A Sukesada Wakizashi?

[lancashireparade]

Hi all! I am really new at nihonto and enjoying the challenge and all the learning that goes with it. I recently purchased this wakizashi at auction and I am wondering if anyone can verify the signature. I believe that it is signed by Sukesada from Mimasaka. I came to this assessment by comparing the characters in the Nihonto Club's smith index for ID SUK950 - Hachirojiro Sukesada. The blade is out of polish and I am especially intrigued by what appear to be minor damage along the edge and on the tsuba that look like combat damage. The damage seems consistent with a practitioner of Niten Ichi Ryu . Whether it has any value or not, I am more interested in determining its age, as it seems to be a blade with stories. Ultimately I would like to see it polished and preserved if it has any modest value. Is this a Sukesada blade? or something else? Your opinions would be greatly valued!

 

Thanks,

Neil

[Ken-Hawaii]

Welcome, Neil. Age is determined by the sugata (shape of the sword),. Why don't you start reading through https://markussesko.com/kantei/  & see if you can figure it out yourself.

[Karusk]

The color patina and sugata add up to an edo period bade to me. Shinto not shin shinto. So 16-1700. Cant tell ya for the signature im not that good yet. 

[Bugyotsuji]

備州長船祐定

 

Spoiler

Bishu Osafune Sukesada

 

[Yasaka Azuma]

It's hard to determine, so I'm sure you should see the real thing with your own eyes. If there is even a slight tendency like an image, its authenticity is suspicious.

 

[Geraint]

Dear Neil.

 

I can sense your excitement, now slow down a bit and start from the beginning.  Your sword is signed, "Bishu Osafune Sukesada".  The one you have identified is one who signed as, "Sakushu", not Bizen.  (if you have clicked on the spoiler from Piers then you already know that.)  

As I am sure you will have noticed there are a lot of smiths signing Sukesada.  A lot.  Out of all of them this mei is the commonest so pinning it down to a specific smith is very unlikely.  Even if you get this sword put into a proper polish and submit for papers it is likely to come back confirming the mei as Sukesada without defining the individual smith.

 

The link Ken has given you will get you started on sugata but don't be surprised if you find this tricky, swords posted here get estimates from several hundred years apart sometimes. (You don't give dimensions which would be useful.)

As the sword is out of polish you are going to have to have a good look and see what you can see of the hamon and boshi and fit those to the work of Bizen smiths.

 

As to the combat damage make what you like of it but I should think it is as likely to be the JimmyandBen ryu school of kenjutsu when they got hold of Dad's swords and played samurai with them.

 

Enjoy the journey!

 

All the best.

 

 

 

 

 

[Japan2112]

Dear Neil,

I can offer you some thoughts will also suggest some homework. 

* From the nakago - crisp yasuri mei, light rusting and pretty vivid mei it seems Shinto to me.

* Its sugata has some taper and shallow sori, and so Kanbun Shinto (1661 or so). Having some dimensions would help.

* The mei is naga (long) mei which is better than mumei, or even niji (two character) mei, but Shinto Sukesada makers tended not to use 'Bishu" but instead "Bizen" so, curious.

* The blade appears ubu (unaltered) by only one hole and signature lined up pretty well where it should be. Nagasa (cutting edge length) would be helpful, as during Edo times wakizashi length was regulated in 1645 and again in 1688 for non samurai.

* I really can't be sure from the pic, but the nakago ana appears drilled and not punched (as done pre 1550 or so). So Shinto again.

* Shinto Sukesada mei were not very "precious", and so, probably not a fake signature.  It would be more likely that a fake signature would be zaimei (e.g. Kawachi no Kami...). All in all, several points toward a Shinto Bizen Sukesda nihonto in my limited opinion . There were around ten or so smiths signing Sukesada working in the later 17th century. My recommendation is to take these measurements - kasane, motohaba, sakihaba, nagasa, and sori and post again.  Trying to match the mei could then follow later.

 

I hope that others, more knowledgeable than I, will chime in to help you along and, of course, offer any corrections to my observations.

 

Best,

 

Mark

[lancashireparade]

Perfect! you have given me some places to start learning some more. I am VERY grateful for all the helpful comments and I will definitely re-post with some measurements. If there was one book or article that people found impacted their knowledge most of sword appreciation, what would it be? Thank you all so much for the time and effort you have already put into my post.

Regards,

 

Neil

[SteveM]

The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords is one of the bibles of the sword collecting world. It is an excellent general reference guide.

Since it tries to cover a broad range of topics it can be both too dense for the newcomer, and too shallow for those looking for more deep discussion of topics. It tends to be very dry reading. If one only has experience with low-end swords, one might find The Connoisseur's Book to be very rough going. It is, nonetheless, a very good reference book.

 

Don't overlook the fact that you are already using one of the best English-language resources for Japanese swords. The forum and the many links are indespensible, I think, for people who don't have easy access to Japanese swords or Japanese-language resources. The recent discussion on the Tametsugu attribution is a good example. And the thread from the poster that details his journey from picking up a promising, but obscure sword at a police auction, to the sword being sent to Japan and being appraised as "Tokubetsu Hozon" (worth of special preservation), is not to be missed. 

 

If you haven't checked out Markus Sesko's site, you should do that as well. For a site full of eye-candy and a discussion of a variety topics of interest to sword afficionados you should also check out Darcy Brockbank's site. Both are occasional posters here, which is another reason why you should deep dive into some of the threads on this site. 

[Japan2112]

Neil,

Of interest to see the scope of the Bizen Sukesada smiths you might Google Nihonto Club on the web, use the swordsmith index and it will list the large group.  A solid reference to Bizen works is Nihon To Koza Vol IX Koto Part 2 translation by Harry Watson. Grey usually has a copy on his website. Not cheap ($150+), but I found this one handy for a deeper dive into Bizen works. Nihonto To Koza Vol IV Shinto also covers Sukesada works but largely just the main guy - Kozuke Daijo. I concur with others that Markus' articles are a free and very helpful resource.

Best,

Mark

[Japan2112]

...and I'd like to mention that Ray Singer's website,  Swordsofjapan, contains a series of published articles by Jim Kurrasch that are very informative. 

[lancashireparade]

Wow, these are really great responses and I have my homework cut out for me. I will read with interest! Earlier in this thread Geraint and Mark C asked me to provide some measurements. I'm using the measuring rules from this page: Japanese SWORD MEASUREMENT (japaneseswordindex.com) .

 

According to this, this torii sori shoto has the following:

Nakago: 5.5 "

Nagasa: 21"

Kissaki 1 1/16"

 

Also, I have been looking for images of a punched mekugi ana, because I am wondering how to tell if mine is drilled or punched as per Mark C