Masamune, Kunitoshi, Yoshihiro... Ueno National museum shots

Thank you. The first blade seems to curve down while the rest seem to curve up. Do you know what causes this?
 
Bo T said:
Thank you. The first blade seems to curve down while the rest seem to curve up. Do you know what causes this?
Click to expand...

Well admittedly its hard to tell from photos with no sense of scale but one wonders if the blades displayed curve down are tachi and those displayed curve up are katana. The straight bladed sword is of particular interest. I wonder if our opening poster could tell us anything about it? It's a chokuto?
 
Bo T said:
Thank you. The first blade seems to curve down while the rest seem to curve up. Do you know what causes this?
Click to expand...

The first one is the oldest among the displayed swords, dated back to 8th century.
At that time, the characteristic curved shape did not exist.
Curved swords optimized to slashing comes in about 10th century.
So the answer is, it is straight, at least it is meant to be so. And the reason is because it is in older style.

Triton said:
Well admittedly its hard to tell from photos with no sense of scale but one wonders if the blades displayed curve down are tachi and those displayed curve up are katana. The straight bladed sword is of particular interest. I wonder if our opening poster could tell us anything about it? It's a chokuto?
Click to expand...

It is as you said, Triton. 直刀(chokuto, straight sword).
 
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Very beautiful swords thank you for sharing pictures. Some look very much unused, which is immensely rare.

The Masamune was expertly reprofiled it seems.
Is that Yoshihiro piece from the student of Masamune?
Both of their pieces are exquisite yet sadly they look minimally used or perhaps just polished once or twice in their lifetimes to restore the blades (based on nakago).
 
Natsuo_Koshirae2.gifThere are so many great swords there. If you ever get the chance go!

I might point out that the condition of Chukoto shown is very, very rare. Most are in quite rusty condition as they were mostly excavated from tombs. This particular piece was originally owned by Emperor Shomu, Nara period, 8th century.

In regards to the comment about the habaki, it is indeed beautiful. Please note however, that it is not nearly so old as the sword and is not original. In 1872 the sword was given to Emperor Meji and in 1873 fittings were made for it by the famous Kano Natsuo.
 
Thanks for the history. I didn't think that the habaki was original as even in style it looks like a much later piece. But as a piece of work it is superlative.
I thought it odd that you could see the nakago underneath.

That Chokuto is stunningly well preserved. It's hard to imagine it being from the 8th century.
 
I live in Okinawa but went to this museum around 15 years ago. Super sweet blades.
 
Stuart,
I tried to post a photo of the entire koshirae, as the whole thing is as fine as they come.

I have a friend who has several of these chukoto. They were dredged from the bottom of lake Biwa. In the past these things would be thrown into the lake as offerings to the Gods. One of them is a tanto and he had it polished. The polisher removed as little steel as possible to bring out as much activity as possible without grinding it down to nothing. It still retains some deep pits but is amazing to look at. There are articles etc., which claim these older blades had no hada and weren't made the same as later techniques. However, I can tell you this blade has amazing mokume hada. Wish I had some photos of it to share.

One other point is that the earliest of these Kofun era(500 AD) chukoto were mounted differently than modern Katana. Their shape was generally triangular or wedged shaped. In fact from looking at the chukoto in the museum photos above, it looks a s though the shape had changed somewhat even by the 8th century(700 AD), some 200 years later. The tsuba didn't go directly over the nakago but instead over a collar which was over the nakago. The habaki were quite different in their appearance as well.

Here is a link to a Kofun era tsuba. Note the size of the nakago ana (hole). http://yakiba.com/Tsuba_Toran_Kei.htm
 
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Thanks again. I had seen pics of tsuba like that or even that one and wondered why the nakago ana was shaped like that. I didn't realize it went over a collar.. very interesting.
 
Thank you very much for sharing.

That yari is absolutely stunning. I wouldn't even know how you'd go about making something like that, where would you start?? Just fascinating.

I'll echo what everyone else has said about the chukoto. I've never seen one in that good of condition, not even close.

SoCo, if you could find a way to post the entire koshirae I'd love to see it. I'd also like to thank you for the history lesson. Always learning!
 
Sorry, didn't notice this thread went on so popular.

Also thanks Mr. SouthernComfort and other people for your knowledge and appreciation.

Today I've seen a news telling a sword done by Masamue which has been lost for more than a century has been found recently and will be exhibited in Kyoto national museum this October. Definitely a great news. If someone has a chance to visit Kyoto, don't miss it. Just for your information.

Again thanks for looking. I'm really happy to see you like them.
 
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