Ed Hicks Posted August 13, 2011 Report Posted August 13, 2011 Od paper Document (came with this sword) and Mei translation needed _____Aki ____??? A very fine quailty blade with dense nioi and nie, clear tight hada, horizontal yasurimei and mounted in shirasaya...A rough idea of what the papers say would br most helpful. I am unsure of the mei and thought it was a gendaito when I first saw it, but the workmanship is better than normally seen and the signature and file marks are not found in my references...Thanks for the help. Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 13, 2011 Report Posted August 13, 2011 Mimasaka ju Akinori saku 美作住昭徳作 According to the document, he was from Tsuyama city in Tottori Prefecture. The paper says he worked 100-150 years ago and was a student of Masahide but I could swear he was a gendai tosho in the Kurihara Akihide group. I have seen his work before.... Quote
k morita Posted August 13, 2011 Report Posted August 13, 2011 Hi, I agree with Chris. Maybe, Nakata(family name) Akinori. Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 13, 2011 Author Report Posted August 13, 2011 Mimasaka ju Akinori saku 美作住昭徳作 According to the document, he was from Tsuyama city in Tottori Prefecture. The paper says he worked 100-150 years ago and was a student of Masahide but I could swear he was a gendai tosho in the Kurihara Akihide group. I have seen his work before.... Chris, Thanks for the quick reply and translations...darned nice sword and my initial impression was that this was/is a gendaito (maybe a very early one perhaps)...If you find any other references on him please let me know-I have nothing showing a maker with the last character of his name Aki Nori...Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 13, 2011 Report Posted August 13, 2011 Yes, that is him...note the unusual style for "nori" 徳,,,,,I have seen blades signed the same way yours is.....He was a good smith. Many of the Akihide group smiths made some very nice swords. Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 13, 2011 Author Report Posted August 13, 2011 This is a his Oshigata of tang. Got it, thanks, and I found one example at http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/akinori.jpg...No details on him, however, and it would be interesting to know if he studied under Masahide...can you tell me who wrote the paper or was it collector's notes? Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 13, 2011 Report Posted August 13, 2011 Masahide was a shinshinto smith. Akinori worked during WWII. He studied under Kurihara Akihide at the Denshujo/Nihonto Gakuin..... Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 13, 2011 Author Report Posted August 13, 2011 Masahide was a shinshinto smith. Akinori worked during WWII. He studied under Kurihara Akihide at the Denshujo/Nihonto Gakuin..... Chris, I do understand that distinction...I thought Akinori may have been an old man during WWII and (a real stretch here) may have known Masahide (at best)...I can not read the document so from what you said so far it appears that whoever wrote it either lied or made a very serious error regarding Masahide and an association with the smith Akinori. Again, thanks for helping with this. Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 13, 2011 Report Posted August 13, 2011 Masahide died in 1825. That would mean Akinori was making swords during the war when he was over 110 years old.... I don't think the author lied, just uninformed.... Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 13, 2011 Author Report Posted August 13, 2011 Masahide died in 1825. That would mean Akinori was making swords during the war when he was over 110 years old.... I don't think the author lied, just uninformed.... Akinori would be have been an extremely experienced swordsmith! Thanks for the correction to my flawed math/age calculations...Any idea what the paper was for, a sword salesman's certificate or___? Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 Most likely written by the seller.....hard to say.... Quote
k morita Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 Ed, You should throw away the paper,because the paper never raises the value of the sword. Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Posted August 14, 2011 Ed,You should throw away the paper,because the paper never raises the value of the sword. I agree and although this is a very nice sword and not one I will keep likely,I'll give the paper to the next owner just for its novelty value and ceratinly not for its content...I do realize what some folks have done and will do with "papers" such as these, but I will be certain to fully explain the less than historic worth of the paper. Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 How about some more pictures of the blade and some details (length, etc.) for us gendai collectors???? Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Posted August 14, 2011 Chris, I'll get sword details and photos posted soon...Swords are the hardest artifact to photograph well and I'll do what I can tomorrow. Quote
SwordGuyJoe Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 How about some more pictures of the blade and some details (length, etc.) for us gendai collectors???? Can't wait! Quote
Brian Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 Question - How common are wide and prominent yasurime such as this one has? Have seen it once before on a sword, and thought it unusual. Was this a particular trait of a group of Gendai smiths or just something seldom seen? Brian Quote
cabowen Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 Question - How common are wide and prominent yasurime such as this one has? It is rare. though I too have seen it on occasion but it has usually been on late swords and to me was a sign of the smith trying to save time as it is quicker to finish this way that to do a proper ippon suji finishing. Also, it would appear that this sword was not dated, which is another later war, time saving step. I have seen a late Kotani Yasunori blade finished this way; when I asked the smith about conditions at the end of the war, he said they had moved the forge to Shikoku and were doing what they could to simply get swords out the door. I would imagine that one too was made in a hurry... You will note on the oshigata that Morita san provided that this smith put more care into finishing the nakago on that sword, which was entered in a war era contest. Quote
Ed Hicks Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Posted August 14, 2011 Akinori blade is 24 inches long in shirasaya...Photos show the strong activity in the hamon, but hard to capture it well...Very tight hada and some scratches on the blade from handling. Ed Quote
cabowen Posted August 14, 2011 Report Posted August 14, 2011 thank you for taking the time to post the photos.....nice! The hamon clearly shows the activity that results from a water quench. Something to keep in mind when wondering if a blade is oil or water quenched..... Quote
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