nanban tetsu question

[jeremy]

How can one know if a blade is made from nanbantetsu? Did shinto swordsmiths always inscribe this on their nakago when they used this steel? How can one tell if a sword is made from nanbantetsu just by looking at the characteristics of the jihada? I bought this sword recently and wanted to know if there is a possibility that this sword is made from nambantetsu?

 

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2011/1110_1083syousai.htm

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[runagmc]

No, as far as I've always heard there's no way to tell for sure. From what I've read, some smiths probably marketed foreign steels as special rare material, and so it made since for them to make note of it on the nakago. It's impossible to say how consistent they were about it though since, like I said, there's no way to tell just by looking.

[jeremy]

Thanks for the reply. Do you or anyone else know, if this smith (Echizen Hirotaka) has any signed blades out there with a nambantetsu inscripion?

 

Kind regards,

 

Jeremy

[estcrh]

Jeremy, since you brought up the subject of nanban tetsu I will post this link from a previous discussion.

 

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8526&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=nanban+tetsu

[nagamaki - Franco]

How can one know if a blade is made from nanbantetsu?

 

On one Tsuguhira Katana signed made of nambantestu the steel looked very silvery, unusually so, (kind of like a new silver nickel only made of fine silk), and the hamon was amazingly bright almost as if it had its own light source. The ko gonome with ashi just sparkled with brightness which made it appear 3D. Considering that these are among the kantei clues which should lead toward the correct answer of Tsuguhira, it is at least possible to correctly suspect one is looking at a sword made of nambantetsu.

[b.hennick]

A failry recent JSSUS Newsletter article by Francicso Couthino suggested that HIzento were made at least in part with Nanbam tetsu.

[nagamaki - Franco]

A failry recent JSSUS Newsletter article by Francicso Couthino suggested that HIzento were made at least in part with Nanbam tetsu.

 

It is not too far fetched ???? to think the better more prominent swordsmiths of the time readily became aware and may have had the means to acquire nambantetsu. There is at least one Kuniteru sword that raises this suspicion, as well.

[Chinook]

Hello, John M. Yumoto states in his book ( The Samurai Sword) That smiths of the new sword period often used the Maru-gitae construction style when using imported steel. For a long time even before I started collecting and studying Nihonto I always took it for granted that Japanese swords were constructed with a core of softer steel. I guess it is one of those things that would be hard if not impossible to discern just by viewing the outside of the blade. I also read somewhere that smiths that tried nanban tetsu did not care for it all that much. Prehaps it was more of a experiment or a fad. Mark P.