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#1 |
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 7,186
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Greetings folks,
I know that this is not my usual area of expertise nor comment, but I do have a question concerning nihonto: Is it typical for a Japanese katana or wakasashi blade to be re-tempered? If so, why? Would it lower the value if it were re-tempered? |
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#2 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: comfortably at home, USA
Posts: 432
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It is not typical, but not uncommon for a katana or wakizashi to be re-tempered if it was burned in a fire or had the kissaki broken
It needs to be done by an expert. Please don't try it yourself. It drastically changes the curvature and also will have a different hamon from what the original swordmaker did. Yes, Re-tempering makes the blade far less valuable in the Nihonto market. Any serious collector can spot a re-tempered (saiha) blade quite easily. Rich http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htm Last edited by Rich; 30th August 2020 at 02:47 PM. |
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#3 |
EAAF Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
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I was hoping you would chime in Rich. Thank you. And no I wouldn't dare do such a thing since I am not a swordsmith.
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#4 |
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Austria
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In nihonto the tempering defines the blade and it is an essential part of it.
I would say that Rick put it quite mildly, but from the point of view of a nihonto collector, a re-tempered blade is worthless. |
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#5 |
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Domo arigato to you both.
This is what I figured but was not sure. That is why I am so very careful and know what I want and don't want to throw away my money on re-tempers, blades with kizus, blades that need massive amounts of polish, etc. |
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#6 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Austria
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However, this doesn't mean the blade has no value from historical or ethnographic point of view. Now, it is our choice how much weight do we place on nihonto criteria/standards and how much on ethnographic criteria/standards. However, if one wants to be on the safe side, one would only aquire NTBHK papered blades from reputed nihonto dealers... preferably directly from Japan. |
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