light and well balanced I think it would be a nice piece if fixed up. But I'm going to have someone that is more experienced with this matter look at it this coming Friday and see what he says and how he feels about it. Personally I think it looks that way in the pics because of the different patches of rust and what not, makes it looks off. But we shall see soon will update when decide on proper action to take.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...