Large naginata auction on Yahoo Japan

[Gerry]

This large naginata just came up for auction today. It's rather unusual because it appears to have lots of core steel showing through the jihada, but the weight if still pretty substantial at over 1 kilogram.

 

It's not really my cup of tea, but I'm wondering if anyone knows which school has such thin kawagane? I know Hizen swords usually have thin kawagane, but this naginata is, of course, not Hizen.

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/k1201414863?allow=1

 

 

[Shugyosha]

Hi Gerry,

To me that doesn't look like natural wear from normal polishing. I'd suggest that it is the product of an acid polish and, given the state it's now in with most of the natural activity obscured and what looks like fake hitatsura, I think it is going to be a futile exercise trying to kantei it. 

[Rawa]

True way to bright.

[Lewis B]

Rai school is known to have thin kawagane => Rai hada

[Lexvdjagt]

Reminds me a little of this Ko-Uda katana:

 

https://www.toukenkomachi.com/index_ja_tachi&katanaA100823.html

 

 

[Jussi Ekholm]

It is right up my alley.

 

NBTHK judged it as den Hōju and awarded Tokubetsu Hozon for it. I am personally a big fan of Hōju but it also tends to be an attribution bucket for items of "rougher" side like this one. Bit similar way how I think about Uda attribution is used. Some of the signed Hōju and Uda swords I have seen in museums feature quite nice workmanship, while some mumei work that gets attributed towards them is on rough side.

 

Here are two similar very big naginata-naoshi attributed to Hōju as reference.

I was actually hoping there would be a chance I could buy this one. Unfortunately not... this one is now in Funassyi collection and it was just on display at Osafune Sword Museum. Unfortunately they dont feature this sword at 2nd part of the exhibition that starts next week.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220920221746/https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumeijudged-as-hojunbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token/

https://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/site/token/1315.html

 

Here is a second one, these are not the most beautiful items in general but I like them.

https://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords2/KT218307.htm

 

[Tim Evans]

A question for Jussi, who seems to have direct experience with Hoju swords. 

 

I am assuming that the comments above are identifying the darker areas as shintetsu. Is that really shintetsu or something else, such as the namazu-hada sometimes seen on Aoe swords? 

 

The reason I ask is because I have a similar sword, papered to Hoju, that also has the light and dark areas. However, the dark areas are tighter grained and have nie, which does not follow the definition for shintetsu. I can post images if interested. 

[Gerry]

On 9/25/2025 at 10:02 AM, Jussi Ekholm said:

It is right up my alley.

 

NBTHK judged it as den Hōju and awarded Tokubetsu Hozon for it. I am personally a big fan of Hōju but it also tends to be an attribution bucket for items of "rougher" side like this one. Bit similar way how I think about Uda attribution is used. Some of the signed Hōju and Uda swords I have seen in museums feature quite nice workmanship, while some mumei work that gets attributed towards them is on rough side.

 

Here are two similar very big naginata-naoshi attributed to Hōju as reference.

I was actually hoping there would be a chance I could buy this one. Unfortunately not... this one is now in Funassyi collection and it was just on display at Osafune Sword Museum. Unfortunately they dont feature this sword at 2nd part of the exhibition that starts next week.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220920221746/https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-mumeijudged-as-hojunbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token/

https://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/site/token/1315.html

 

Here is a second one, these are not the most beautiful items in general but I like them.

https://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords2/KT218307.htm

 

I always a little confused about when to call a blade a naginata naoshi....in this case, it doesn't have naginata-hi, nor is unokubi zukuri...so would it be considered just a shobu zukuri katana instead?

[Gerry]

On 9/25/2025 at 2:47 AM, Shugyosha said:

Hi Gerry,

To me that doesn't look like natural wear from normal polishing. I'd suggest that it is the product of an acid polish and, given the state it's now in with most of the natural activity obscured and what looks like fake hitatsura, I think it is going to be a futile exercise trying to kantei it. 

Hi John,

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure if an acid polished blade would pass TH with the NBTHK, such as is the case with this blade?

[Shugyosha]

Sorry Gerry,

I didn't know that it had papers as I couldn't access the auction site without a password and was relying on the photos you posted here. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question, instinctively I would say that one would possibly pass Hozon as "being worth of preservation" but probably not TH but then outliers do crop up from time to time. 

