What can I see

[kissakai]

My knowledge of blades is minimal but I try

I have some decent books but they didn't help much so I must be a slow learner

What do these images tell me?

If anyone wants a guess at the school please have a go. It is a very well known school

Polished in Japan with new shirasaya and habaki and also papered

I've looked it every day for a week but see very little but for one day only the area above the hamon 'popped' and I saw a lot more

I see very little in the hamon area

Any pointers would be appreciated

 

 

[Rivkin]

Somebody really wanted to be Rai Kunimitsu. 

Jigane is a bit softer though and there is very little utsuri I guess. Can be photography effect as Yamashiro can be hard to shoot.

And hard to judge without sugata and nakago.

Hizen?

 

[kissakai]

Where do you see the utsuri?

 

[Rivkin]

There is very faint belt darking and brightening close to kissaki. 

[kissakai]

Thanks Krill

This is what I was hoping for

I can compare the comment by looking at my blade in hand

Any more pointers?

 

[kissakai]

Any more help/advice?

 

[Rivkin]

I don't know what exactly to add - to me Hizen is just not too rich in things to see. There is a wide hamon with little activity, a wide nioiguchi, bright and consistent itame hada with ji nie. They are nice, attractive blades which are somewhat sensitive to polish level and tend to be a bit more tricky with light compared to most shinto blades - side illumination can work poorly, ji nie sparkles when the light sources is from above, while nioguchi typically stands out from beyound the edge.

For some reason they are extremely appreciated in Japan and Juyo sessions where a single owner papers a few (three-four?) identical Hizen blades at once if I remember correctly are not too uncommon.

[Rivkin]

Here is a photograph I did of Hizen Tadayoshi

[kissakai]

Thanks Kirill

It all helps as I have the blade in hand

I can check out your blade details info

Once this has sunk in I may try posting a different blade

 

[DoTanuki yokai]

 http://www.ksky.ne.j...ie99/appreciate.html if you go through the pages information part alot more information can be found.

 

Your pictures show the steel pattern well but i wont be sure if the the "rough" parts are more influenced by the folding or the hardening.

You will need to adjust your angle to the light to see the effects of the hardening work.

 

When you do it like this in most cases you wont see everything at all but the most will happen around the reflection of your light source.

I will try to explain what you can look for with pictures from Aoiart of a Hizen Naginata.

 

 

Now you "play" with the relfection of the light and different things will be visible close to it.

 

1. This is actually the first thing i would check if i look at the Hamon of a blade. Is this Nioi or Nie Deki ?  (I will answer this later in case you want to guess yourself)  

 

2. Around the reflection of the light on the Ji you can see the Ji-Nie. In this case the surface is full of uniform reflecting little dots what is known as the Konuka Hada of Hizento.

 

3. Look how wide the Hamon is , this could be part of point 1.  This varys much from wide Hamon of Soshu blades to very thin Yokoyama school Hamon for example.

 

4. There are some Ashi that are not very long and dont go down to the edge, they make this Suguha based Hamon more a Ko Midare in my opnion. These are part of the activitys in the Hamon called Hataraki.   (the disconnected from the Hamon Ashi is actually a Yo)

https://markussesko.com/kantei/ Hamon and boshi#1 of this articles will get into much more detail about this and all the other articles there are also full of useful Information.

 

What i explain here is in my opinion why Hadori is the standard but many dislike it that dont understand this. I think it is this Omote and Ura thing where you have to invest some time with the blade in the right light to see what it hides. 

Hope this is of some help and easier to understand then the books are.

[kissakai]

Thanks Christian

This and the preceding replies will help me a lot. I should be able to learn more from a blade in hand than in books

Shame I don't have someone close to me to discuss this

 

 

Grev