Hello everyone. First I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ian Young from South Carolina, US. I am new to nihonto collecting and became interested due to my involvement in Kendo (among other arts such as Aikido and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). This site has an excellent database that has proven very helpful to me and I am happy to now be a part of the forum.
I recently purchased a wakizashi blade in shirasaya from a Japanese exporter. The signature appears to read Kanenaga. The dealer suggested that the time period was from Tenmon era and that there may be a possible connection to a Kanemitsu (father of Kanenaga?) from the Seki/Mino School. I know the blade is not perfect, but I basically would like to know more about the possible history of the sword. Any of your insights based on the attached pics would be very helpful (I apologize if files are big, I am learning). Thank you for your time.
Ian
Nice pix!
Nice job with the pictures!
Some general comments:
Your blade is "suriage", meaning "shortened". You can tell because:
- The tang is squared-off on the end.
- There is an extra hole in the tang.
- The signature is too close to the end of the tang.
None of this is a problem, it's just a 'feature'. It was originally perhaps a couple of inches longer.
Your blade is somewhat "tired", meaning that it has been polished a number of times. You can tell because:
- The "hamachi" is small - the little step where the sharp edge meets the tang.
- The blade is a bit wider at the hamachi compared to the area 3-4" above the hamachi. The polisher tries to avoid completely removing the hamachi, but needed to remove metal on the main part of the blade.
I would NOT recommend getting this blade polished, because:
- It is somewhat tired. More polishing takes a great risk of exposing more defects, and losing the overall shape.
- It's current polish is "good enough". There are a lot of cool things to see as it is.
I don't have any comments on the validity of the signature (Kanenaga). What is the paper that is in one of the pictures? Is it a kantei paper?
Pete
registration?
Never mind, I think it's not a kantei - looks like a registration paper (or similar).
Do you have a translation of it?
Pete
Info on Paperwork
Thank you very much for the insight Pete. I'm hoping that this will be a good blade to begin my study with. The paperwork is a Torokusho registration from Kanagawa prefectural Education Board 1951, June 15, grant number 9289. Other than that I do not have a translation yet. Is there a database for these grant numbers? Thanks
Ian
registration
I'm not aware of any place to look up that registration, other than going to Kanagawa.
But it's perhaps possible that the prefecture has some online data available to the public, but you would have to be able to navigate the web site in Japanese (if there is one).
Does anyone else know specifically?
Pete
Welcome
Hi Ian and welcome!
As far as I know there's no database for these registrations, at least with public access. But even if it was available, I don't think you'd find much useful information there, except maybe previous owners' name and address.
There were few Kanenaga in Seki with Tenmon Kanenaga being probably the most well known. I compared your sword with examples of Kanenaga's works in few books. In regards to the signature, I can see 2 slightly different styles, with the bottom strokes of KANE and upper horizontal stroke of NAGA being somewhat differing. You may look at this example. It's not a confirmed work of Kanenaga (unless you fully trust owner's opinion), but it displays the direction of the strokes in KANE and shortened horizontal stroke in NAGA (vs long one on your sword). The second style looks like this. It's an interesting example because overall shape of the sword and also activity on the blade look comparable to yours. This is what I saw in the books (Fujishiro - shows both styles, Yumei Koto Taikan - 1st style, Toko Taikan - there are few Kanenagas there, with one looking like yours). I have a feeling that a number of Kanenagas are now considered to be the works of one smith, while in facts there were few, due to lack of information. This may explain differences in styles.
This is just an ad-hoc analysis and proper research is required. It's a nice sword and there's a lot to see in it. I'll try to add more information on Kanenaga into the database.
Regards,
Stan
Thanks!
Thank you for the insights Stan. The second image in your reply does look similar to my untrained eye. This information is a great jumping off point for further research. I appreciate the assistance.
Ian