Semi hitatsura or a failed yakiire?

[Hector]

Once again, I'm asking a question in order to learn.

 

Currently on Yahoo, this wakizashi has (to me) a strange hamon. It starts as suguha near the ha-machi, turns into a very uniform gunome (under the hadori), then suddenly goes crazy around the monouchi on both sides and then settles back down again as it approaches the boshi.

 

I really don't know what I'm looking at here. To my inexperienced eye, it just looks like part of the clay has fallen off the monouchi during yakiire - am I missing some advanced technique by the smith? I've read on this board that a Japanese swordsmith can control virtually all the activity in a hamon - so is this deliberate and, if so, what do you call it?

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Best,

Hector

[eternal_newbie]

Either a smith doing some experimentation in hitatsura style, or an overzealous amateur polisher highlighting stray bits of yubashiri with hadori instead of sticking to the overall hamon pattern. I will say that generally smiths wouldn't sign a blade they're not happy with, so either what you're seeing is the intent or someone added it after the blade was forged.

 

That said, it's not unheard of for blades to have isolated sections where the hamon flares up and then settles down again, for example:

 

 

(from this listing)

[Hector]

1 hour ago, eternal_newbie said:

Either a smith doing some experimentation in hitatsura style, or an overzealous amateur polisher highlighting stray bits of yubashiri with hadori instead of sticking to the overall hamon pattern. I will say that generally smiths wouldn't sign a blade they're not happy with, so either what you're seeing is the intent or someone added it after the blade was forged.

 

That said, it's not unheard of for blades to have isolated sections where the hamon flares up and then settles down again, for example:

 

 

(from this listing)

Many thanks for the fast response and feedback; it was very interesting.

The blade you show is almost as erratic in its hamon as the one on Yahoo!

 

Here is a closeup of the signature - I can't read it myself.

 

Best,

Hector

[atm]

I cannot speak to the legitimacy of the signature, but it reads Sagami no Kuni Tsunahiro. There are many generations of Sōshū Tsunahiro smiths.

[Robert S]

Given that the "wild" part of the hamon is in the same place on both sides of the blade, it's unlikely that it's an accident.  It does look like someone was experimenting with sugaha fading into hitatsura - sort of "quoting" the Soshu Hiromitsu hamon without doing it full on.  Curious.

[ROKUJURO]

8 hours ago, Hector said:

......I've read on this board that a Japanese swordsmith can control virtually all the activity in a hamon....

Hector,

that is not entirely correct. He can produce a certain style of HAMON and HATARAKI by his experience, but not all small details. It can be compared with the outcome of a ceramic glaze on a stoneware CHAWAN in a wood-fired kiln. Potters call this "controlled coincidence".

In your SOSHU blade, the HAMON and all activities look controlled and deliberate to me. I wished it was mine!

[Hector]

6 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

Hector,

that is not entirely correct. He can produce a certain style of HAMON and HATARAKI by his experience, but not all small details. It can be compared with the outcome of a ceramic glaze on a stoneware CHAWAN in a wood-fired kiln. Potters call this "controlled coincidence".

In your SOSHU blade, the HAMON and all activities look controlled and deliberate to me. I wished it was mine!

Not mine alas, Jean.

[Jussi Ekholm]

As Jean mentioned above, I think the hamon execution is deliberate. As you can see the hamon stays low on the first part with horimono, then the second part is the wild one and it remains to more calm impression on the top portion.

 

My first impression for the signature would be gimei. However to me the sword in overall is an interesting one

 

The Tsunahiro lineage continues to this day in Kamakura, few years ago I briefly visited their shop in Kamakura with fellow NMB member. Here is a wonderful article of the smiths from Sōshū den Museum: https://nihonto-museum.com/blog/soshu-tsunahiro