One of the most beautiful piece I ve seen come up

[klee]

Every once in blue moon, a piece appears that checks all my wishful nihonto fantasy boxes 

 

https://eirakudo.shop/978749

[Julien]

I had the chance to study it 2 weeks ago... 
Wonderful sword 

[DirkO]

Sold 5 years ago for 15M yen - curious what the current asking price would be.

[MassiveMoonHeh]

That is an absolutely splendid sword! Wow - just beautiful!

[eternal_newbie]

Sublime. Aside from the nakago, I could believe this was forged and polished last year instead of early Kamakura – the poster child for kenzen.

[MassiveMoonHeh]

3 hours ago, eternal_newbie said:

Sublime. Aside from the nakago, I could believe this was forged and polished last year instead of early Kamakura – the poster child for kenzen.

Yes, it looks brand new. Incredible.

[Lewis B]

That blade is the epitomy of 'kenzen' given its ~800 years old. Has anyone 'inquired'  ? The extract from the Encyclopedia quotes a value of 20 mil JPY

[ROKUJURO]

Must have been still more impressive when new with a NAGASA of around 85 cm! 

[Takezo]

A true beauty. Sometimes if you refresh Eirakudo's page and switch languages a few times, a bug will happen where you can see the ask prices. I have had it happen a few times.

[MassiveMoonHeh]

23 hours ago, DirkO said:

Sold 5 years ago for 15M yen - curious what the current asking price would be.

I believe the asking price is twice that...

[MassiveMoonHeh]

Talking fantasy swords there is a certain TokuJu Norishige Tachi (only 3 Tachi remain and the other two are JuBu) - I am just enamoured with it. I personally think it is the best thing Norishige ever produced. Once owned by the Kishū Tokugawa.

 

If the universe conspired to make things happen that sword is without a shadow of a doubt my pipedream fantasy buy.

[eternal_newbie]

4 hours ago, MassiveMoonHeh said:

Talking fantasy swords there is a certain TokuJu Norishige Tachi (only 3 Tachi remain and the other two are JuBu) - I am just enamoured with it. I personally think it is the best thing Norishige ever produced. Once owned by the Kishū Tokugawa.

 

I believe I know the blade you're talking about and I agree; it's one of those swords that really solidifies Norishige's reputation as the swordsmith's swordsmith.

[Lewis B]

4 hours ago, MassiveMoonHeh said:

(only 3 Tachi remain and the other two are JuBu)

I assume you mean signed Norishige tachi?

[MassiveMoonHeh]

2 hours ago, Lewis B said:

I assume you mean signed Norishige tachi?

 

Juyo 10, TokuJu 10. This Hada gives me goosebumps. Absolute cracker of a sword!

 

Designated Juyo March 10, 1964

Designated Tokubetsu Juyo November 11, 1987

Tachi, Mumei, Norishige

 

Owner: Tateishi Katsuhiro

 

Dimensions: Length 74.6 cm, Side curvature 2.3 cm, Base width 2.7 cm, Tip width 19 cm, Base thickness 0.6 cm, Ornament length 1.8 cm

Tang length 19.3 cm, Tang curvature 2 types

 

Shape: Shinogi-zukuri, Iori-mune, greatly shortened but with a slightly high sori, chu-kissaki

Jitetsu: Itame grain mixed with mokume and nagaru-hada, with good ji-nie (small crystals in the ji), and frequent ji-kei (patterns in the ji).

Hamon (temper line): Mix of choji and gunome (clove-shaped) midare, deeply nie-deki (crystals) overall, with a subdued nioiguchi (misty effect), yubashiri (snow-like patterns), ashi (legs) and ha (leaves) well-defined in the middle of the blade, sunagashi (sand-like patterns), and frequent kinsuji (golden streaks).

Boshi: Midare Komi, sweeping, with kinsuji (golden streaks).

Nakago: Greatly shortened, Kurijiri (wavy end), yasurime-katte sagari (downward-sloping) shape, three mekugi-ana (peg holes), unsigned. 

 

Artisan: Norishige, Etchu Province

 

Period: Late Kamakura Period

 

Provenance: Kishu Tokugawa Family

 

Description: Norishige was from Gofuku-go, Etchu Province, and studied under Shintogo Kunimitsu of Soshu Province, making him a fellow disciple of Yukimitsu and Masamune. While there are relatively many short swords among Norishige's existing works, two long swords designated as Important Cultural Properties are known. His style resembles that of Yukimitsu and Masamune, but his forging is distinctive. The grain pattern, a mix of straight and wavy patterns, with a pronounced grain and thick ji-kei (patterns in the steel), is called Matsukawa Hada "pine bark grain." Ancient texts describe him as "skilled in iron preparation, with a non-uniform grain and masterful sunagashi (sand-like patterns)." Norishige's hamon (temper pattern), like Masamune's, shows influence from Anben of Hoki Province and old Bizen swords, giving it a unique antique feel.

