Takezo Posted July 20 Report Posted July 20 Somehow I missed this, but my Gorōzaemon-no-jō Kiyomitsu has mitsu-mune. This really surprised me, as I generally associate this with Soshu or maybe even some Yamato. I can only theorize that maybe the customer ordered it this way for some reason? Wondering if anyone else has examples of Sue-Bizen with mitsu-mune. Particularly Kiyomitsu, but any are welcome. 1 1 1 Quote
klee Posted July 20 Report Posted July 20 Hi @Takezo Your Gorozaemon overall is a very unique piece and likely ordered in a particular way at the time. I have yet to see another Kiyomitsu with Mitsu mune or an original Futasuji Bi like yours 1 Quote
Takezo Posted July 20 Author Report Posted July 20 Would be awesome to discover who ordered it and for what! Quote
YourBabyBjornBorg Posted July 21 Report Posted July 21 This is intriguing. I wonder how many other Kiyomitsu are in Mitsumune, too. An Juyo Eiroku 8 (1565) Magoemonnojo Kiyomitsu with a Tame-Mei ("made for...") for Uragami Munekage, the Daimyo of Bizen, with Mitsumune. This is the only Mitsumune Kiyomitsu from Random Thoughts on Nihonto. ......This is so hard. Why is there not a book on Sue-Bizen entirely An Tenbun 24 (1555) Juyo Hitatsura Gorozaemonnojo Kiyomitsu, with a Tame-Mei for Masahide (said to a Samurai under Uragami), with Mitsumune, sold for 13500000 Yen. Is there a pattern here? Wait, I'm so dumb! I just got that book on Sue-Koto with Tame-Mei, maybe there's something in there! An TOKUJU Eiroku 1 (1558) Genbenojo Sukesada with Mitsumune, no Tame-Mei. LOL, the sword on the cover is the first sword I posted here. ...Nope. It doesn't say much about Mune. A very few of Oshigata did picture Mitsumune, like the first sword and a Yosozaemon. 3 1 Quote
PNSSHOGUN Posted July 21 Report Posted July 21 You may want to consult these two books that have a good number of Sue Bizen reference pieces: Sue-Koto: Japanese Swords of the 15th & 16th Centuries Nihonto Bizen Den Taikan by Okazaki 3 1 Quote
Mushin Posted July 21 Report Posted July 21 You do occasionally find Sue Bizen works with mitsu and even maru mune. They were almost certainly custom order requests or were done on a work forged for some important event. They are not common but not unknown either. Often they are associated with other "upgrades" like horimono, or extended length. (Stubby nakago katateuchi were the standard of the day.) Congrats! 2 1 Quote
Takezo Posted July 21 Author Report Posted July 21 (edited) Wow, this is actually a pretty good signal. Thank you for the examples! Now if I could only know the provenance of the piece...given the fact mitsu-mune required a high level of skill to execute it makes sense. The piece I have also has original futatsujibi, so it must have been a high level order. Edited July 21 by Takezo 2 2 Quote
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