EgulanTOKYO Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 Good morning/afternoon or evening; I have had a sword that I bought after I felt that it had spoken to me, it was cheap so I will continue to enjoy it regardless of what is discussed here. It has a few interesting features that leave me to wonder if the style matches the ichi or if it seems to be a bad signature. Also if anyone has a ballpark date for it I would appreciate that. Or really any thoughts about it. A few questions/thoughts 1. The tip is an odd shape but the Hamon does not run off, I’ve not heard of this tip type but it has been mentioned that it was made this way. 2. The Hamon from what I understand does not match the well known ichi style, but I could be wrong 3. There is some evidence of ware and some new rust on the blade from poor storage 4. The nagako is brown in color but I’m not sure what that means for age or preserving it 5. The nagako is .8cm at its widest and seems quite thick compared to some others I’ve handled. 6. It has been polished before but I’m not sure when. The polishers marks are visible in one of the photos. I can measure or take any additional photos, the kosharae is certainly not original to the blade, but I can photograph it if needed. The photos are on Imgur if links are bad I can upload them to this thread. https://imgur.com/a/dq7PKBZ 1 Quote
lonely panet Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 I see nothing that makes me think inchi monji 1 1 Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 13 Author Report Posted May 13 Do you think the signature is gimei? based on Hamon/hada/shape Quote
Rivkin Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 There are quite a few suguha Ichimonji, which are .... to kantei. This however does not look like it. It feels like a Muromachi piece, possibly earlyish to mid. These are hard to judge, but I would pivot towards a particularly good example of Fuyuhiro. P.S. I just noticed the nakago. Come one, this is Kaga Kiyomitsu. Not too far from Fuyyhiro though. 1 1 Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 13 Author Report Posted May 13 22 minutes ago, Rivkin said: This however does not look like it. It feels like a Muromachi piece, possibly earlyish to mid. These are hard to judge, but I would pivot towards a particularly good example of Fuyuhiro. interesting, if so I wonder when the signature was added, it seems to have a similar color under it but it could have been accelerated rusting I am not familiar with the techniques Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 13 Author Report Posted May 13 6 hours ago, Rivkin said: P.S. I just noticed the nakago. Come one, this is Kaga Kiyomitsu. Not too far from Fuyyhiro though. Based on nakago? The Hamon looks different from what I’ve seen of kiyomitsu any factors I can look into or better photos I can reference? thank you -sam Quote
Lewis B Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 Looks gimei to me. Ichi is lightly chiseled and it's not usually just a straight line. Probably the easiest Mei to fake....... Quote
Jacques Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 The sugata should tell you if this sword is Ichimonji or not... Shobu- zukuri = ? Nakago jiri is not Kaga. 1 Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 13 Author Report Posted May 13 There is an interesting profile on the blade, after the groove it has a very gentle radial curve here the spine goes from ~.8cm to ~.5cm Quote
Nihonto student Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 Am I the only one who sees pure masame in shinogi ji? Mino route? Quote
Rivkin Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 13 hours ago, EgulanTOKYO said: Based on nakago? The Hamon looks different from what I’ve seen of kiyomitsu any factors I can look into or better photos I can reference? thank you -sam The last photograph looked like Kaga nakago with kiri yasurime. But that just might be the projections/shadows. 1 Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 14 Author Report Posted May 14 20 hours ago, EgulanTOKYO said: There is an interesting profile on the blade, after the groove it has a very gentle radial curve here the spine goes from ~.8cm to ~.5cm After some research this looks like unokubi-zukiri which makes the ichi inscription make less sense to me, the bend of the blade is little closer to the nakago but mostly in the middle, with a 2.2cm bend. still at a loss for dating it Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 15 Author Report Posted May 15 On 5/14/2025 at 12:35 AM, Nihonto student said: Am I the only one who sees pure masame in shinogi ji? Mino route? It does look like it has mostly masame hada with only a few spots that differ. Another confusing part is the unokubi-zukiri shape, it doesn’t seem to fit with any thoughts so far. Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 15 Author Report Posted May 15 On 5/14/2025 at 4:52 AM, Rivkin said: The last photograph looked like Kaga nakago with kiri yasurime. But that just might be the projections/shadows. Ah ok, do you have any thoughts about the unokubi zukiri shape? seems like that might be a better factor for trying to id it. Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 15 Author Report Posted May 15 On 5/13/2025 at 4:17 PM, Jacques said: The sugata should tell you if this sword is Ichimonji or not... Shobu- zukuri = ? Nakago jiri is not Kaga. my further confusion comes from the unokubi-zukiri shape the blade has Quote
EgulanTOKYO Posted May 15 Author Report Posted May 15 On 5/13/2025 at 12:36 PM, lonely panet said: I see nothing that makes me think inchi monji Any thoughts about the profile? it seems to have an unokubi-zukiri shape some photos are in other replies, which is even less ichimonji maybe another ichi … Quote
lonely panet Posted May 15 Report Posted May 15 It could be any number of smiths or schools. I dont see fuyohiro as he worked in soshu and soden bizen. No nothing about kaga. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.