 

That very open grained look is something that you get with acid polishes as it tends to eat into the grain of the metal and produce a similar effect to what you see in the blade you posted, to a greater or lesser extent. As the blade was on a Japanese auction site, it didn't seem too much of a leap to think that someone had got creative to try to make an ordinary blade more attractive to westerners or had simply used a quick and dirty way to make an out of polish blade more presentable.

 

As an aside, did you know that the blade had papers when you posted?

[Lewis B]

42 minutes ago, Shugyosha said:

 

 

As an aside, did you know that the blade had papers when you posted?

It passed TH 12/09/25. Seller posted the result but not the TH papers. 1953 Torokusho registration. Bidding up to 700k JPY

 

 

でいますので振るってご入札ください。
「審査結果通知書」を見ていただくと分かる通り、つい先日審査に合格したばかりで、まだ鑑定書は出来上がっておりません。こちらに届き次第、郵送いたします。

[Rawa]

In his other auctions [however shorter blades] certificate is plain visible at main picture.

[Lewis B]

13 minutes ago, Rawa said:

In his other auctions [however shorter blades] certificate is plain visible at main picture.

Yes, but they were issued in 2021 and 2022. Seller is still waiting to receive the 09/2025 papers as stated in the listing. 

[Jussi Ekholm]

Unfortunately metallurgical stuff is my weak point, I am pretty clueless about that. While some signed Hōju swords do feature more standing out pattern and bit rougher appearance they are still quite nice nice worksmanship, some really nice. Then you get these quite rough looking mumei ones that get the attribution. I do think the sword in OP has that "enhanced" look and would look much nicer in more toned down polish. I think the larger hada swirls etc.that can be common in Hōju work style look just so in your face in this current polish. 

 

I think it is sometimes difficult to say if the sword has been reworked naginata, shortened tachi/katana or and original shaped item.

 

For me the two possibilities for this one are that this is reworked large shobu-zukuri naginata or an original form shobu-zukuri tachi. The sales description mentions original nakago, which to me might indictate that this would be more like large tachi blade rather than a naginata. I was doing some calculating from the picture and it seems the sword has roughly 30 cm nakago. I could easily seem that this would be fitted with something like 40-60 cm handle, making this tachi/ōdachi/nagamaki hybrid item. I spent quite long time trying to search such reference item from my books as the ōdachi and naginata are my thing. I'm trying to think items I've seen at shrines alongside books and I think perhaps closest fit would be short ōdachi from Itsukushima Jinja, unfortunately I have not yet seen this in person as it was not on display when I visited there.

 

92 cm blade with c. 26 cm nakago and it has c. 54 cm tsuka. Nakago and tsuka are my estimates from the picture as none of my books with this item have cm value for them. Mostly the ōdachi with 50cm+ tsuka also have 100cm+ blades.

 

Generally naginata & nagamaki tend to have roughly similar sized blade and nakago lengths. And they are often fitted with 80 - 140 cm shafts/handles. There are some naginata with fairly short tangs. So it is somewhat gradual progression from ōdachi to nagamaki/naginata. I would think when it gets close to 50/50 ratio with blade and tsuka/shaft then it starts to be a naginata. Also the ōdachi tsuka in general tend to have varying amounts of curvature while nagamaki shafts/handles tend to be straight or almost straight.

 

Here is interesting Hōju naginata (I was also wishing in 2018-19 I could have bought this). This was also polished when it appeared to another dealer several years later so we can look if we can see difference in some spots

This one has blade length of 57,7 cm and 33,6 cm nakago, so nakago is quite a bit shorter bit similar sized to this OP sword but the blade is 20 cm shorter.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190308105620/https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/WK327697.htm

https://eirakudo.shop/token/wakizashi/detail/799101

 

[Gerry]

Thanks for your valuable input and insight as always, Jussi.

 

The auction was ultimately cancelled since it didn't reach the seller's reserve price. I'm guessing that the stop on EMS shipments to the US has really softened the sword prices on Yahoo Japan recently.

[Julien16]

The sword is up again on yahoo, currently a bit above 500 000 yen and it ends at the end of the day, in case someone could be interested. 

Edited yesterday at 04:25 AM by Julien16