Thoughts on Hasebe "Kunishige" Wakizashi on Aoi

[Schneeds]

Aoi currently has this Hasebe wakizashi on consignment which aroused my curiosity:

 

https://www.aoijapan.com/wakizashimumei-attributed-to-hasebe-kunishigenbthk-tokubetsu-hozon-token-consignment-sale/

 

A quality Hasebe is a long term goal of mine, so whenever up pops up I like to study it.  This one was especially interesting as Kunishige himself was listed in the attribution.  One of the things I like to do when looking into a blade is check @Jussi Ekholm's wonderful database to get an of how many others with same attribution and similarities are out there.  In the case of Kunishige, I knew there were far more tanto and wakizashi than tachi/katana out there, but was curious how many would be attributed to him.  Interestingly enough, there are no mumei wakizashi's in the database attributed directly to Kunishige, which would make this one fairly rare.  

 

My curiosity lead me to translate the attribution myself, however, and I'm pretty sure it's actually Hasebe Kuninobu. Still a great attribution, but less so.  Also kind of inexcusable for Aoi unless they're interchangeable for purposes of attribution?  (I believe that's the son of the first gen Kunishige). Anyway, for those of you well versed in Hasebe works, how do you think it compares or holds up?

 

 

Edited Thursday at 08:57 PM by Schneeds

[nulldevice]

You are correct the TH papers state den Hasebe Kuninobu and not Kunishige. I think that blunder with Aoi should be corrected but you did your due diligence and found the misattribution.

 

There are 3 Mumei Hasebe Kuninobu in that database, 2 with den attributions and 1 TH with a direct attribution to Kuninobu. The 2 den Kuninobu are both Juyo daito, and the first makes mention of Kunishige and says:

 

"Kuninobu is said to have been either the younger or older brother of Kunishige, and many works show the style of Hasebe Kuninobu. Among his works, suguha pieces can also be seen, and three signed tachi are extant."

 

I believe this comment about 3 tachi being extant is now outdated as this came from Juyo 20 and there is another zaimei tachi from Juyo 21, and 1 other Tokubetsu Hozon zaimei tachi listed as well. I suppose the 3 that were being discussed in this explanation are the JuBi Tachi, the one in Shizutani Jinja, and another Juyo/TJ blade from Juyo 16. (Thanks to Jussi again for the data here!)

 

The Juyo 43 den Kuninobu says the following:

"This is an ō-suriage mumei katana attributed to Hasebe Kuninobu. The Kyoto Hasebe school is considered a hitatsura group contemporary with Sōshū Kunishige and Akihiro, and Kuninobu is the representative figure.

Kuninobu is known for his characteristic hamon composed of notare and gunome with yahazu (arrow-notch) tendencies. Suguha works are also seen among his pieces. In most cases, the Hasebe school shows a foundation of notare mixed with gunome and yahazu elements, displaying a gorgeous Sōshū style.

This katana prominently displays these characteristics. The form is also typical of the Northern Court period, around the Enbun (延文, 1356-1361) and Jōji (貞治, 1362-1368) eras, making the attribution to Hasebe Kuninobu most appropriate." 

 

There is 1 other TH Mumei Hasebe Kuninobu listed in the database, but being TH, there is no more context on it. 

 

[Rivkin]

The first generation Kunishige is a bit of arcane art, as for a time Hasebe was thought to have began working much earlier than 1350s that we usually see. Whether its true or not is debatable. If its not, there is not much difference between Kunishige and Kuninobu, which is how I would approach it personally.

Its a good blade, the nie is a bit harsh rather than cloudy and the hada is a little bit indistinctive, but then the fact that mumei was attributed to specific name is good. Its not "really" ubu... It does not feel like a strong Juyo candidate but as it is, its probably a decent blade.

There are very many katana attributed to Hasebe, but signed ones must be exceptionally rare (not with my books). Also katana tend to be all around the place in terms of work itself, more so than ko waki.

Edited Friday at 06:46 AM by Rivkin

[Lewis B]

Attractive blade that appears to be keenly priced. Just wondering why its consignment as the photos don't show major condition issues and the attribution (excluding the misinformation) is not controversial. Not a fan of the koshirae but that's just personal aesthetics. 

