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A Kunitsugu (1st gen?) Red Urushi Bohi Katana


waljamada

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Purchased this blade to match a wakizashi I have with the same red urushi bohis for a personal daisho side quest.  Only history I was given from the previous owner about this sword was purchased from Egbert Menzinga of The Hague many years ago (maybe a known collector?) And the sword info he shared on the blade was from Japan sword art.

 

I'll post the information below I was given on the blade itself which has no papers so authenticity is unverified and I'd love any opinions.

 

Kunitsugu 1st generation

Bunmei period 1469 to 1486 ca 1470

Mino province yamada seki group

Teacher:Norizane

Nagasa 65 cm

Sori 2.05

Motohaba 2.84

Sakihaba 1.81

Kasane .81

Nakago 15.2

 

More details in photos below.  Please let me know if any additional photos would be helpful.

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SmartSelect_20220104-142620_Gallery.jpg

 

SmartSelect_20220104-143321_Gallery.jpg

SmartSelect_20211229-122052_eBay.jpg

SmartSelect_20211229-122101_eBay.jpg

SmartSelect_20211229-122043_eBay.jpg

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I'm a huge fan of the urushi lacquered bohi on blades even in the face of the thought that they are sometimes done to hide defects.  The potential shinto and religious/cultural aspect of doing it adds another dimension to a blade.  The philosophy behind battle/war and even life/death/killing is another road of thought and interpretation in nihonto that is very interesting for me to learn/think about.  I see a shimmer of philosophy in that urushi.  So even if it was simply done to hide a flaw, for me, it still helps to inspire some other thoughts surrounding our hobby.  Plus I just think they look real cool =|:^)

 

Also hoping the mei looks authentic and from the one other comparative blade I've seen there is a shot.  I attached the other papered blades mei below.

SmartSelect_20220104-230559_Chrome.jpg

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These are two different Kunitsugu smiths. The one on your blade is supposed to be Yamada-seki Kunitsugu (also called "Min" Kunitsugu because of the way he signed his name). The one in the picture above is Uda Kunitsugu, who also used a very distinctive kanji style in his inscription. 

 

In saying that, yours really doesn't look like Min Kunitsugu. Yours has a pretty orthodox inscription of the 國 (kuni) kanji, whereas Min Kunitsugu used a distinctive and unique style of 國. 

 

The name Kunitsugu is used by a lot of different smiths. Maybe over 30 smiths used this name, so pinning your sword down to a specific smith might be difficult. You kind of have to use a process of elimination to determine what the sword is not, and then work from there.  

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 Seen the auction on Ebay and left it because of the very fact that they wouldn't show the signature in the listing and the name on the Shirasaya is painted incorrectly and looked as though it was painted afterwards in modern times.

The person who sold it bought it for around 1500US after fees to the house in a live auction a few years ago.

They damaged part of the beginning of the blade though on the right side of the cutting edge after they bought it.

It's been cleaned up a bit though so it's hard to tell.

That's why he started the bidding at $2000...he needed to get what he paid plus taxes and shipping back.

 

Still a cool sword though.

Looks very nice.

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Sunny, yeah, I almost left it alone too until I had a conversation with the seller and him having no reviews didn't help anything either.  Ebay buyer protections emboldened me and wasn't convinced it was all legitimate until I got it in hand and took it out of shirasaya.

 

I got a different story on how he acquired it so potentially Egbert got it at the auction and then sold it to him or it was just talk.  Either way I'm happy with it and the price I paid as I really don't seem to run into signed katana length blades like this very often at all.  

 

I see more wakizashi with lacquer bohi which also don't seem that common and most lacquered bohi blades I've seen are Edo period.  Wont lie, I'm a sucker for them and now have 2 katana and 1 wakizashi (wak has the exact same bohi designs as this katana).

 

Dream acquisition would be a signed o-kissaki red lacquered naginata-hi katana with 27/28" nagasa.

 

The double edged sword of these are it's a niche blade type and many collectors may be hesitant to buy one due to potential hidden flaws/aesthetics etc..

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Steve, thanks for correcting me.  That was the only mei I could find under under "1st generation Kunitsugu" and other such searches.  I most likely will not be able to determine the correct Kunitsugu and the degradation of the mei make it even more difficult but I will give a good try. 

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1 minute ago, waljamada said:

Steve, thanks for correcting me.  That was the only mei I could find under under "1st generation Kunitsugu" and other such searches.  I most likely will not be able to determine the correct Kunitsugu and the degradation of the mei make it even more difficult but I will give a good try. 

No correction man ..I could be a total idiot and wrong....I'm so green in this hobby I need to be thrown back in the Fraser River....who ever made it in the past I favour ...It's a sweet sword.

I like it very much also.

None the less what ever the signature is ...it's cool.

Long blades with the red bohi like that aren't up for sale too often anymore.

either way it's a keeper.

A couple hundred bucks over will change to your favour in 5 to 10.

This hobby's value is only going up.

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