Promising wakizashi

[Janrudolph]

Good morning all. I was very pleased when this wakizashi turned up. There was something promising about it, but I could not escape the feeling that its just my imagination running away (as usual)! But I must admit, as a collector of edged weapons I can't help being enthusiastic. For many years it was the thing that has kept me up nights researching acquisitions. I'd like to post some pics - it might take awhile to get more running, but please bear with me. I apologise if the pics aren't very great. I hope they stimulate some robust discussion nevertheless - I am myself clueless about this waki.  

Length of blade from tip to the end of the habaki: 53 cm. Length of the tang from habaki to tang tip: 98 mm. Width of the iron tsuba: 63 mm. Johan

[Janrudolph]

[Janrudolph]

The pic of the complete wakizashi seems not to be too clear. Sorry. Here's the tsuba (iron). Tsuba width: 63 mm - oval as you can see. I'm thinking the decoration might be gold, if indeed this sword  is an oldie. Johan

[Janrudolph]

[Janrudolph]

If you say that tang tip looks chopped off, you'd be dead right - that's what it looks like to me too. The nagging thought in my head is what happened that made it look like that.

The fuchi is iron, decorated. Here's the pic. Johan

[Janrudolph]

[Janrudolph]

I'm sorry that fuchi pic didn't come out too great! The octopus on the saya looks fine, I think. The saya has a hook and a kurigata, as well as a shitodome. Besides the octopus, there are four other sea-living creatures portrayed: a clam, a conch, some kind of seashell and something that looks like a flatfish. They look great under flash, but without much light they look quite dull. There's little contrast between the crimson of the lacquerwork applique and the black of the saya body. Johan

[Ian B3HR2UH]

It is signed Yasuhiro . I have a piece with an elaborate dragon lacquered on the saya which also has a snapped off tang . My impression has always been that these were put together for the tourist trade .

Ian Brooks

[Bazza]

I'm very interested to see that the tsuba has a teppou on it, though I can't make out the object that is in front of the barrel or what the other objects are.  I'm guessing that the back of the tsuba might show a bag for keeping lead balls.  On the front I seem to remember a story here some time ago of a samurai shooting a bird in some circumstance??

 

BaZZa.

 

 

 

[Karusk]

Their all gonna tell you so ill beat em to it. Get a dark cloth and take the blade completely out of its koshirae. Using a flashlight experiment taking  pictures with the light in different positions. Make sure you get one of the whole naked blade they want to see the sugata. (Shape/curvature)
 

The yasurime (file marks) and patina look good for a shinto/shinshinto age guess. The tsuba is probably meiji maybe a little older, but it does appear to have been fitted to a couple different blades as evidenced by the two different metals used to change the shape of the hole. 
 

we are all gonna want to see that kozuka and the seppa too. 

[Janrudolph]

Thank you Ian, Barry and Karusk. I understand what you want to see. I'll get to it.

BTW Barry, thanks for getting those tsuba pics right way up - I never ever recognized those decorations for what you showed me they were ...probably because I didn't associate Samurai with guns. Live & learn! Johan

[Janrudolph]

[Janrudolph]

I got both these kozuka and the hairpin as well. I suppose I can pick & choose which one will be best suited for the wakizashi. The other pics will follow. I suppose a kozukamaker crafted those kozuka, not the smith himself?

[Janrudolph]

[Janrudolph]

[Karusk]

I cant speak for the age if the kozuka handles themselves these are much harder and beyond my skill. They are quite good looking though. I like the patina and pattern on the kogai. 
 

I think most people will assume the blades aren’t original to the handles. They look to be meiji at the oldest. I most likely am wrong my experience is more with katana. I think you’re right about the fittings though the handles and fittings of the koshirae are all a separate labor and craftsman. 

[Karusk]

The sori/sugata says shinto to me(post 1600) note how the curve is centered and gentle along the whole blade. 

[Janrudolph]

[Karusk]

That bottom photo is a little concerning, it looks like heat damage. Does the hamon disappear there? 

[Janrudolph]

I'm hardly one to contribute my opinion of the blade, having very little practical experience, but what I do know is that I can cut ordinary folio paper with the blade. Its freaking sharp. I can feel the yokote (in comparison to another blade I have where I can see it but not feel it). I can see a straight hamon. The shinogi is sharp and very well defined. The area (flat section) between the shinogi and the mune is in good polish IMHO - to me it's mirror-like. I see little squiggles (hada?) and tiny impurities, which I feverishly imagine to be proof (!!!) that the steel is tamahagane. Please bring it on, guys; you see things I don't, and you view it in an impartial light. Those are the opinions I need to hear, and I'm grateful. Johan

[Karusk]

Not the  pitting, but the lack of a hamon under it and into the nakago. It looks like it goes into the edge, above where the edge ends. 
 

When a blade gets hot the hamon dissapears ruining the temper and edge retaining capacity. 
 

As utilitarian as the existing hamon is id call this a retemper. Im pretty sure this would prevent it from recieving a paper. 
 

It doesn’t mean it’s not worth collecting, but it does detract from the value. If you can see the hamon better in your hand going into the nakago then i just cant see and am jumping to conclusions. 
 