 

Some interesting info on the 2 smiths here

https://nihonto.com/hasebe-kunishige-and-hasebe-kuninobu-長谷部国重＆長谷部国信　/

[Jussi Ekholm]

It is good that you are doing the research Eric, Aoi does so many sales ads, as they tend to add few swords daily 6 days per week, sometimes they do have incorrect information in their listings.

 

In my personal opinion there is a huge variance in quality in works of Hasebe Kuninobu. Of course my understanding of quality is bit limited but I will try to explain it with items that I have seen in person. I was lucky to see the amazing Tokubetsu Jūyō tachi in NMB sword meet in Japan (arranged by Yurie & Adrian). That sword was spectacular sword. I would think that could be the pinnacle of Hasebe tachi that can be owned (Of course totally out of league for most people). I remember the owner explaining and discussing things and if I remember correctly he mentioned that the named tachi Karakashiwa would of course be the ultimate Hasebe sword. Unfortunately I have never had the privilege to see that sword in person but I do trust his word as I believe that would be a splendid sword.

 

I have seen the Wakizashi owned by NBTHK and to be honest I am not too fond of that sword... I just can't explain it well but for me it just doesn't click. Yes it is Jūyō sword and featured in many NBTHK publications but I don't like it too much.

 

Then I have viewed the small tantō of Atsuta Jingū and in my memory it was splendid small sword with good craftsmanship.

 

I like Hasebe works even though I don't understand the specifics of their craftsmanship all that well. I understand budget limitations very well but if I would be looking for Hasebe short sword I would perhaps want a signed one. That will of course affect the price and you can find better quality in mumei work for same price.

 

About the 3 signed tachi mentioned I would think they would be the Jūyō Bijutsuhin and 2 Jūyō tachi. For the Tokubetsu Hozon tachi NBTHK had added (後代) late generation in brackets. I tried to do searching and Nihontō Meikan is the only reference where I could find 2nd generation Hasebe Kuninobu and he is listed for Ōei period. So I made a slight fix in data and put is as late Nanbokuchō - Early Muromachi. I am not sure how the Art sword crowd treats these magnificient swords at shrines that I personally love. In the Tōken Bijutsu number 67 there is a 4 page article on the Shizutani Jinja sword and history of it by Kanzan Satō. He raises point that Kanzan, Kunzan and member of Honami all 3 of who saw the sword had doubts and raised specific points which cast doubt. However it was also touted as incredible unknown find, that was not in any major historical oshigata books but was featured in some historical book that had the sword and history for it. It is mentioned that sword will be polished in future, and in the end part of article with inspection report that describes the sword it is said it is going through polishing. Now bear in mind that I read these old Japanese magazines with Google Lens as my Japanese is not up to par in reading full articles. However as that article was 60+ years ago and I have not seen that sword featured in any publication anywhere, I think maybe NBTHK does not think it as legit item.

[Lewis B]

 

4 minutes ago, Jussi Ekholm said:

 

I like Hasebe works even though I don't understand the specifics of their craftsmanship all that well. I understand budget limitations very well but if I would be looking for Hasebe short sword I would perhaps want a signed one. That will of course affect the price and you can find better quality in mumei work for same price.

 

 

It was more common during this period for short swords to be left mumei by the smith. Off the top of my head, Sa School (Sa Kunihiro), Masamune for example. The explanation I hear is that these could have been commissioned works and so the customer preferred not to have the name of the maker chiseled on the nakago 

I would make a purchase decision on a case-by-case basis. Requiring a signature and you might miss out on a Masamune ..... 

[atm]

As a proportion of their work, there are a good number of signed Hasebe tanto. There is, of course, a price premium when buying a zaimei Koto blade. But I think there is a distinct downside to buying a mumei blade when zaimei is more common among a particular smith or school (unless that mumei blade is an extraordinary work). That may partially explain the pricing of this wakizashi.

[CSM101]

Just for comparison

 

 

[Jacques]

There were 2 Hasebe Kunishige, the second worked around OEI