{"product_id":"katana80","title":"Antique Japanese Katana Sword with Toran Hamon and Cherry-Blossom Iron Tsuba — Osaka Shintō","description":"\u003csection class=\"product\"\u003e\u003cheader\u003e\u003c\/header\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"specs\"\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSignature (Mei):\u003c\/strong\u003e Mumei (無銘) - unsigned\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTradition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Osaka Shintō workmanship\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePeriod:\u003c\/strong\u003e Edo Period, Kanbun era (mid-17th century)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMounting:\u003c\/strong\u003e Black-and-russet mottled urushi koshirae with iron mokkō tsuba and silver cherry-blossom decoration\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlade Length (Nagasa):\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 63.0 cm (2 shaku 0 sun 8 bu)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCurvature (Sori):\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 1.1 cm - shallow Kanbun-Shintō curve\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMekugi-ana:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2 (suriage - shortened)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShape:\u003c\/strong\u003e Shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune and chū-kissaki\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eJihada:\u003c\/strong\u003e Tight, bright ko-itame - classic Osaka jigane\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHamon:\u003c\/strong\u003e Notare tending to toran-midare, nioiguchi with ko-nie and ashi\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis \u003cstrong\u003eKatana\u003c\/strong\u003e is a \u003cstrong\u003emumei\u003c\/strong\u003e (unsigned), \u003cstrong\u003esuriage\u003c\/strong\u003e (shortened) blade in the unmistakable manner of the \u003cstrong\u003eOsaka Shintō\u003c\/strong\u003e tradition. We describe it on the evidence of the steel itself rather than a signature—because the signature was lost when an older, longer blade was cut down from the tang. What survives is the workmanship, and it reads clearly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first thing a trained eye looks for in an Osaka blade is the steel, and this one delivers it: a \u003cem\u003ejihada\u003c\/em\u003e of tight, well-packed \u003cstrong\u003eko-itame\u003c\/strong\u003e, bright and nearly without visible openings—the refined \u003cem\u003eō-saka-tetsu\u003c\/em\u003e (Osaka steel) that made the school's reputation. Against that clean ground, the \u003cem\u003ehamon\u003c\/em\u003e runs as a generous \u003cstrong\u003enotare\u003c\/strong\u003e swelling toward \u003cstrong\u003etoran-midare\u003c\/strong\u003e—the rolling, wave-like temper line popularized by Tsuda Sukehiro and his circle—set in a soft \u003cem\u003enioiguchi\u003c\/em\u003e with \u003cem\u003eko-nie\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eashi\u003c\/em\u003e reaching into the hardened edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sugata is textbook Kanbun Shintō: \u003cem\u003eshinogi-zukuri\u003c\/em\u003e with \u003cem\u003eiori-mune\u003c\/em\u003e, a controlled \u003cstrong\u003echū-kissaki\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the characteristically \u003cstrong\u003eshallow sori\u003c\/strong\u003e of the 1660s–70s, when Osaka smiths favored a straighter, businesslike profile. The \u003cem\u003eboshi\u003c\/em\u003e follows the hamon into the point with a tidy turnback. In hand, the blade is healthy and well-polished, showing the bright, frosty hardened edge collectors associate with this school.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003enakago\u003c\/em\u003e shows \u003cstrong\u003etwo mekugi-ana\u003c\/strong\u003e, the physical record of its shortening. This is an honest antique blade, valued for what it plainly is: quality Osaka Shintō steel and tempering from the heart of the Shintō period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"koshirae\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eKoshirae Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sword is mounted in a handsome, sober \u003cstrong\u003eblack koshirae\u003c\/strong\u003e with one genuinely distinctive element. The \u003cstrong\u003esaya\u003c\/strong\u003e is finished in a \u003cstrong\u003emottled black-and-russet urushi lacquer\u003c\/strong\u003e—a variegated, bark-like surface where warm reddish-brown breaks through the black ground, giving the scabbard real depth and movement under light rather than a flat finish. It is dressed with a \u003cstrong\u003enavy-blue (kon-iro) sageo\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003etsuba\u003c\/strong\u003e is an iron \u003cem\u003emokkō-gata\u003c\/em\u003e (four-lobed) plate worked with fine vertical line-carving across both faces and decorated with applied \u003cstrong\u003esilver cherry blossoms (sakura)\u003c\/strong\u003e and buds scattered as if drifting—a quiet, elegant contrast of bright silver against dark iron. The \u003cstrong\u003efuchi\u003c\/strong\u003e continues the floral theme in patinated soft metal with engraved blossoms and foliage picked out in gilt, over a finely textured ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003ehabaki\u003c\/strong\u003e is a clean \u003cstrong\u003esilver\u003c\/strong\u003e single-piece collar cut with diagonal file-lines (\u003cem\u003eneko-gaki\u003c\/em\u003e). The \u003cstrong\u003etsuka\u003c\/strong\u003e is wrapped in black \u003cem\u003eito\u003c\/em\u003e over white \u003cem\u003esame\u003c\/em\u003e (rayskin) in the traditional \u003cem\u003ehineri-maki\u003c\/em\u003e diamond pattern, with gilt figural \u003cem\u003emenuki\u003c\/em\u003e set beneath the wrap. Taken together, the fittings are coordinated and tasteful—a samurai mounting assembled with care rather than for show.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"school-history\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOsaka Shintō: The School of Beautiful Steel\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Osaka Castle, the city grew into Japan's commercial heart, and swordsmiths flocked there to work for the merchants, samurai, and feudal lords who passed through. Out of that concentration of talent came \u003cstrong\u003eOsaka Shintō\u003c\/strong\u003e—a tradition defined above all by the beauty of its \u003cem\u003ejigane\u003c\/em\u003e. The access to high-quality material and water in Osaka let its smiths forge a steel so tight and luminous it is recognizable on sight, often described simply as \u003cem\u003eō-saka-tetsu\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe three giants of the school—the \u003cem\u003eSanketsu\u003c\/em\u003e—were \u003cstrong\u003eAwataguchi Tadatsuna\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eInoue Shinkai\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003eTsuda Sukehiro\u003c\/strong\u003e, the last of whom perfected the flamboyant \u003cem\u003etoranba\u003c\/em\u003e (\"billowing-wave\") hamon that influenced the entire city. Osaka Shintō blades pair that refined steel with bold, rhythmic temper lines—an aesthetic prized by collectors precisely because it is so hard to imitate convincingly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis katana belongs to that world. Its tight, bright jigane and Sukehiro-influenced notare-toran hamon place it firmly within the Osaka Shintō idiom—an authentic mid-Edo blade carrying the hallmarks that made these swords the gold standard of their era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e","brand":"Tokyo Nihonto","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56851382337860,"sku":"KATANA80","price":3200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0753\/4080\/8516\/files\/Katana80_200K_0038_GenerativeFill4.jpg?v=1781517840","url":"https:\/\/tokyo-nihonto.com\/es\/products\/katana80","provider":"Tokyo Nihonto","version":"1.0","type":"link"}