Kaneyoshi tanto

[Rich J P]

Hi All,

My first post on this or any forum so apologies in advance for any terminological blunders.

I would like to narrow down the search to the era, school and maybe even the original katanakaji.

The nagasa is 28.5cm  and moto haba 26mm. Sori 5mm with lori mune.  Higaki yasuri and 2 mekugi ana.

Motokasane is 6mm but reduces to 4mm in front of the hibaki  and along the rest of the mune.

I decyphered the mei and have not had it confirmed by anyone of knowledge , please let me know if you think it's bogus.

I have more photos but was unable to upload, thanks in advance

Richard

 

[Rivkin]

Nakago has a Mino feel to it, and Kane kaji is common in Yamato-descending Mino lineages, which is a lot... So Mino smiths, late mid to late Muromachi is a possibility. Its easier to be sure seeing the blade. 

Is I a person of knowledge is arguably a more difficult and esoteric question.

[ROKUJURO]

Richard,

welcome to the NMB forum!

On the NAKAGO, KANE is quite clear, 義 (Yoshi) is a possibility but the photo is not clear enough. Also, there seems to be slag on the NAKAGO which could be an indication of it having been in a fire.

When you make new photos, please take the HABAKI (not Hibaki) off and use a dark, non-reflecting background for better contrast. 

[Rich J P]

Thank you for both responses.

Muromachi era sounds exciting, I will attempt to upload some better photos today.

I had trouble sliding the habaki all the way down but will give it another try.

Cheers 

Richard 

[Rich J P]

Hi,

Here is another shot of the possible Kaneyoshi tanto I'm researching.

It looks like I can only upload one image at a time so I hope this doesn't make it too painful to comment on.

I appreciate any and all information.

Thanks 

Richard 

[ROKUJURO]

Richard,

you need to focuse clearly, use a dark background for better contrast, and show the TANTO as cut-out so not much of the background is to be seen. Look at the results yourself. This also saves some data volume.

You can try to push the HABAKI back with a piece of wood; don't use a metal tool to prevent damaging it.

Do you see HAMON or HADA at all?

MUROMACHI is not exciting per se, quality and condition is what counts!

[Rich J P]

Thank you Jean,

Yes, the background does help.

Please excuse the photos in landscape rather than portrait orientation.

The blade is so out of polish that I am unable to identify the hamon, I know this would have been helpful in identifying the smith.

The hada is best seen with a jewelers eyepiece and appears to be a very tight, straight grain.

The blade, saya and kogatana came together when I bought them a couple of years ago.

I made the tsuka as a temporary fix.

Hopefully this sheds a little more light on the subject

 

Many thanks

Richard

 

[John C]

10 hours ago, Rich J P said:

Kaneyoshi

Good luck. There were a lot of Kaneyoshi who worked in the Mino tradition during that time period. In fact, there was a Mino tradition Kanefusa who worked under the name Kaneyoshi during the Muromachi period.

 

John C.

[Rich J P]

Thank you John, sounds like I'll need it, especially with the added Kanefusa smiths .

I've learnt more here in the last 24 hrs  than I have stabbing in the dark for the last couple of years.

Appreciate it 

 

[John C]

5 hours ago, Rich J P said:

stabbing in the dark

Rich:

Here are the Kaneyoshi listings in Sesko just for Mino tradition. Not all are muromachi, however it should get you started.

 

John C.

Kaneyoshi - sesko.docx

[Rich J P]

That's a great link, thanks John, plenty of info to go through.

Something that puzzles me is the multiple styles of kanji for the same name, which don't even look similar.

I guess that may help as when (and if) I find an exact match of both the Kane and Yoshi kanji (along with all the blades physical properties) it points to the original swordsmith.

Or am I being too simplistic?

Anyway, thanks for your input.

 

Rich J P

[John C]

Smiths Use of different characters is quite common. Sometimes the use of a particular character was a personal choice to differentiate themselves and sometimes it was traditional. Style is also a clue. The way in which a character is written can point to a smith or particular school or time period. So look at all of it - what form of kanji is being used; does the overall style of writing match a particular school (in this case Mino) or time period; which Kaneyoshi used that type of character in that style?

And just to gum up the works even further, smiths often changed their style (i.e., how they wrote a particular character). For example, Nakata Kanehide changed the way he wrote the "kane" character 4 times! Keep this mind as well as smiths that actually changed their artist name.

 

John C.

Edited yesterday at 07:23 PM by John C
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