Kanmuri Otoshi Katana by Taira Nagamori

[RobCarter3]

This is my most recent purchase.  The kanmuri otoshi blade geometry is what drew me to this piece.  The sword is signed Taira Nagamori and has a NBTHK Hozon token.  I'd be interested if anyone could translate some details of the NBTHK papers.  In particular, I'd be interested to know if the NBTHK assigns a generation or era.  Sesko's A-Z lists at least four smiths in Bungo province signing "Taira Nagamori" in the mid-late Muromachi, with the third generation working during the Eisho era being the most well known.  Also, I have a copy of Bungo Taikan/Zusetsu Bungoto, but no English index.  If anyone has a .pdf index that they could send me I'd be greatly appreciative. 

 

Nagasa: 71cm

Sori: 1.7cm

Motohaba: 2.69cm

Kasane: 0.8cm (the sword is a full 0.95cm at the widest part of the nakago -- must have been a beefy blade at one point)

 

The hada is itame with nagare and o-hada, ji-nie, and shirake utsuri.  The hamon is based on hoso-suguha mixed with midare in nie-deki.  The hamon shows activity including ko-ashi, nie-kuzure, sunagashi, and yo.  The boshi shows hakikake. 

 

This sword previously was sold some years ago by Aoi Art so I included their Oshigata and hamon photos with my photos.  The tsuba had been swapped at some point in the intervening years and it came to me with a modern reproduction tsuba.  I swapped the repro for an antique signed "Bushu ju Masanori" that matched the floral theme. 

 

[Rivkin]

NBTHK papers are generally extremely non-informative and more so when it comes to Muromachi pieces. The signature is genuine and that's about it.

Not pretending (or pretending to be) an expert, I've seen his works.

The first generation can be quite good.

When you see all the masame it can be though he was Yamato, but I've seen works which were actually strongly Aoe influenced. The key is that he did dan utsuri at times - black midare utsuri followed by nie utsuri followed by bo utsuri. Just like Aoe, the nie utsuri section can have ware since its one long pack of masame. His jigane tends to be much rougher than Aoe though, and hamon lacks the bright refinement of Aoe. Nevertheless the work is quite decent.

I don't know based on these photographs which generation it is. There is a lot more masame compared to the first generation, which was a bit more itame heavy, so I thin its indeed second or third generation.

 

Then ofcoarse even early Muromachi Bungo has full Yamato, full Yamashiro (suguha+shirake utsuri+itame), full Aoe (Yamashiro-like but more dan utsuri config) and full Bizen (choji, possibly utsuri) options. Its really difficult to judge. This seems more Yamato-based style though utsuri work is nice.

[RobCarter3]

@Rivkin This is great info, thanks!  I've really struggled to find good information about Bungo-to in English.