 

This sword also clearly displays Norishige's characteristics in its ji-ha (steel surface) and hamon, with strong nie (martensite crystals), ji-kei, and kinsuji (golden lines) demonstrating the extraordinary skill of a master craftsman of the Soshu tradition.  This blade has been passed down through the Kishu Tokugawa family.

 

 

This is Peak Norishige. 

 

[MassiveMoonHeh]

Feel sorry for the guy trying to draw the Oshigata. He did not stand a chance. Quite possible one of the worst Oshigata drawings I have ever seen. He even shades off the sword. This guy was struggling to keep up with Norshige's insane genius poured into this sword.

 

[Lewis B]

That sugata is legendary. I think my one-and-done would be a Go with an ichimai boshi eg the Inaba Go or if it had to have a signature then, an ubu Fukuoka Ichimonji. 

 

This is also rather beautiful and special. A signed Norishige tachi with a 77cm nagasa

 

Edited June 20 by Lewis B

[MassiveMoonHeh]

The Inaba Gō was once thought to have an Ichimai Boshi even being labelled as such by the Kokuho committee in 1951. But more recently since 1967 it has been re-classified by Honma and others more learned individuals as "nearly/almost" Ichimai.

 

I am assuming as more Ichimai blades have come to light through the NBTHK Shinsas the classification was updated to reflect the better understanding of this technique.

 

In fact, now none of Gō's Kokuho or JuBu blades are considered full Ichimai Boshi. Something I am actually rather surprised to find out considering Ichimai Boshi is mentioned as a major characteristic of Gō in almost every Setsumei describing a Gō blade.

 

It is also a common axiom in all Japanese sword communities. Say "Ichimai Boshi" and the next words are always "Gō Yoshihiro".

 

Full Ichimai Boshi Gō blades are however, in fact, extremely rare with only 7 Gō blades of the 59 blades classified as Juyo and above and only one Meibutsu blade carrying this classification (2 JuBi, 4 TokuJu, 1 Juyo & 1 Meibutsu.)

 

That said, these eight Ichimai Boshi Blades are the most from any swordsmith, even today, by a country mile. And remarkably he did this all before his death at 27.

 

Most of the great smiths with much longer lives have have no Ichimai Boshi blades and most that do only one to their name. Of the Soshu smiths, Masamune (Gō's Sensei) has one, Norishige (Gō's Gakusei) has one & Tametsugu (Gō's son) has two.

 

The last Gō Ichimai Boshi blade to be discovered was the "Gōshū Gō (豪州江)" Gōshū is the old Japanese word for Australia, named as this blade was re-discovered in Sydney. (Something as an Aussie I am rather proud of.)

 

This rather special blade went Juyo at the 69th Juyo Shinsa in 2023 and TokuJu at the 28th TokuJu Shinsa in 2024 increasing the total Ichimai Boshi blades from seven to eight blades.

 

So yes, I agree with you 100%, getting a Ichimai Boshi Gō would definitely be a perfect one-and-done status blade or the pride of any collection be it a museum or collector.

 

These swords are the proverbial hen's teeth and as such are extremely difficult to see (all being locked away in Private Collections), let alone acquire.

 

If I was to compare Gō's Ichimai Boshi swords to card collecting (another hobby taking off) I would call these swords the "1909-1911 T206 Honus Wagner" of Japanese swords - or the "Holy Grail" of Japanese swords.

 

As the saying goes, "You never see a Ghost or a Gō." In this case with the Gō Ichimai Boshi blades, you could probably adapt this saying to "You never see the shadows of the Ghost's of Gō."

[Hoshi]

Hello, 

 

I am enjoying these discussions lately on high-quality blades, happy to chime in. 

 

I am in the process of building an empirical kantei trait library. What this means is that I am extracting the traits of a given artist not from the books as has been done so far in history, but from synthesis of the entire corpus of a smith's published works by the NBTHK and the Bunkasho. This reveals new data that the books, which are focused almost exclusively on the archetypes, miss. Note that this is an early stage project, and there can (and will be) mistakes. 

 

The count for Go ichimai boshi I have is 8, with ko-maru, hakikkake and midare-komi as being about just as common. 

