A Mishina School Wakizashi

[watsonmil]

Dear Members,

 

I particularly like the Mishina School Smiths, ... and since I had this one out for a cleaning and decided it might be of interest to our membership as a study piece I had a few photos taken ( I apologize for some which are just not the best ), .... never the less I think it is a nice example illustrating some kanti points to look for in the Mishina School. You will note the polish is sashikomi which I think best illustrates the workings to be found in this school ( or any school for that matter ). The sword is Wakizashi, the Nagasa being 45.6 cm. Shape is Hon Zukuri. Kissaki is chu kissaki and the boshi exhibits the Mishina School kaeri. Jihada is a tight Mokume grain with boo utsuri. Hamon would be classed as sudare midare. Hamon has large nie, and occassional kinsuji is present. The Nakago is ubu and the file marks are suji-chigai ( slanting left ). Mei reads : ( Kikumon ) Izu ( no ) Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi. Koshira is if not the original certainly very old ( excepting the kodzuka which I bought from a NMB member ). The blade is very healthy with no flaws, ... and by personal communication with Kotoken Kajihara who did the Shinsa paper, .... probably the best Izu ( rare anyway ) that he had seen, and fully the equal of his elder brother 2nd Generation Iga ( no ) Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi. This sword was made by the younger brother of second generation Iga ( no ) Kami who was active between 1661 - 1680.

 

Respectfully sbmitted for the study and enjoyment of the NMB members ... Ron Watson

[watsonmil]

A FEW MORE PHOTOS :

[John A Stuart]

Hi Ron, Does the appraisal mention bo utsuri? John

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Bo Utsuri has never existed in Mishina school.

[watsonmil]

Dear John,

Yes, Kajihara did use the words Boo Utsuri, ... and I upon making inquiry of others in this regard was advised that a better term would have been Tobiyaki in long straight pattern almost giving the appearance of utsuri. I should have made an inquiry directly to Mr. Kajihara but alas I did not.

... Ron Watson

 

 

Dear Jacques,

I note you have edited your original comments to remove the word " Gimei ", .... a word I note you use somewhat flippantly ( my opinion not that you would care ). I also note you have removed your translation of the Kanji for Izu being in reality Iga in your opinion. I also noted your statement that Mishina School never used utsuri, .... and I have answered this with : a better term would have been Tobiyaki in my resonse to John. Now then as far as the signature and authenticity go, ... I should like to quote a letter from the late Cary Condell ..... " In response to your inquiry, the oshigata that you sent to me is indeed ( Kikumon ) Izu no Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi. That is a rare specimen. According to the Meikan IZU no Kami is the brother of the nidai ( 2nd gen. ) IGA no Kami. The page you zeroxed from Fujishiros' Nihon Toko Jiten page 392 shows an example of a joint work ( gassaku ) of the two brothers with the IGA no KAMI mei ( senior brother) on the omote and the IZU no KAMI ( junior ) on the ura. Your oshigata shows a mei with slight differences with the one displayed in Fujishiro ( look carefully at the KIN & MICHI ). It is unlikely to be fake however. It looks to be closer in feeling to the way the shodai signed. Perhaps the sword you have was made earlier in his career. "

Now, ... in addition I should like to quote a letter dated August 10, 1992 from the NBTHK : " As you are already aware, there is very little information on Izu-no-kami Kinmichi besides what is already known to you. He seems to have produced very few swords under his name. It is likely that there are few false works attributed to this smith. "

The sword was subsequently examined by Kotoken Kajihara who issued the Shinsa paper in 1994 stating GENUINE work by : Kikumon IZU no Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi. In personal communication he felt the work in this case surpassed that of the nidai.

I do not mind constructive criticism, .... but I bloody do mind your elitist tone ( attitude ) , and rash statements which you then edit out after a goodly number of our readers have read your original without so much as : " I may have erred ! " I think given the evidence that I have presented, ... that the sword is not only genuine but a worthy study piece.

... Ron Watson

[John A Stuart]

Makes it all the more interesting. Thanks, Ron

[Jacques D.]

HI,

 

I also note you have removed your translation of the Kanji for Izu being in reality Iga in your opinion.

 

Right, i have edited my post because a too fast reading of the mei. man usually see more Iga no kami Fujiwara Kinmichi than Izu no kami fujiwara Kinmichi. I thought it was gimei because Shodai Iga Kinmichi has never used a Kikumon. Nevertheless Bo utsuri has never existed in Mishina school.

[Jamie]

Thank you Ron.

Nice mount too, I love that tsuba.

