More photos from my trip to Japan back in June, this time it's from The Japanese Sword museum.This museum is run by the NBTHK, which is the main club around for nihonto fans. As such it's very much a museum for the already converted, no interactive displays, no multimedia thingamabobs. You get a bunch of artefacts, some information about them, and no bullshit to steal space from them. It's just what it says on the tin, and nothing more. Accordingly, don't expect a terrible amount of variation in this thread.First out is a relatively recently made tanto they had in a "basic information"-area by the entrance. The signs there were solely in Japanese, but given that "12932-2009" showed up in the text I would hazard a guess (which is then confirmed by comparing signatures) that the maker is Ōsumi Sadao: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32360-osumi-toshihira-%E5%A4%A7%E9%9A%88%E4%BF%8A%E5%B9%B3-living-national-treasure/
Katana, also of modern manufacture.Back around my first two trips to Japan this museum was housed in an apartment block in Yoyogi. Between those and this trip it moved over to a purposed built building over in Koto (probably the second worst Brutalist miscarriage I've ever seen, bested only by the old School of Architecture building in Stockholm), about a kilometre east of Akihabara. During my previous visits they also didn't allow any photography, so I saw no reason to bring my good camera here. Luckily I had bought a new zoom lens the day before, and decided to head to a park and try it out on some crows after the museum, and so I had it in my backpack anyway. Because once at the museum it first turned out that they'd mark the specific items you weren't allowed to photograph, and after a good deal of looking around for those signs later it turned out that out of the entire exhibition it was only one single tsuba they didn't want you to photograph. And up the camera came...
Post two and I'm already starting to forget the files? That's a good sign...
Tashi-koshirae, of the fancier kind. Perhaps most noteworthy is that it may appear that we have three guards here, one large and two smaller (plus the washers that sit on each side of it, in this case two pairs of those). Some tachi-koshirae do it this way, using one guard but "off-shoring" most of the guard's decoration to a pair of oversized decorative washers called o-seppa, which look somewhat like a pair of smaller tsuba here.
Katana-koshirae.
And the rest is from the main exhibition upstairs. The so-so focus in this photo is sadly going to be a somewhat recurring theme for the full-body shots, for some reason my camera turned out to have a hard time with those. I guess aiming at a from that distance effectively mirror surface may have made things a bit tricky, while going for the white cloth around it (while still not giving it much contrast to work with) may pull the depth of focus a bit out of plane with the blade itself.TachiRai KuniyukiKamakura period (mid 13th century)
Tanto-koshirae, likely made for the tanto blade below.
TantoTsugunaoNanbokucho period (1358), the koshirae above likely a decent bit younger.
WakizashiHiromitsuNanbokucho period (1364)
Katana (edge down?!?)Moriyoshi1980
TantoKanemotoNanbokucho period (mid 14th century)
KatanaSukehiroEdo period (1667)
WakizashiKanemitsuNanbokucho period (1347)Though it should be noted that the wakizashi by and large wasn't a thing back then, so this is a more modern division of blade sizes applied to an older blade (it does fit decently though, at leats in most cases). At its time I guess this blade would have gone into a koshigatana or so. Basically the Japanese smallish sword classifications become very messy when we move back past the Momoyama period or so. Thus the much more cleaned up Edo-and-onwards scheme is used instead for the blades, just as the blade themselves were often put into modern fittings to make the new(ish) kinds of sword.
As always OP is a cool guy, eh posts neat photos and doesn't afraid of anything.
TachiNobufusaEnd of Heian to early Kamakura period (late 12th-early 13th century).
These photographs are very much an exercise in trying to catch the light reflecting off of the blades just right. Very slight shifts (such as between the position of my eye and the camera lens) can change the look considerably, compare the look of the steel here to the previous photo. And to make it really "exciting", I can't really see how well it works out in the viewfinder.
TachiYasuhiroLate Kamakura period (early 14th century).
I am monitoring this thread.
KatanaNagayoshiMid Nanbokucho period (mid 14th century).
Considering the fuller running right through the tang and that high status katana were exceptionally rare at the time I think it's a pretty safe guess that this was originally a tachi that got cut down at some later point (likely late Muromachi to early Edo period).