 

 

https://nihontowatch.com/artists/go-yoshihiro-YOS1434

 

The most discriminating factor for an attribution to Go is the clarity of the work: the unrivaled luminous ha and clear jihada. It is, in a sense, an attribution based on grade of Soshu-den brightness. Ichimai boshi will certainly strongly pull it further to Go, but it is not a requisite as we see in the data. I would not read too deeply into the attributions to Go, in the sense that "This specific historical person made it" - and while it is certainly the best bet, if one had to bet on a specific person at all - it is best considered to be a qualitative judgement on a certain group of traits that tend to co-occur and set the work apart from the other Soshu Joko.

 

A sharp turning and extended kaeri would move the attribution to Sa (also known for his remarkable brightness), a more stormy character with larger-dimensioned angular chickei to Masamune, a lower degree of brightness combined with more extreme activity in the ha to the finer and rarer ko-itame style of Norishige, and a calmer overall feeling to Sadamune. Such is the nature of attribution on mumei blades when the signed corpus is almost absent. 

 

However, I would be cautious with blades attributed to Go, as he was a frequent target of emulation during later periods (such as Nanki Shigekuni). For this reason, I would consider carefully blades that are not accompanied with a strong historical backing such as a Ko-Origami, or a record of gift-giving. I will say that in the blades attributed to Go that I have had the chance to handle or acquire, there has been so much variation in the execution of the jihada in particular, that I find it difficult to discern a single hand. 

 

It is important to understand that this acknowledgement of uncertainty does nothing to diminish the artistic appeal of the blades in practice. Clarity ("saeru") is one of the cardinal hallmark traits of high artistry in Nihonto, and blades attributed to Go exemplify this very characteristics. One must just accept the uncertainty, and appreciate the object for its intrinsic qualities. 

 

Best, 

 

Hoshi

[MassiveMoonHeh]

As always @Hoshi, I love your work. Thank you for confirming and for sharing your knowledge - I hope people reading this now and in the future appreciate the hard work that has gone in to bringing this information to the fore. I for one certainly do.

[MassiveMoonHeh]

For fun, I asked Google AI what a Gō Ichimai Boshi blade might sell for... this was the response.

 

If a privately owned Gō Yoshihiro Katana with a verified Ichimai Boshi and high-tier NBTHK certification (Juyo Token or Tokubetsu Juyo) ever legally crossed a high-end auction block, it would comfortably command between $1.5 million to $4+ million USD, purely because a collector might go their entire lifetime without ever seeing another one become available.

 

That is a big prediction. Perhaps it was hallucinating. Wonder if we will ever see this in real life? 🤞

 

@Lewis B it appears you may have some saving to do cause if you don't act when it appears then that is your lot.

 

8 blades (all privately held) - $4+ million USD... yowzers. 👀

[MassiveMoonHeh]

23 hours ago, Hoshi said:

Hello, 

 

I am enjoying these discussions lately on high-quality blades, happy to chime in. 

 

I am in the process of building an empirical kantei trait library. What this means is that I am extracting the traits of a given artist not from the books as has been done so far in history, but from synthesis of the entire corpus of a smith's published works by the NBTHK and the Bunkasho. This reveals new data that the books, which are focused almost exclusively on the archetypes, miss. Note that this is an early stage project, and there can (and will be) mistakes. 

 

The count for Go ichimai boshi I have is 8, with ko-maru, hakikkake and midare-komi as being about just as common. 

 

 

https://nihontowatch.com/artists/go-yoshihiro-YOS1434

 

The most discriminating factor for an attribution to Go is the clarity of the work: the unrivaled luminous ha and clear jihada. It is, in a sense, an attribution based on grade of Soshu-den brightness. Ichimai boshi will certainly strongly pull it further to Go, but it is not a requisite as we see in the data. I would not read too deeply into the attributions to Go, in the sense that "This specific historical person made it" - and while it is certainly the best bet, if one had to bet on a specific person at all - it is best considered to be a qualitative judgement on a certain group of traits that tend to co-occur and set the work apart from the other Soshu Joko.

 

A sharp turning and extended kaeri would move the attribution to Sa (also known for his remarkable brightness), a more stormy character with larger-dimensioned angular chickei to Masamune, a lower degree of brightness combined with more extreme activity in the ha to the finer and rarer ko-itame style of Norishige, and a calmer overall feeling to Sadamune. Such is the nature of attribution on mumei blades when the signed corpus is almost absent. 

