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Katana attributed to Naminohira. Interesting shape and dimensions.


md02geist

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Per Aoi:

 

Katana in Shirasaya.(NBTHK Hozon Token)
Signature: Mumei(unsigned) attributed as Naminohira.
Sayagaki (writing on the saya): Satsuma Hanshi ??? Jinjuro Shoji
2 Shaku 3 Sun
Naminohira Senzan(Kao)
(Attributes ownership to a samurai named Satsuma Jinjuro)
Blade length :69.5cm or 27.36 inches.
Sori :0.8 cm or 0.31 inches.
Mekugi : 1
Width at the hamachi : 2.3cm or 0.90 inches.
Width at the Kissaki : 1.84 cm or 0.72 inches.
Kasane : 0.4 cm or 0.15 inches.
Era : Early Muromachi period.
Shape :
The blade is rather thin thickness and width
with small sori and longer kissaki.
Jigane:Koitame hada and mokume hada mixed
with jinie attach and shirake utsuri appear.
Hamon:suguha hamon.
About the Naminohira school: The founder of Naminohira School was Masakuni
who moved from Kyoto to Satsuma province in the10th century.
His works rarely survive so Yukiyasu is thought as the substantial founder.
The school continuously made swords there
until the last Edo period. The 56th of this school was Iwami (No)
Kami Yasuharu who reinforced the school in the Shin-to period.
His grandson Yamato (No) Kami Yasuyuki learned under Izumi
(No) Kami Masafusa.
The name Naminohira has synonymous meaning
with the glassy surface of the water so water transporters
and navy men highly appreciate the sword of this school.
The special feature of Naminohira School is its traditional Suguha-hamon and well-grained blackish Jigane.
This sword is oosuriage mumei and looks
old early Muromachi period. The Jigane is a soft feeling nice texture.
Even though, there are some Kitaekizu but not serious.

Naminohira 1.jpg

naminohira 2.jpg

naminohira 3.jpg

naminohira 4.jpg

naminohira 5.jpg

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Please feel free to comment. I thought this was a very interesting blade particularly due to the length / width. With the shallow sori it almost reminds me of a rapier (I understand that this is not an exact metaphor, just the "feel" it has, no need to correct me on the differences or any of that lol).

 

I have a translation to the shirasaya written down but if anyone wants to speculate on it seeing as some figures are missing feel free! It's my understanding that it denotes ownership of the blade.

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Hello, Rob. My 波平行安, made in 1858, blade length 69 cm, curvature 1 cm, "示現流 jigenryu" style.
The warp is slight, and the blade is convex grind and way too heavy. For some reason, Satsuma swords use tang roughly .
It's so straight that it was packed in Roll Core-Tube and delivered to me.

刀 波平行安 指裏.jpg

刀 波平行安 茎(サーベル潰し).jpg

Kraft-Paper-Roll-Core-Tube.jpg

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It is a statistical outlier and I was surprised when I saw it first time. I have been following Naminohira swords (pre-Edo). In general old Naminohira swords tend to have relatively large curvature on average.

 

For 14 signed old Naminohira Tachi I have tracked down they average the following

Nagasa: 73,6 cm (some of them are suriage) - Sori: 2,6 cm - Motohaba: 2,9 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For 14 Mumei tachi with Ko-Naminohira attribution they average

Nagasa: 76,8 cm (some of the are slight suriage) - Sori: 2,4 cm - Motohaba: 3,0 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For 11 Mumei katana with Ko-Naminohira attribution they average

Nagasa: 68,7 cm (all suriage) - Sori: 2,0 cm - Motohaba: 2,7 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For the 4 Mumei tachi with Naminohira attribution (most likely made after Nanbokuchō) they average

Nagasa: 78,1 cm (all ubu) - Sori: 3,2 cm - Motohaba: 3,0 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For the 19 Mumei katana with Naminohira attribution (most likely made after Nanbokuchō) they average

Nagasa: 71,6 cm (most suriage) - Sori: 2,2 cm - Motohaba: 3,0 cm - Sakihaba: 1,9 cm

 

Of course this is not in any means definitive analysis but based on available examples that I have for data it is easy to see that in general pre-Edo period Naminohira swords are quite long and with strong curvature and average width.

 

For comparison I do have a mumei tachi attributed to Naminohira and Early Muromachi period, it is 77,2 cm with 3,7 cm curvature. Quite the opposite in shape to this example in the opening.

 

992163537_15163-2mittaus.thumb.jpg.2ddd59790fe6e32e4a4149ae0687338b.jpg

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Naminohira is not generally too highly regarded school in Japan. While they do have few historically very remarkable swords their work is in general maybe quite basic/practical. Therefore the Naminohira attribution kind of lacks "prestige" in my view.

 

Now the following might be wrong view but personally I think many basic/practical swords will get low prestige attributions by NBTHK as the workmanship is not easily defined and is maybe not of high quality.

 

In general I think the lower prestige schools like Naminohira are quite reasonably priced, as they have lower desirability by majority of collectors. However there are some good mumei tachi with Ko-Naminohira attributions that are bit more expensive.

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On 10/16/2020 at 12:48 PM, Jussi Ekholm said:

It is a statistical outlier and I was surprised when I saw it first time. I have been following Naminohira swords (pre-Edo). In general old Naminohira swords tend to have relatively large curvature on average.

 

For 14 signed old Naminohira Tachi I have tracked down they average the following

Nagasa: 73,6 cm (some of them are suriage) - Sori: 2,6 cm - Motohaba: 2,9 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For 14 Mumei tachi with Ko-Naminohira attribution they average

Nagasa: 76,8 cm (some of the are slight suriage) - Sori: 2,4 cm - Motohaba: 3,0 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For 11 Mumei katana with Ko-Naminohira attribution they average

Nagasa: 68,7 cm (all suriage) - Sori: 2,0 cm - Motohaba: 2,7 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For the 4 Mumei tachi with Naminohira attribution (most likely made after Nanbokuchō) they average

Nagasa: 78,1 cm (all ubu) - Sori: 3,2 cm - Motohaba: 3,0 cm - Sakihaba: 1,7 cm

 

For the 19 Mumei katana with Naminohira attribution (most likely made after Nanbokuchō) they average

Nagasa: 71,6 cm (most suriage) - Sori: 2,2 cm - Motohaba: 3,0 cm - Sakihaba: 1,9 cm

 

Of course this is not in any means definitive analysis but based on available examples that I have for data it is easy to see that in general pre-Edo period Naminohira swords are quite long and with strong curvature and average width.

 

For comparison I do have a mumei tachi attributed to Naminohira and Early Muromachi period, it is 77,2 cm with 3,7 cm curvature. Quite the opposite in shape to this example in the opening.

 

992163537_15163-2mittaus.thumb.jpg.2ddd59790fe6e32e4a4149ae0687338b.jpg


 

Thank you for your excellent commentary. I agree that it seemed an outlier to me too. It caught my attention due to the shape of it: super shallow sori and quite narrow even down to the hamachi.

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