TachiMiromitsuEarly Muromachi period (1405).
WakizashiMunemitsuMiddle Muromachi period (1508).
Another example of how the look of the steel changes with the light. Admittedly a pretty large shift in angle here form the previous photo, but that was because I was simply trying different angles, not intentionally trying to illustrate how quickly the look can change.
Kogai and kozukaKanenoriMid Edo period (early to mid 18th cnetury).
TsubaKaneatsuLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).
>>64550787Is that legit? I though Japanese swords with fullers were a meme found only in mall ninja collections and my office
TsubaKanenori/KaneatsuLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).
>>64550877You've done pretty good, I dont think its truly possible to capture the way fine steel reflects light with a camera
TsubaNaonoriEnd of the Edo period (1859)I mentioned above that photography was allowed for everythign but a single item in the exhibition. That item isn't this tsuba, but was one bearing exactly the same design, so little lost as far as this thread goes (with the image limit I'd have tossed one of the two anyway to show more variety). The sign marked it as being owned by some corporation, making the cynic in em wonder if they simply didn't want a bunch of photos of it where the Japanese tax authority could take notice. Then again they could just have had the sign read "Private Collection" in that case (they often do), so likely not.>>64550917It's very much legit, fullers in various configurations are found on a lot of Japanese swords.https://markussesko.com/2015/02/25/kantei-1-sugata-3/
TsubaNaotakaEnd of the Edo period (mi 19th century)Dragons and tigers and plum and bamboo oh my. The sakura have of course gotten very heavily associated with Japan and samurai, but plum flowers are also a very popular motif on sword fittings and carvings. As they blossom very early in the year, before the trees even have leaves, it has come to symbolise good things coming after and from enduring hardship. It provides what often the easiest way to tell plum from cherry here, are there any leaves shown on the branches?>>64550922Overall I'm very pleasantly surprised by how well these photos (and those form the National Museum) turned out. And as you point out, still photos will never manage to catch the full splendour of these things, or even what you can see of it through the class in a museum. It's like gemstones, the play of light as you shift things around is a large part of it.
KatanaKunihiroMomoyama period (end of the 16th-early 17th century).
KatanaOkisatoEdo period (mid 17th-late 17th century).
KatanaSukenaoMid Edo period (1689)
>>64550926>>64550938The time and detail into those is pretty nuts, like someone's full time job just making tsuba's. The fact they got so much depth into the iron is a real task
KatanaNaotaneLate Edo period (1821)
>>64550980They had no internet back then. Not much else to do.
>>64550989And awful lighting too you'd have to do it all during the day because by candlelight you couldn't see shit>no radio to listen to>fucking shogun
>>64550980>like someone's full time job just making tsuba'sAt that level it absolutely was (well, soft-metal experts usually also did other fittings, but I'm not sure if someone working with an iron base was liekly to do so). Probably had an apprentice or two around full-time++ to assist as well.
KatanaYukihideMeiji period (1870)
>>64550999>by candlelight you couldn't see shitOne note regarding that is that while the art of sword-smithing today isn't what it once was, I've seen some express that the sword polishers art may be at an, or the, historical peak now helped along by the electrical lighting we now take for granted allowing both the polisher and his customers to get a much better look at things regardless of time and weather.
>>64551021and here I was thinking that the sword polishers art had reached its historical peak thanks to the advent of endless amounts of online pornography
KatanaKagemitsuEnd of the Kamakura period (early 14th century).
Katana (Again, edge down? And the sign says katana in Japanese too.)TadayoshiEarly Edo period (mid 17th-late 17th century).
TachiSanekageEnd of Heian-early Kamakura period (late 12th-early 13th century). Which should make it the oldest sword they had on display when I was there.
>>64551003A lot of the patina and lacquer work is also an art in of itself. Especially when you move into some of the silver-copper and gold-copper alloys they used as well>>64551021Well that's it, as a knife maker lighting is one of those things you can't get enough of and a genuine tool in of itself just as grinders, sandpaper and hammers are. That and magnifiers as you get old and crap really help see what's going on.
KatanaNagashigeEnd of Kamakura-early Nanbokucho period (early 14th century).The cross on the habaki (which is almost certainly younger than the sword) is likely meant to be a Christian one.
