Takahashi Naganobu works / identity

[RichardY]

Good day everyone.. have a question regarding the swordsmith Takahashi Naganobu during the Edo period (circa 1830s-1860s)

I have a pair of daishos by NAGANOBU (inscription) but is there anyway to know if they are from the same smith?? I've searched all over and I couldn't find a similar mei like I have.. sorry .. it is just OCD working in me. 

Only little titbit footnote was supposedly he never signed the same way twice ?? The papers Tokubetsu papers mention Takahashi Naganobu for the Katana, and Unshu ju Naganobu for the Wakizashi (as per the mei)Thanks for helping

 

Edited January 24 by RichardY

[oli]

Maybe 2 smiths?

NAGANOBU (永信), Keiō (慶応, 1865-1868), Izumo –

“Naganobu” (永信), real name Takahashi Rihei (高橋利平),

it is suspicious that is listed with the homonymic smith and first nam as Takahashi Naganobu who wrote his smith name

with the characters (長信) and his first name Rihei with the characters (理兵衛), so maybe this is a double-entry

 

NAGANOBU (長信), Tenpō (天保, 1830-1844), Izumo –

“Unshū-jū Fuyuhiro (雲州住冬広), “Unshū Takahashi

Naganobu” (雲州高橋長信), “Unshū-han Fujiwara Naganobu” (雲州藩藤原長信), “Un´yō-shi Takahashi Rōshi

Fujiwara Naganobu” (雲州藩藤原長信聾司藤原長信), “Tōto ni oite Unshū-jū Takahashi Rihei Fuyuhiro Naganobu”

(於東都雲州住高橋理兵衛冬広長信), “Edo Kōjimachi ni oite Unshū-han Takahashi Naganobu kore o saku”

(於江都麹街雲州藩高橋長信作之,

“made by Takahashi Nahanobu from the Unshū fief [= Matsue fief] in Edo´s

Kōjimachi”), “Chōshinsai Fuyuhiro” (長信斎冬広), real name Takahashi Rihei (高橋理兵衛). He had studied under the

4th generation of the Izumo-based Fuyuhiro lineage (冬広) and was eventually adopted into the family whereupon he

succeeded as 5th generation Izumo Fuyuhiro, the 17th generation after Wakasa Fuyuhiro (若狭冬広) who was the

founder of the Fuyuhiro line. He used the gō Rōshi (聾司) and Chōshinsai (長信斎). By the way, the former gō means

literally “the deaf officer.

” In the first year of Tenpō (天保, 1830) he went to Edo to study under Tsunatoshi and made

his smith name Naganobu out of the first two characters of his pseudonym Chōshinsai (Naganobu is the Japanese

reading of the characters Chōshin). At that time he lived in the Sannō district (山王) of Edo. Later he was hired by the

Matsue fief (松江藩) of Izumo province which he signed using the colloquial name “Unshū fief” (雲州藩). With this

employment he moved to the Edo residence of the fief which was located in Hirakawa (平河) in the Kōjimachi district

– 743 –(麹町). However, in Genji one (元治, 1864) the fief ordered him back to Izumo because of the bakufu campaign against

the Chōshū fief where he died on the 20th day of the fifth month of Meiji two (明治, 1869) at the age of 64. His

workmanship is similar to Tsunatoshi’s. His blades show a magnificent sugata but he also made smaller blades with

western-style refined steels. Most of his works are in the Bizen tradition. The jigane looks soft, the jihada is muji but tends

sometimes to masame, and the hamon is a somewhat slanting ko-chōji-midare with hard and dark spots along the yakigashira.

But he also applied a suguha or tōran-midare. Because of the gyaku-sujikai yasurime it is assumed that Takahashi Nakanobu

was left-handed. Sometimes he signed in kaisho block script (楷書) on the omote and in gyōsho cursive script (行書) on the

ura side, but in later years he also signed both sides in cursive or rather grass script. There is the urban legend going

round that one of his blades cut through the barrel of a machine gun during World War II. jō-saku

 

 

nice blades btw!

[Geraint]

Dear Richard.

 

I agree with Oliver that these are a nice pair of blades and that these are by the two different smiths.  An examination of the three kani that the blades have in common suggests that they are by a different hand.  Hawley supports the text that Oliver has supplied listing Unshu Takahashi Naganobu as a student of Tsunatoshi and working 1830 - 64 while Unshu Takahashi Ribei Naganobu, working at around the same time is the one for whom the brief note that 'he never signed the same way twice' is added.   Looking at available papered examples on the internet I think I can see a pattern emerging where both these sets of kanji are echoed, also have a look at nakago jiri, again I think there are two styles.

 

For what it is worth I take the remark about signature variations in Hawley to mean that he inscribed different things on his swords rather than that his handwriting, as it were,  changed.  (Given the change between kaisho and gyosho)

If there are two smiths then for all the examples I have seen so far everyone assumes that their sword is by the most well known smith and hence the most valuable.  Where biographies are given they are almost identical and probably from the same source.  I have only done a fairly cursory search using easily available sources but if the nakago jiri on your swords are different then here are some possibilities for you to consider.

 

1  The same amith changed the way that he inscribed his signature and the nakago jiri that he produced, possible as a consequence of studying with Tsunatoshi and both your blades are by him but from different periods in his career.

 

2  Two smiths exist and you have a blade from each of them in your daisho.

 

Have a dig around and see what you conclude.  Of course it is possible that this conundrum has already been researched given the significance of Naganobu and that another member will come in with an authoritative answer.

 

Hope that I haven't muddied the waters.

 

All the best.

 

[oli]

Another example of his signature: https://www.nihontocraft.com/Takahashi_Naganobu.htm

Also a very nice blade.

[ROKUJURO]

Richard,

your longer blade is signed TACHI MEI. I am not sure if it can make a DAISHO with a WAKIZASHI in the precise sense of the term even if they were from the same smith. But that depends on what you want them to be when both swords are mounted with similar KOSHIRAE.

In any case, a very nice pair!

[Jussi Ekholm]

I would think both of the blades are by the same smith, 高橋長信 Takahashi Naganobu.

 

The tachi blade is signed and dated 長信造 / 弘化三年八月吉日, Naganobu tsukuru, 1846

Wakizashi is signed 於東都雲州住長信造, Tōto ni oite Unshū jū Naganobu tsukuru

 

I haven't used Hawley in very long time so I am not sure what is written there. However I would think never signed same way twice is just an absurd exaggeration. There are plenty of his known signature variants. Nihontō Meikan seems to have 17 various signatures listed, so he did a lot of variations but it is obvious that he did use the same signature variation multiple times.

 

Here you can see the same signature variation on a katana that is on your wakizashi: https://iidakoendo.com/1572/

 

Unfortunately Shinshintō swords are not really on my scope of interest so I can't offer much help, other than saying that both of your blades look nice based on the last picture.

[RichardY]

Thank you very much for the replies.. these are nice blades and I'm just pedantic when i see things that don't match.  It comes with a matching koshirae daisho that is tokubetsu papered also.. though i can't figure out what it really say other than parts used. 

I'll post the papers when I'm home definitely maybe someone here knows what it says

 

Edit hopefully the image is good enough

Edited January 28 by RichardY