[Lee Bray]

Thanks for taking the time to document your sword, Ron, and explaining the appraisal.

[Jean]

Very interesting Ron

[Ruben]

Hi Ron,

 

thank you for posting pic´s this wonderfull sword .

I like the elegant, strong shape of it.

Can´t judge anything els with my knowledge .

 

I noticed that the "Jurokugiko" is pretty deeply chisseld, it seems so for me.

Any thoughts on that?

 

Regards

 

Ruben

[Cameron69]

Hi Ron.

 

What a lovely piece. Thank you for sharing it.

 

Cameron.

[runagmc]

does this wak have alot of hataraki? I cant really tell from the pics (other than the tobiyaki). the reason I ask is I have a wakizashi with some similarities such as suguta, boshi w/ kaeri, & mokume hada. It is mumei, ubu nakago w/ haagari nakago jiri and katte-sagari yasurime. It has a gunome midare hamon w/ just about every type of activity there is (especially chikei, jinie,and sunagashi). I had thought in the past it may be mishina school but Im not certain. I wish I could post pics but I dont have a camera right now. Anyway, nice blade, thanks for sharing. :D

 

adam

[watsonmil]

Adam,

Apologies for the rather unprofessional photography. There is as you note profuse and long areas of tobiyaki, .... nie is abundant and in clusters. Kinsuji appear here and there, and the boshi has a brushed sungashi appearance to a long thin kaeri. This is my best description of what I see, ... I am certain there are other workings but with the proliferation of Japanese words for the most minute and subtle hataraki, .... I would surely stir up someone's ire by mislabeling some of the other features.

Why not post a photo when you are able. A photo is worth a thousand English words, and TEN thousand Japanese, I assure you .

... Ron Watson

PS> PLEASE do not use the term WAK, ... it is wakizashi. I guess I'm old fashioned and somewhat touchy, ... but I at least find we are beginning to live in a world of Acronyms, ... chopped up misspelled words, ... not to mention non words and lack of punctuation.

[runagmc]

Yeah, i'll try to post some pics at some point. Thanks for the extra details on the W-A-K-I-Z-A-S-H-I. I agree, when dealing with all these descriptive Japanese words, its probably best to spell things out as clearly as possible, but I figured with all the LOL's and IMHO's and other text shorthand I see on here, nobody would mind my abreviation. I'll try to fight the urge to be lazy when posting from now on.

 

-adam

[george trotter]

Nice sword indeed Ron, brings back memories of a fair number of Yoshimichi blades over the years...lots of sudareba and great hamon features...though strangely, no Kinmichi blade ever came before me here (W. Aust.).

Thanks for the interesting post.

George.

[watsonmil]

Dear George,

Thank you for your appreciation. Of all the Shinto Period Schools, ... my favorite is the Mishina. I handle and study every example I can.

A few years back they had a large exhibit of Mishina School Blades at the Chicago Sword Show where I got to examine different makers from the Shodai on down. It was a pleasure to compare one to another and a truly once in a life time experience for me at least. Swords by IZU no Kami are few, .... yet he turned out some spectacular work in my opinion. It would not surprise me if he produced or at least assisted his father and being the Shodai SOLD, ... this signature went on most of their work. There will be those who argue that the sandi would have been too young to be contemporary with the Shodai, ... but so little is known of Izu that may be an area for contemplation. We know he did gassaku with his elder brother Iga no Kami the nidai. Perhaps I'm mistaken, and will be chastised for unsubstantiated speculation, ... but it bothers me why there are so few extant sword by this very talented smith.

... Ron Watson

[paulb]

Dear Ron,

The Royal Armouries museum in Leeds have a number of Mishina School blades, although I think there is only one or two currently on display. They were the favourite Shinto School of Deryk Ingham and examples formed a significant part of the collection his family donted to the museum. It might be worth checking out what the Armouries actually have as there may be some examples of interest.

I spent many of my formative years looking at Mishina school work but have to say it did not appeal to me. While there was no disputing the quality which was good in all the examples I saw, I didnt like the shape which appear generally heavy, even "clunky" or the signature sudare-ba hamon seen on much (not all) of their work. I appreciate thsi is purely subjective on my part and it is as well we dont all like the same things.

Having said that I have also seen some exceptional examples by both Kinmichi and Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi. Also there is no doubt that the Mishina school were incredibly successful and very highly regarded in their own time. I have also seen several blades by Daido, Kinmichi's father . He claims direct decendancy from Kaneuji and his work exhibits a strong Mino foundation which in later generations develops in to the Mishina style.

I am glad to see that the Mishina School continues to be enthusiaticalty supported.