New member puzzled by Yahazu hamon wak

[O koumori]

Has anyone ever seen a “pure” yahazu hamon? I’ve never seen straight yahazu before - only mixed with other patterns - this one has me puzzled.

 

I’m guessing later Mino, probably Shinto, but who?

 

51.4 cm nagasa, nakago has been “cleaned,” higake yasurime on the omote, kiri on the ura. Mumei.

 

Any thoughts / comments would be much appreciated.

 

Regards, Dan K.

[Toryu2020]

Dan -

What are you seeing in the jigane? Masame above the shinogi?

-t

[O koumori]

Hello Tom,

Yes, masame above the shinogi. The hira looks to be O mokume mixed with masame, becoming mostly masame at the yakiba. There is sunagashi and a few kinsiji that generally follow the line of the suguha portion of the hamon right through the base of the yahazu.

 

Dan

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I would call this kind of hamon hako-midare in place of yahasu but its only my personal point of view.

[Jean]

Typical yahazu (encoche de flèche), I have seen it already on Robert Burawoy's Muramasa tanto

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

[Jean]

yahazu

矢筈

Hamon type resembling arrow notches or a fishtail

 

hako midare

箱乱

Uneven box shaped hamon

 

NMB members shall decide which one suits best their taste

[John A Stuart]

I agree with Dan et al. that this is a very regular yahazuba and with his further description of the hada that the sword is likely a Mino Shinto. Defining almost perfectly the attributions you would expect to see. John

[Toryu2020]

Dan -

My immediate reaction was Kaga Kanewaka but I am often way off the mark. Certainly shinto and related to Mino I would look at Kanewaka and perhaps Kanefusa. Can't say I have seen a lot of shinto Seki work, so I couldn't rule them out but would expect to see togari-ba somewhere...

-t

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

Certainly shinto

 

Higaki yasrurime are very rare in Shinto Era thery are found (in principle) only on Satsuma blades.

[John A Stuart]

Etchu no Kami Kanewaka I and II, III particularly noted for their hakomidare with the intervals on very straight suguba. They are just the smiths I would expect to see using yahazuba like this sword. Nagayama Kokan says that it can be found on sue-Seki Koto, but, I've never seen examples of it that isn't mixed in with other features like gunomechoji or gunomemidare, however, and had always thought of it as a fairly rare sub-genre of hakomidare found primarily on Mino Shinto. Of course I haven't seen the Muramasa refered to earlier. The top oshigata of Jacques has a komaru sugu boshi just as the Kanewaka made. Jacques, of what swords are those oshigata? Maybe he is confusing sujikai with higaki. John

[O koumori]

Hello,

Thanks to all for responding. I will check out Kanewaka.

I have not seen the Muramasa being discussed, but there is an oshigata of a second gen. with yahazu gunome in Art and the Sword Vol.8 on page 25. The nakago on this wak would rule this out.

Nagayama shows yahazu midare on a Odawara Soshu tanto on page 204, but the hamon is not regular as is the case with the wak.

The yasurime, although not clear because of “cleaning” (argh!) is higaki rather than sujikai – but only on the omote. Is this common?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Regards, Dan K.

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I don't think this work is from Kanewaka. Some exemples below:

 

 

 

 

And another version of Yahasu and Hako midare according Iimura sensei:

 

 

Ps the previous oshigata comes from an old book named Shochu koto meikan (1856). Not mine.

[O koumori]

John et al,

I found one that looks close - Kanewaka I - in Malcolm's Mino-to. Interestingly enough, he refers to the hamon as hako-midare...I am continually humbled by Nihonto study - where I have to be ready to give up what I think I know!

 

Thanks again to all for your help.

Dan K.