Nihonto Club

Japanese term

Definition

(jap. utsuru - to be reflected) 'Reflections' of hamon in the ji. However, its shape may also be different from hamon. Utsuri is not as strong as the haom and in order to see it clearly the blade must be held against the light source. There are different types of utsuri based on the shape:

bo-utsuri 棒移り - straight
choji-utsuri 丁子映り - choji-shaped
midare-utsuri 乱れ映り - irregular
botan-utsuri 牡丹移り - 'peony'
jifu-utsuri 地斑移り - blackish
tsukare-utsuri 疲れ移り - tired
shirake-utsuri 白け移り - whitish appearance, close to shinogi.

Also there are references to:

yakidashi-utsuri 焼出映り - whitish utsuri close to hamachi
seki-utsuri 関映り - utsuri present on some blades from Seki (Mino province)
sugu-utsuri 直映り - see bo-utsuri
kuro-utsuri 黒映り - is it the same as jifu-utsuri?