Swords

Mumei shinshinto katana

$6000

A nice mumei katana whose majestic sugata and katte agari yasurime point in the direction of the very good shinshinto smith, Takahashi Nobunaga.

Nagasa: 70.5 cm (27.75")

Motohaba: 35 mm Sakihaba: 24 mm

Motokasane: 9 mm Sakikasane: 7 mm

Nakago: kuri jiri, katte agari yasurime, one mekugi ana

Mei: Mumei

Jidai: Shinshinto (working period of Naganobu was roughly 1830-1869)

The blade is tempered in a bright nioi deki hamon in a shallow gunome with some togari and ashi iri, turning to suguha in the boshi ending in omaru. The kitae is itame with masame as it approaches the shinogi showing chikei and hints of utsuri. The blade has been used for tameshigiri and has cutting marks on the ji and shinogi as would be expected. There are some very localized points of surface rust in a few places on the blade.

The buke zukuri koshirae consists of a black lacquered saya with horn kojiri, koiguchi, and kurihata. The dark brown sageo is leather. The tsuka is wrapped in dark brown leather over same. The menuki are gold leaf or plate in the form of vajra. The fuchi kashira are simple but elegant in shakudo. The one piece habaki is yamagane. the large iron tsuba (8.1 cm wide x 8.6 cm tall) is deeply hammered and carved with a motif of ants at work.

$6000

Shinto Katana by Tomita Sagami no Kami Yoshimichi

$3800

This flamboyantly tempered, finely forged blade is of long wakizashi length, but has the proportions of a katana, not of a classic shinto wakizashi. It is signed (nagamei) and dated 1752. The "Yoshi" kanji is not the same "Yoshi" as the Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi group, but according to some sources, they are related in the same lineage. According to Nihonto Meikan:

During Bunroku era (1592-95), famed smith KANEMICHI 兼道 who named himself as the 9th generation Shizu Saburo KANEUJI, had moved up to Kyoto along with his four sons. The eldest Iganokami Kinmichi 伊賀守金道 who established a Mishina school 三品派, and the second son Rai-Kinmichi 来金道, third son Tanbanokami Yoshimichi 丹波守吉道 and fourth son Echunokami Masatoshi 越中守正俊. Oumi-no-kami Hisamichi 近江守久道 also joined to Mishina school to form the "5 major Mishina schools" 京五鍛冶 in Kyoto. All of them had been flourished throughout Edo period.
The subject smith YOSHIMICHI 義道 with Sagami-no-kami 相模守 title was a student of 2nd gen. Ouomi-no-kami HISAMICHI 近江守久道. He was born in Hyuga Province (now in Miyazaki pref.) in Kyushu island. His real name was Tomita Jin-uemon 冨田甚右衛門. It is said that he also lived and worked in Hiroshima, Aki province (now in Hiroshima pref.).

Sugata: A shinogi zukuri, iori mune wakizashi/ko-katana, with torii zori, chu kissaki, and a slightly raised, narrow shinogi.

Nagasa: 55.56 cm (21.875") 1.84 shaku Sori: 1.9 cm

Motokasane: 6.1 mm Motohaba: 25.5 mm

Sakikasane: 4.2 mm Sakihaba: 11.5 mm

Hamon: Both sides have a long, Osaka style yakidashi. The omote has a doubled choji with ashi. The monouchi becomes a more continuous stream of large choji with ashi. The ura is similar, with patterns of two choji, but more irregular and with inazuma running along the tops of the choji, kinsuji running throught the ha, and tama in the ji. The boshi is suguha with omaru kaeri with a short turnback.

Kitae: a very finely forged koitame with profuse jinie, almost an utsuri-like effect.

Nakago: Ha agari kuri jiri with katte sagari yasurime, and one mekugi ana.

Mei: Tomita Sagami no kami Yoshimichi

Date: Horyaku ninen nigatsu kitsu jitsu, an auspicious day in the 2nd lunar month of the 2nd year of Horyaku: 1752.

Koshirae: A good shirasaya with sayagaki, good copper habaki.

$3800

Note that in one of the photos, I severely changed the exposure to show off the activity in the hamon. The extreme blue of the steel and the extreme color of the nakago are an artifact of that shift in exposure. Other than that, the photo was not retouched. The top third of the blade loses detail out in the glare.

SC

Echigo ju Sadaaki

$2500

A contemporary tanto with a 1999 paper from Aoi Art, Tokyo

Omote: Echigo ju Sadaaki saku

Ura: Heisei Kyu Nen Hachi Gatsu Hi (A day in the the 8th month of the ninth year of Heisei), A day in August, 1997.

Nagasa: 11.614 inches

No sori

Jitetsu: Itame hada with masame hada and abundant ji nie

Hamon: Nie deki gonome midare with sunagashi and kinsuji inside the hamon

There are futatsuhi on both sides of the blade.

Sadaaki is making swords in Niigata prefecture. The blade is in polish and shirasaya with a gold wash habaki. The blade is a robust example of what some of the old tanto looked like when they were new.

$2500