Help identifying the first two nihonto I purchased

[Lexvdjagt]

Hello everyone!

 

I am new to Nihonto, and purchased two Wakizashi, I did the best research I could on them but I would like to hear your thoughts on the maker/time period the blades were forged. And of course if they are authentic. I unfortunately did not have a lot of opportunity to look at Nihonto in my country, as I like in The Netherlands. So I acquired these 2 to kick off my collection. I acquired one from a Japanese seller and the other from a US seller. The one from the US seller came with NBTHK papers. Any information is welcome, I am also quite intrigued by the koshirae on the NBTHK wakizashi.

 

Identified by the seller as signed by Kashu Kiyomitsu saku with NBTHK Kicho Token paper dated 1961.

 

[Lexvdjagt]

The sword from the Japanese seller:

Signature identified as: 藤島 - Fujishima

Identified by seller as Muromachi period 

[Lexvdjagt]

Any information related to the maker/period would be appreciated. I understand these nihonto are not the greatest of quality. But I care a lot about the history, and not so much about the condition. I was also wondering if the Koshirae of the first sword could be identified with the kozuka signature? 

[Mark S.]

I believe inscription on kozuka is:

 

Kai Mihara 三 原
Munechika 宗 近

[Jussi Ekholm]

You are actually lucky as the Netherlands has lot of activity for swords. You can check http://www.to-ken.nl/ for starters.

 

For the first Kiyomitsu sword I think NBTHK had specified (後代) late generation in brackets. At least that is what I am seeing in small picture. Kaga Kiyomitsu smith lineage started around Early Muromachi period. There were multiple generations during Muromachi period. Then the Kiyomitsu name continued in Kaga throughout the Edo period. Unfortunately I cannot really identify the smith and the character for mitsu (光) looks to be done in bit "special" style. That could help in identifying the smith. The Muromachi Kiyomitsu smiths that I have mei examples of, wrote in more traditional style mitsu. Also I think more typical longer Muromachi Kiyomitsu signature would be (加州住清光) Kashū jū Kiyomitsu. I can be wrong here but I would guess NBTHK meant later generation of Muromachi Kaga Kiyomitsu, instead of Kaga Kiyomitsu smiths in general. That is why for me it can be difficult when there is little addon information, as it specifies a bit but you also need to understand what NBTHK wants to specify.

 

Fujishima is actually a school founded by (Fujishima) Tomoshige during Nanbokuchō period. The school originates in Echizen but moved to Kaga province during late Nanbokuchō period. Generally the school is considered as Muromachi period school even though some earliest smiths forged during Nanbokuchō period and some continued working into Edo period. It is fairly common to find work of this school just signed Fujishima. However the signature Fujishima (藤島) on your sword does not match any of the signed examples I have in my references. However I feel the style of hamon could be plausible for the work of this school.

[Rivkin]

Kashu Kiyomitsu did suguha and those are sometimes really nice blades, but this one has quite a few kizu, unlikely to be close to first tier - with this style you expect the best to be Yamashiro looking and without blemishes. It looks late Muromachi, and most likely the attribution/signature is ok.

Second blade with pronounced gunome-sunagashi is a good match for Fujishima. The polish is a bit "dealer level" and the seller is known to offer en masse blades which are out of polish, damaged etc. at bottom prices.

I think both are genuine late Muromachi examples.

[Nobody]

11 hours ago, Mark S. said:

I believe inscription on kozuka is:

 

Kai Mihara 三 原
Munechika 宗 近

 

Looks like 三條宗近 - Sanjo Munechika.

[Mark S.]

6 hours ago, Nobody said:

 

Looks like 三條宗近 - Sanjo Munechika.

Thank you Moriyama San… I really jumped the gun on my translation and ‘convinced myself’ into it being wrong.  My apologies to the OP and I appreciate today’s lesson to slow down and re-check. 

[Lexvdjagt]

Thank you @Mark S. @Nobody @Rivkin @Jussi Ekholm for your assistance! It has helped me a great deal.