Kondo Isami's "Kotetsu"

[Ray Singer]

Credit to Paul Martin for sharing this post.

 

"According to today’s Sankei Shinbun, Kondo Isami’s (Shinsengumi) beloved ‘Kotetsu’ may have been discovered. The blade is apparently a gimei Okimasa (2nd Gen. Kotetsu), but the possibility that it was Kondo’s is high."

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

How in the world can they tie a specific blade to a person, if it hasn't been in a clan's holdings?

[Bugyotsuji]

Ken, the whole story is explained in some detail in the article but it’s so fuzzy I gave up in the middle. Someone bought it on a net auction for 950,000 yen, and then asked the Shinsengumi society to investigate.

 

Running a search

https://special.sankei.com/a/life/article/20200608/0001.html

[lonely panet]

Wasn't the blade badly damaged or bent from a fighting??

 

From what i read in the book

[Baka Gaijin]

Shinsengumi seems to be flavour of the week, here's a blade in Koshirae with a stated link to Souji Okita, currently at a prestigious gallery in London:

 

https://japanesegallery.com/katana-mumei-attributed-kashu-kiyomitsu-with-hozon-token

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

They were nasty buggers, but got the job done. Be good if both blades were correctly attributed.

[Ray Singer]

A better photo below.

 

[francois2605]

Shinsengumi seems to be flavour of the week, here's a blade in Koshirae with a stated link to Souji Okita, currently at a prestigious gallery in London:

 

https://japanesegallery.com/katana-mumei-attributed-kashu-kiyomitsu-with-hozon-token

 

 

Indeed, I was reading about this blade earlier this week.

 

I'm (maybe wrongly) amazed that such an historical artifact can be found outside Japan.

[16k]

Great link François! 
 

I wish we had more details about Kondo's blade and how it was authenticated.

[Bugyotsuji]

Regarding François’s interesting link above, the expression Bukotsu 無骨 today generally means rustic, rough and ready. In the context of the sword there is a set phrase 人間無骨 Ningen Mukotsu, which goes back to the inscription on a famous Jumonji Yari wielded by Mori Nagayasu, cutting through bodies as if they had no bones.

 

Izumi no Kami Kanésada