Kozuka, tsuba and kogai.NaonoriLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).This can also illustrate the bit about patina work an anon mentioned above. The base metal here is an alloy called shakudo, which is mostly copper by weight and mostly gold by cost. On its own it looks mostly like copper, but when pickled in the right solution it develops this marvellous deep blue-black finish (or a slightly washed out version of it if you skimped on the gold, 6-7% gives the best result).
TantoSadaokiEnd of the Kamakura period (early 14th century).
Kashira (or tsubagashira if we want to be exhaustive)SaneyoshiLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).All the fuchi and kashira on display were part of matched pairs. However, I didn't have the depth of focus to get both sharp in the same image, and I can’t be arsed to photoshop stuff together, so you get them on their own instead.
TsubaSanehideLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).
TsubaKaizenboLate Edo period (1825)
TsubaMasayoshiLate Edo period (1819, 1826)Motif: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Kui
TsubaSaito FuzuiEnd of the Edo period (mid 19th century).
Thanks for the inspo. I will become this good of a craftsman one day.
TsubaMasakataLate Edo period (1777)As you may be starting to notice by now, fittings haven't tended to be preserved as well as blades through the centuries. he Edo period also saw a lot more focus put into their artistry than was usually the case earlier one, corresponding to there being less reason to actually use the sword as a weapon compared to carrying it for fashion and status.
>>64551133Aiming for the absolute top I see.
Oh, and the previous was a fuchi by Sumioki, late Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century). TsukagashiraKaneokiEnd of the Edo period (mid 19th century)Following the style and theme (possibly made to be used together?) of the treasure bag tsuba >>64551125 this one shows the god of fortune; Hotei. The associated fuchi likewise shows a treasure bag.
TsubaKaneokiEnd of the Edo period (mid 19th century).
And, again, Kaneoki, late Edo.The exhibition hall had both their permanent exhibit and a temporary one on sword fittings from Satsuma. I didn't really take note on what was what, but I rather doubt they'd given a single craftsman, especially a late Edo period one, this much space in their permanent exhibition.
Katana (...)MasatsuguEnd of the Edo period (1857)
TachiNarimuneKamakura period (early 13th century)
>>64550728I am not the biggest fan of Japanese blades, but this is a nice thread and thank you.Heres something more European.
TachiMuneyoshiEarly Kamakura period (early 13th century).
>>64550938That is really nice
I'm pretty sure that we have a clear example of utsuri here, a "shadow" of the hamon back from the edge (or up as the blade is oriented here). This feature was IIRC mostly found in blades of the Bizen tradition (which this blade belongs to), and is something many a swordsmith since has tried to imitate, few with much success.
TachiMasanoriEarly Muromachi period (early 15th century)Possibly shortened a good bit, as on one hand it looks somewhat shallowly curved, and on the other hand there's the odd looking it at the end of the tang (which I missed at the time and so didn't take any closeup of) which may be thew original signature taken form the chopped off original tang and inlaid onto the new tang to preserve it.
A lot of these nakago are rust-free, i wonder why they do that? I guess if it's a museum they might not care and would be more interested in long term preservation than authentication.
TachiKunitsunaEnd of Heian-early Kamakura period (late 12th-early 13th century). So we have another contender for the oldest sword on show here. And as far as the typical Japanese sword goes these are very old, as these styles emerged from the continental ones about the mid-Heian, and of course the number of preserved swords from that far back is extremely limited (to say nothing of well preserved ones).
>>64551218While you shouldn't clean off the patina of course (and if we look around here we notice that only the very youngest blades still have their tangs in a bare metal finish, the rest are covered in dark brown-black oxidation), the advice I've seen is for even private collectors to try and prevent active rust on their tangs. While this may make dating and authentication by the tang's condition a bit harder a century or four from now, having the signature corrode away isn't exactly helpful either. These swords exist in good condition/at all today because people of the past preserved them, and so we (if we're lucky enough to get the chance) likewise should prioritise preservation to pay it forward to the coming generations.
TachiAoeNanbokucho period (mid 14th century)
TantoKuniyoshiMid Kamakura period (mid 13th century).