 

However, I would be cautious with blades attributed to Go, as he was a frequent target of emulation during later periods (such as Nanki Shigekuni). For this reason, I would consider carefully blades that are not accompanied with a strong historical backing such as a Ko-Origami, or a record of gift-giving. I will say that in the blades attributed to Go that I have had the chance to handle or acquire, there has been so much variation in the execution of the jihada in particular, that I find it difficult to discern a single hand. 

 

It is important to understand that this acknowledgement of uncertainty does nothing to diminish the artistic appeal of the blades in practice. Clarity ("saeru") is one of the cardinal hallmark traits of high artistry in Nihonto, and blades attributed to Go exemplify this very characteristics. One must just accept the uncertainty, and appreciate the object for its intrinsic qualities. 

 

Best, 

 

Hoshi

Yoshi, I just did a double check and I actually count 9 blades that are Ichimai Boshi but TokuJu 25/Juyo 35 is not one of them as it like the Inaba Gō is classified as a almost ichimai as it is only Ichimai on the Omote. The Inaba Gō is ichimai on the Ura. And to round us out, other blades not in your list include JuBi 3.284 (Yokosuka Go) and the recently rediscovered Meibutsu Kai Kuni Gō, both of which have an Ichimai Boshi.

 

Also, I note your reference to Nanki Shigekuni who did emulate and got very close to making siimilar blades to Gō but he is only recorded as having one Ichimai blade to his name, suggesting that he never mastered this technique. Sa whilst he is also known for his brightness, has zero blades associated with the ichimai boshi. Therefore there could be a counter argument that blades that perhaps don't have a provenance but have an full Ichimai Boshi and the clear characteristics of a Gō blade could be a little safer in their attribution to Gō as we know Gō was more likely to produce an ichimai boshi than any other smith because it is such a difficult technique to master and perfect.

 

For reference other smiths that emulated Gō or had close links to Gō include: 

 

Hankei - 3 ichimai boshi

Shinkai - 2 ichimai boshi

Kotetsu - 1 ichimai boshi

 

Tametsugu - 2 ichimai boshi

Masamune - 1 ichimai boshi

Norishige 1 - ichimai boshi

 

Cheers.

[eternal_newbie]

16 minutes ago, MassiveMoonHeh said:

For reference other smiths that emulated Gō or had close links to Gō include: 

 

Hankei - 3 ichimai boshi

Shinkai - 2 ichimai boshi

Kotetsu - 1 ichimai boshi

 

Tametsugu - 2 ichimai boshi

Masamune - 1 ichimai boshi

Norishige 1 - ichimai boshi

 

There is also at least one Ko-Hoki blade with an ichimai boshi (https://onihonto.com/archived-nihonto-ca-yuhindo-com-ko-hoki/) as well as one Senjuin blade which has it (https://www.facebook.com/groups/destinationjapan/posts/4513864922166244/) which suggests that Gō could have either inherited the technique through his Yamato heritage (he is theorized by some to be the student or son of Senjuin Yoshihiro) or, like Norishige and Masamune, was inspired by a Ko-Hoki masterpiece that he encountered.

[Hoshi]

Hi, 

 

This is the Juyo Oshigata of TJ 25. There are two Go that passed TJ on this session, only one has Ichimai. J35 does not have ichimai. 

 

Note that I do not presently count Kokuho and Jubun in the trait sums. The reason is that their descriptions are not adequate. Aside from this, the counts are exact, following the verbatim statements on the setsumei. Only Juyo, TJ, and Jubi have detailed and standardized descriptions of the traits. 

 

Regarding Nanki Shigekuni, I would not discount survivorship bias here: the one with ichimai are most likely to have been used for shenanigans. It's a grey area, in the end we do not know.

 

I would not use the presence of an ichimai boshi as the strongest securing factor over the attribution. Rather, I would consider carefully the jihada and the hamon and look for an ancient atmosphere. Some expressions were simply never attained during Shinto times. Another such tell is the way the deep nie diffuses within the ha: if it forms a deep nie gradient, the shinto grandmasters could achieve this (Kotetsu, Nanki...) - on the otherhand, if nie is present all the way into the ha, without a clear diffusing gradient, appearing like snow all the way to the border, it is assuredly Koto. If there are inazuma and kinsuji forming cloud-like swirls, within the deep nie of the ha, then you double-assured. 

 

There are multiple factors to consider: one must integrate deki, provenance, and old and modern appraisals. 

 

Best,

 

Hoshi

 

[MassiveMoonHeh]

14 hours ago, Hoshi said:

Hi, 

 

This is the Juyo Oshigata of TJ 25. There are two Go that passed TJ on this session, only one has Ichimai. J35 does not have ichimai. 