Retempers are part of the rich history of nihonto and IMO a fair talking point about the blade, even if it does devalue it a little. These were done to make a ruined blade serviceable again and not to defraud someone in the modern market. The reason it disappears there is because they wet wrap the nakago to prevent destroying the patina of the nakago. 

[Janrudolph]

Karusk, that bit was under the habaki. When I removed the habaki, there was a bit of resistance - I had to tamp it out gently. I wiped some gunk off the blade where the habaki come off. The habaki itself of the double (twin) kind - brass & copper. Johan 

[Karusk]

Im not referring to the pitting.  Where does the hamon end? Picture of the other side might help. Does it go straight into the edge above the end of the edge?

[Janrudolph]

I would have to admit there's a lack of a hamon under the pitting and into the nakago. Johan

[Janrudolph]

The hamon seems to go down into the edge, about an inch before the habaki. (Haha, you will have noticed our posts are crossing one another - it happens.)

I cannot help looking again at the decoration of the tsuba. I really think the gun (probably a matchlock) is not aimed at the dog (seems to be a dog), and the proximity of the dog to the muzzle is coincidental. The duck (?) in the sky might be an indication that the dog is a gundog and the hunter is after a bird or two. The noose could be to secure the dog or to carry the birds by their feet. There's round balls on the ground (or shot). The bag on the other side is a different bag, perhaps a money-bag, indicating that the hunter sells his catch for profit. I'm dreaming, aren't I? Or hallucinating. Johan. 

[Karusk]

Then its been retempered. Dont panic. They are a fact of existence for nihonto blades. It was probably damaged in a house fire. It does speak to the age of the blade and the quality the repairing smith perceived in the work of the nakago and hada. They did not wish to just melt down the existing work and labored to repair it. 
 

This definitely means its nihonto as well. No one is wasting time retempering something Chinese or modern.  

 

Id say you have a decent starter blade with some good talking points and history. From the shape and pattern of the patina id say pre 1800. 

 

The fact that its retempered is a decent  talking point IMO. It was damaged in a fire, all these paper and wooden buildings they used to have would catch fire and ruin any blades inside. One such fire destroyed so many blades it caused the emperor at the time to commission a smith to repair what he could at the time, and several of them are in the private collections of various families. 
 

It does however prevent it from being papered, and reduces the value greatly. Theres no telling when it was originally damaged could have been 200 years ago could have been 20. The only ones documented are the higher quality/ranking smiths that were all done by the mentioned commissioned smith. I do hope you didn’t spend a whole lot on it. 
 

if you wanted me to guess a value, if you walked into a few pawnshops with it you might find one that will give you around 1000$ Alot of people here would frown at me saying that because your just passing it off to someone who isn’t informed. Caveat emptor IMO. I dont think anyone here would give you that much.
 

The tsuba itself may be worth more than the blade due to the unique design, but someone better at tosogu may disagree with me there. I really cant speak for the value of your kozuka. 

 

Id keep it as a study tool. The next time you go for one youll take a good look at where the hamon ends. 
 

 

 

[Janrudolph]

But as a mark of respect towards you for the trouble you are taking to give me the information I need, I want to take a careful pic of the hamon section in question and show you as best I can.

I must say:  from among the blades that I have, this one is die brightest (having best polish) in the shinogi-ji area. I've always wondered why you boffins make such a fuss about not handling the blade with the fingers, because if I handle my blades, I never see finger marks. With this one I actually do. And it take a lot of wiping with cloth and thin oil to remove. That's a lesson I am learning. Johan 

[Karusk]

High carbon steel reacts to the oils in you skin and creates rust. Quickly. It never fails when i hand someone a blade to look at I tell them not to touch the blade and the first thing they do is take their thumb and run it up the edge. Then we need a bandaid is the second reason 🤪. ITS FREAKING SHARP DONT TEST IT WITH YOUR THUMB. Not yelling at yiu just conveying the emotion i feel when someone does this🥵
 

If you have blades that dont rust from touching they have a high cromium content. Stainless. These are all considered wall hangers baring some high alloyed tool steels with magnesium and bainite.  I have a large collection of high quality  medival reproduction and let me tell you they will grab a fingerprint like no ones buisness. I have a rittersteel odachi that has my friends distinct thumbprint on it still. 
 
A super mirrored polish is not necessarily the best thing on a Nihonto. A less conservative opinion would be that it had been restored by a Chinese polisher, this is literally called chunese mirror polish and is more common on modern reproductions. I wouldnt let this concern you too much as its on a retemper. 
 

That tsuba tells a story definitely. Looking at it with your input id say thats an excellent telling of it. I recommend taking it to the tosogu forum to get a better opinion than mine. I have yet to make my foray into the world of tosogu as its a harder more refined study i dont want to make any mistakes at. Its definitely an attractive design, but there are a whole lot of modern reproductions of attractive designs like this. It does seem to have age to it, with the refitted metals in the hole, but this can be done just to make it look old. Or it could have just been done to make it fit better, with no intent to defraud. 

[Janrudolph]

[Janrudolph]

I've read what you wrote, thank you, and I really appreciate your insight. Please see the two pics I promised. But I had a hell of a job resizing them down to almost nothing, as I was disallowed larger pics. They look like nothing now. Sorry about that.

I do wish, and hope, that more respondents come in to the discussion, as I do need some kind of further assessment as to the signature on the tang. Johan