A New Acquisition

I have recently acquired a sword which is o-suriage but with a gold lacquer attribution (kinpun mei). The attribution is katana mei on an o-suriage blade. Now, I have been influenced by those whose knowledge I respect, who told me that lacquer attributions are usually dubious at best and cannot be relied upon. Since I once owned a sword with a gold inlaid attribution to Kunitoshi which turned out to be a Bizen blade, I felt that the opinion was right and true. However, upon examining my latest acquisition I realised that it was signed Honami with a Kakihan (an appraiser’s personal seal, also called a Kao) on the ura and with an attribution to Hoshu Sadamune also with a Kakihan on the omote so I thought a little research might be worthwhile. Well, I was surprised to find out that lacquer attributions can be quite genuine and that the ‘Matsui Go’ Yoshihiro has a red lacquer inscription and kakihan by a Honami and is registered as an Important Cultural Property. The ‘Fushimi Sadamune’ has a red lacquer attribution by a Honami master and Kakihan, and this blade is a National Treasure no less. I had thought that red lacquer was never used on anything of importance. No modern experts seem to doubt the Sadamune attribution as it is still on the nakago and the blade was on display in the great Masamune exhibition some years ago. Another blade in that exhibition was a fabulous Masamune with a red lacquer attribution. This blade showed very clear mizukage, which we were once told that would be the sign of a worthless re-tempered blade. Not so, it seems, as it is relatively a common feature of fine early blades. However, I did note that all the Honami attributions were signed with two characters ‘Hon’ and ‘Na’ whereas mine had the full three( Hon, Na and Mi).

Trevor Read came to my assistance with a list of the Honami Kakihan. Of the Honami working during the Samurai period there seemed to be no correlation, but post Meiji, the Kakihan of Honami Ringa seemed to bear a close resemblance to mine. Removal of the tsuka many times over the years had damaged both Kakihan on my sword preventing a completely positive identification but it emerges that Honami Ringa did use gold kinpun mei in the post Meiji years presumably because the sword market had collapsed and the use of gold could not be afforded. My sword was probably exported from Japan during this period so it is possible that the polish might be also by Honami Ringa. Why he deviated from the time honoured two Honami character signature is curious, but it may be that he thought that the two character signature should finish with the extinction of the samurai.

During my enquiries I endeavoured to build up a lineage of the modern post Meiji Honami. I include it here for your perusal and I would welcome any additional information that readers might have to bring the list up to date. It raises some questions such as what happened to the Choshiki line and who are the present heads of the various Honami families. Since Honami Ringa and Honami Koson are major players in modern sword preservation history and it is said that modern scholarship came from their teachings then just maybe, the attribution on my sword is correct. But maybe you know better!

Fred Stride

The post Meiji Honami

After the Haitorei only three Honami families survived. They were :-

a) Chukei of the Komi line.

b) Choshiki of the Kozan line.

c) Heijuro Seiju of the Koi line.

The Koi Honami

Honami Heijuro, the 15th head of the Koi branch, was the greatest polisher of the day and was believed to be the founder of modern sword polishing techniques. He was born in 1827. His original name was Eguchi Kurajiro and he came from Echigo province. He was adopted into the Koi line and he became very successful with his development of the Kanahada nugui and hadori technique and was much in demand. He died in 1882 aged fifty five.

Honami Seizan (Ringa), formerly known as Yamamoto Nanojo, was born in 1862. He became a master polisher and further developed Heijuro’s techniques. He was adopted by Heijuro and became the 16th generation master of the Koi Honami. He changed his name to Ringa in 1911. He died in 1927 at the age of sixty five.

Now Honami Ringa had an extremely able student , Hirai Chiba, who completed the development of modern polishing technique. He was renowned for bringing out the beauty of the jihada and this method was known amongst sword enthusiasts as ‘Hirai togi’. He was an expert at repairing damaged swords and his workshop became known as the ‘Hirai hospital’. Chiba’s son, Takeo, was adopted by Honami Ringa in 1924. It would be interesting to know why Chiba was passed over but it may have been for the simple reason that the younger man provided long term stability for the Koi Honami. Takeo became the head of the Koi branch and changed his name to Honami Nisshu, presumably upon the death of Honami Ringa in 1927.

Honami Nisshu, then, was the 17th master of the Koi Honami. He was nominated Ningen Kokuho, a ‘Living National Treasure’, in 1975. He passed away in July, 1995.

The Komi Honami

Honami Koson was born in 1879 into a sword polishing family. His father was Kawaguchi Magotoro, whose name was formerly Sadakichi. Kawaguchi was retained as a sword polisher to the Matsudaira Family of the Maebashi clan. When Koson was 12 years old his family moved to Tokyo and when Koson reached the age of 19 years he apprenticed himself to Honami Ringa. He completed a 10 year apprenticeship under a very tough taskmaster, indeed, and then he became independent. When the Mito Honami master died, Honami Ringa used his influence to get Koson to be adopted into the Komi family and he became Honami Koson. Albert Yamanaka studied under him and Nagayama Kokan was his most able apprentice.

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