Sword paperwork legitimacy

[edzo]

Hello everyone,

 

A person that I know is considering selling his swords. My inquiry is not for value. He provided me with some paperwork that was obtained at the time he acquired the swords around 1945. I am wondering if the paperwork is of any contributory value in terms of appraisal of the swords. I will attach photos of the docs and hope that someone is familiar with this type of paperwork. I f anyone can comment on the smith or paperwork itself it would be greatly appreciated. He has a pole sword as well but with no docs on that. I do have some photos if anyone is interested.

 

Thank You, and respectfully,

Ed F

[Clive Sinclaire]

Hi Ed

As it seems nobody has replied to you enquirey yet, the following maybe of some help athough I am away from my references at the moment so cannot check the detail of the following and hope it is of some help:

 

This is not "official" paperwork as issued by one of the sword organisations but is nonetheless interesting. As it is dated in 1952, Japan was still enjoying the Allied occupation and swords had only recently been spared from confiscation and destruction.

The Kunikane line of swordsmiths from Sendai claimed descent from the Hosho school, one of the 5 sub schools of Yamato-den and I believe there were 13 generations from the 1st generation Yamashiro Daijo in the early shinto period to the 13th generation in the Bakamatsu era. The distinctive feature, taken from the Hosho school, is that the jihada is pure masame-hada often resulting in small tata-ware which are considedered acceptable in Kunikane workmanshi. The Kunikane were retained by the Date clan in Sendai.

As I said, I have none of my references to hand so I hope the above is accurate and I apologise for any errors!

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Ed,

Second Yasutsugu, the smith mentioned in the other paper, was also well known. If Utsuki Shigeru, who wrote the papers, was/is a known authority on Nihonto his opinion should carry some weight and increase the value of the swords. If not, his opinion doesn't count for much 65 years later. However, the papers do add a bit of history to the swords and in that way they add to the value.

Grey

[edzo]

Hi Ed,

Second Yasutsugu, the smith mentioned in the other paper, was also well known. If Utsuki Shigeru, who wrote the papers, was/is a known authority on Nihonto his opinion should carry some weight and increase the value of the swords. If not, his opinion doesn't count for much 65 years later. However, the papers do add a bit of history to the swords and in that way they add to the value.

Grey

Hi grey and thank you very much for your input. My dilemma is that I have ranslated the mei on the Yasutsugu katana and by a process of intensive examination of the characteristics of the "Aoi" mon and the signature I have concluded that the blade was forged by Edo Sandai Yasutsugu (3rd generation,(Edo) not Echizen. Signature reads "Yasutsugu Motte Ban Tetsu Oite Bushu Edo Saku Kore". The forging characteristics are consistant but there are no references to the imported steel or Edo made this. With regard to the Kunikane blade It is signed "Oshu Sendai no-ju Fujiwara Kunikane" and there is no mention of Oshu, or Fujiwara, as a first name. I will have to have the paperwork translated as I can only translate fragments of it. I'm not SURE that the papers are correct.

 

Thanks, Ed F

 

Edit: Wouldn't Nidai have been the second? That was what my research concluded.

[edzo]

Hi Ed

As it seems nobody has replied to you enquirey yet, the following maybe of some help athough I am away from my references at the moment so cannot check the detail of the following and hope it is of some help:

 

This is not "official" paperwork as issued by one of the sword organisations but is nonetheless interesting. As it is dated in 1952, Japan was still enjoying the Allied occupation and swords had only recently been spared from confiscation and destruction.

The Kunikane line of swordsmiths from Sendai claimed descent from the Hosho school, one of the 5 sub schools of Yamato-den and I believe there were 13 generations from the 1st generation Yamashiro Daijo in the early shinto period to the 13th generation in the Bakamatsu era. The distinctive feature, taken from the Hosho school, is that the jihada is pure masame-hada often resulting in small tata-ware which are considedered acceptable in Kunikane workmanshi. The Kunikane were retained by the Date clan in Sendai.

 

As I said, I have none of my references to hand so I hope the above is accurate and I apologise for any errors!

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

Hi Clive and thank you for your response. If you read my response to Grey, just below you will understand my concerns with the paperwork, but i cannot translate it to see if it matches my research efforts. FYI the blades are Naval mounted Kyo Gunto with an admirals tassel and Kai Gunto with officers tassel (Russo-Japanese war period, and are in excellent condition).

 

Thanks again Ed F

[cisco-san]

Hi Ed,

 

do you have pics from the blades and the mounts?