>>64551223It would have been one of the first of those crescent shaped tachi, they did a lot of much big thinks after the Mongol invasions about why their swords kept breaking. They used to be much straighter weapon with different edge geometry that needed to be thickened up in places, so its a very significant piece in not just its age but at that critical point of battle tested changes
>>64551256The Mongol invasions are a later affair, taking place in the second half of Kamakura era. The changes attributed to it are also not really about the curvature, but rather the blades getting wider but flatter (and how that should help with resilience is something you won't hear much about...) and longer tips (so there was a better chance of being able to grind a new one if it broke without the tip ending up unhardened).Though that said, Sesko does note that these changes aren’t actually all that well timed to invasion and immediate post-invasion period, and even at my knowledge level it can be noted that these changes were largely rolled back as we move into the exceptionally war-torn Muromachi era where reliable swords would have been very much in fashion
KatanaRai KunimitsuEnd of the Kamakura era (early 14th century)
This one's definitively a tachi that's been cut down, with any signature it may have had lost in the process. The red lacquer signature here is either a copy of the original signature added when it was cut down or, I think more likely, an attribution done by some sword appraiser at a later date (Edo era quite likely).
Quick food break.
Beautiful pieces, thanks for posting them. Did you come across anything green? Sword with jade components etc?
TachiFukuoka Ichimonji school.Mid Kamakura period (mid 13th century).>>64551301Nothing in this batch. Jade overall was never anywhere near as big a thing in Japan as it was on the continent, and Japanese sword fittings made from it are exceptionally rare (and if you see something it's probably Korean). The MET has a pair of jade tsuba though:https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/33387https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/28621
KatanaNagayukiEarly Edo period (mid 17th-late 17th century).
>>64550728Swordlet here, can you see if these swords were used in combat (dents or whatnot)?
>>64551376Nothing that I noticed. Of course, we only see one side, and minor damage may also have been polished out over the years (while anything major would drastically have reduced the chance of the blade being preserved).
Speaks for itself>>64551383WakizashiKanemitsuNanbokucho period (1347)And talking about minor damage being polished out, note how the engraving of the dragon has been worn down.
And likewise.
A third.
And fourth. I get a feeling the late Edo Satsuma fashion much preferred silk brocade to rayskin for the inner handle wrap.
TsubaNaotakaMiddle Edo period (early to mid 18th century).The plant here is, fittingly enough, the sword bean.
TsubaNaonoriLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).
TsubaNaonori, againLate Edo period (late 18th-early 19th century).
And again.
Fuchi and kashiraKaneokiEnd of the Edo era (mid 19th century)
And to round it off, a look at the museum itself. Gods have mercy. (There's a small but, if you face away from the museum, neat little park behind it though.A zip archive of what I've posted here and the photos that wouldn't the image limit: https://www.mediafire.com/file/xsa9lny698jwmdz/Japan_-_The_Japanese_Sword_Museum.zip/file
>>64551463I remember trying to go here right while they were in the middle of the move or something, not to mention how long the NBTHK took to handle my appraisal (although I'm shocked the dealer I used was even willing to help me with that). I went to one outside Gifu that was pretty cool too, don't quite remember the name off the top of my head though.Wish I was willing to trust someone in the states to sharpen mine though, would be pretty slick.Thanks for sharing OP, was gonna attach a pic of mine but you hit image limit lol.
>>64551569>although I'm shocked the dealer I used was even willing to help me with thatProbably considered part of the cost of doing business to do so, and it may of course also be that they just want to see as many swords papered as possible.
>>64551463Looks like a WWII casemate.
>>64550728Bump
Good timing with the thread, OP. I watched Harikiri last night, and I was blown away to find out that all of the swords in that movie were period correct, as in they were all made and used in the 1600s or before. The only time they used prop swords in that movie is when they actually make contact with eachother.
>>64551021I'd take that with a grain of salt. There's not much artistry to polishing. Over-polishing doesn't do anything negative in practice with proper technique, it just wastes time (and if you want to be pedantic, remove unneeded but negligible amounts of material. Modern lighting doesn't elevate the "art", it just means you have to polish for longer to consistently look better since the environment is consistently brighter. Polishing is indeed at a peak, but it's more to do with having machines that can polish so smooth even scanning electron microscopes can't catch the imperfections.