 

Note that I do not presently count Kokuho and Jubun in the trait sums. The reason is that their descriptions are not adequate. Aside from this, the counts are exact, following the verbatim statements on the setsumei. Only Juyo, TJ, and Jubi have detailed and standardized descriptions of the traits. 

 

Regarding Nanki Shigekuni, I would not discount survivorship bias here: the one with ichimai are most likely to have been used for shenanigans. It's a grey area, in the end we do not know.

 

I would not use the presence of an ichimai boshi as the strongest securing factor over the attribution. Rather, I would consider carefully the jihada and the hamon and look for an ancient atmosphere. Some expressions were simply never attained during Shinto times. Another such tell is the way the deep nie diffuses within the ha: if it forms a deep nie gradient, the shinto grandmasters could achieve this (Kotetsu, Nanki...) - on the otherhand, if nie is present all the way into the ha, without a clear diffusing gradient, appearing like snow all the way to the border, it is assuredly Koto. If there are inazuma and kinsuji forming cloud-like swirls, within the deep nie of the ha, then you double-assured. 

 

There are multiple factors to consider: one must integrate deki, provenance, and old and modern appraisals. 

 

Best,

 

Hoshi

 

Correct there are two Gō blades that went TokuJu in Shinsa 25.

 

This is the from the setsumei of TokuJu 25/Juyo 35:

 

TokuJu25 - Boshi: well covered in Nie, with vigorous Hakikake; on the Omote, Nie lines are especially conspicuous, becoming Ichimai-style.

Juyo 35 - Boshi: The Boshi is deeply tempered, almost Ichimai Boshi, covered in nie and vigorously Hakikake.

 

This is from the setseumei of TokuJu 25/Juyo 62 (The above Oshigata):

 

TokuJu 25 - Boshi: The Boshi is deeply tempered, well covered with nie, returns straight into Ko-maru, and has slight nie-suji.

Juyo  62 - Boshi: deeply tempered, well covered with Nie, and returning directly in Ko-maru.

 

There are no JuBu, Kokuho or Gyubutsu Gō blades that are considered Ichimai Boshi.

 

[MassiveMoonHeh]

9 hours ago, eternal_newbie said:

 

There is also at least one Ko-Hoki blade with an ichimai boshi (https://onihonto.com/archived-nihonto-ca-yuhindo-com-ko-hoki/) as well as one Senjuin blade which has it (https://www.facebook.com/groups/destinationjapan/posts/4513864922166244/) which suggests that Gō could have either inherited the technique through his Yamato heritage (he is theorized by some to be the student or son of Senjuin Yoshihiro) or, like Norishige and Masamune, was inspired by a Ko-Hoki masterpiece that he encountered.

There are only 3 blades that are considered to be deeply tempered/hardened or above in the Ko-Hoki school:

 

Ko-Hoki Kunimune (kinzongan) – Juyo 14: Nearly hardened
Ko-Hoki Sadatsuna  (zamei) – Juyo 26: Ichimai
Ko-Hoki Sadatsuna (mumei) – Juyo 63: Deeply Tempered
 

This appears to be less than 3% of the existing blades from the Ko-Hoki school. That Darcy suggests he could have been influenced by Ko-Hoki because of his association with Norishige or Masamune is possible but it would have been a rare event to see a Ko-Hoki Ichimai blade.

 

The Yamato link is also a strong suggestion. Certainly Gō has a strong influence of Yamato in his early works. It is worth noting that Honma observed that a deep boshi “is a characteristic feature of Yamato mono.” 

 

I do not share the same thinking around the link to Senjuin Yoshihiro. In fact I do not believe the two to be linked other than by name. Certainly there is no record of Yoshihiro travelling to Yamato to learn and again there is no record of Senjuin Yoshihiro travelling to Etchū.

 

If I was to have an educated guess I would look closer to the Ko-Uda school that we know was founded by a Yamato smith Ko-Nyudo Kunimtisu who settled in Niikawa-gun in Etchū Province (Matsukura is in Nikawa-gun) at the exact time that Yoshihiro was coming of age. Having a Samurai lord's son working in your forge would have done wonders for building your fledgling business.

 

I suspect also that as a Samurai Yoshihiro would have heard the stories of older Samurai about the previous Mongol wars and how their blades shattered on their armour. The weakest part of the sword has always been the Kissaki and therefore it is just as valid to suggest that Yoshihiro wanted to make the strongest sword possible to fight with and as such making the kissaki strong was key - hence the ichimai boshi.