pcfarrar Posted March 27, 2007 Report Posted March 27, 2007 Hi, I recently got this katana in WW2 navy mounts and wondered if it could potentially be Nanbokucho. It appears to be an o-suriage Nagamaki and has a gunome hamon with togari ba. It also has the remains of a Fudo horimono in the nakago. The nagasa is 25.5". Thanks, Peter Quote
loui Posted March 27, 2007 Report Posted March 27, 2007 Could be, or muromachi, hard to tell at this point. Very nice looking blade - very nice. I will be posting a Nagamaki Naoshi on my site that I am working on now for the Canadian War Museum, it has a 29 inch nagasa and was shortened as well, I think the one I have is mid Muromachi, yours could be earlier. I like the shape of yours. I'll post pics as it progresses. Very nice blade - get that one polished. Regards, louis Quote
Ford Hallam Posted March 27, 2007 Report Posted March 27, 2007 hello Peter, I must admit I quite like the shape of this blade but I have some reservations as to it being a nagamaki. The so called horimono on the nakago also fails to convince me. It looks more like a superficial engraving rather than the last traces of an old horimono. I wonder why?....... just my opinion and no doubt there will be others. regards, Ford Quote
mike yeon Posted March 27, 2007 Report Posted March 27, 2007 I agree with muromachi. I once owned a suriage nagamaki naoshi katana that led me to conducting a lot of research. One thing I noticed was the earlier blades (nambochuko/kamakura) seem to have smaller kissaki. IE the shinogi line almost runs all the way to the tip. Also, little turnback at the boshi. I originally thought my blade to be nambochuko as well (yamato den), turned out to be late muromachi mino. Nice blade none the less. Good luck! mike Quote
nagamaki - Franco Posted March 27, 2007 Report Posted March 27, 2007 Will cast another vote leaning towards being a muromachi piece. http://japantrip.tripod.com/Japan/osafune2.html Quote
Guest Simon Rowson Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 Hi Franco, Thank you so much for that wonderful link about Osafune! My wife has actually been trying to arrange somewhere for us to visit the next time I got more than a single day off and so I showed her your link and said "That's where I want to go, please!" I'd particularly like our trip to coincide with one of the demonstrations by the smiths at Osafune and, if so, I'll try and get some pics. Off-topic I know but I wanted to say thank you for solving my holiday dilemma. :D All the best, Simon Quote
nagamaki - Franco Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 Peter, if its not much trouble could you please add a close-up pic of the nakago jiri? TY ....... I'll try and get some pics. Simon, looking forward to seeing any nihonto pics posted from your adventure, providing the mrs. is smiling about it. You realize you're on your own if she's not Quote
pcfarrar Posted March 28, 2007 Author Report Posted March 28, 2007 Thanks everyone, I'll go Muromachi Mino then. Quote
loui Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 Likes like mine - was shortened to fit into gunto mounts - and before that to fit katana mounts. Quote
Ford Hallam Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 I must admit the engraving had me a little puzzled, until I finally tracked down these 2 variants of the Fudo Myoo seed syllable. With a little bit of imagination you can see that what remains on the nakago is reasonably consistent with one of these forms. The most obvious difference here is the large loop at bottom but this is a perfectly acceptable variant of the brush stroke that would describe the written form. Incidentally, carved Sanskrit characters on blades are called Bonji. cheers, Ford Quote
Ford Hallam Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 The Bizen Osafune Museum is definitely worth a visit if you are in Okayama prefecture. I was artist in residence in a small museum there for a month last November so can heartily recommend a trip there. Do try to arrange your visit to catch the demonstrations though as that aspect of the museum is a major part of it's attraction. If you have any interest in pottery or are in desperate need of a good tokkuri and sakezue then you can travel to the next town along, Imbe. This is the home of the famous Bizen yakimono, wood fired local pottery which has been made there for hundreds of years. The town is littered with potteries and shops selling their wares. As for the sake, try Gozenshu's Yamahai. somewhat off post, sorry! but I trust of interest. Quote
Brian Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 This ties in nicely with Henry's current thread on his vacation and visit there: http://www.militaria.co.za/nihontomessa ... 8caf9157f2 Btw..that sword is definitely a stunner. How much of the boshi is still there..looks like it lost a bit of the tip? But looks completely restorable. There is something about the nagamaki/naginata shape and style that seems to grab most people. Just has so much grace. Regards, Brian Quote
mike yeon Posted March 28, 2007 Report Posted March 28, 2007 Thanks everyone, I'll go Muromachi Mino then. Not a bad way to go. Longish kissaki, gunome/midare hamon, o'sujikai yasurime, midare komi boshi, then add itame with a little masame hada and u got good indicators for mino-den. mike Quote
pcfarrar Posted March 29, 2007 Author Report Posted March 29, 2007 Btw..that sword is definitely a stunner. How much of the boshi is still there..looks like it lost a bit of the tip? Luckily the boshi is ok with a good turnback so plenty left for restoring the shape. When I bought it nothing was visible, just a few minutes with finger stones brought that out. I'm certainly going to get it polished in the future. Quote
pcfarrar Posted May 22, 2007 Author Report Posted May 22, 2007 Abe Kazunori and Ono Yoshimitsu had a look at this blade for me and they said its Nanbokucho :D Quote
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