Antique Japanese Katana Sword attributed to Kashū Ietsugu with Notare-Gunome Hamon and Plum Blossom Sukashi Tsuba - NBTHK Hozon

• Signature (Mei): Mumei (unsigned), attributed by the NBTHK to 加州家次 Kashū Ietsugu
• Swordsmith: Kashū Ietsugu 加州家次 (NBTHK attribution)
• School / Tradition: Kaga Province (Kashū) tradition
• Period / Province: Muromachi period, koto, Kaga Province (Ishikawa)
• Certificate: NBTHK Hozon Token no. 3020631, issued 23 May 2019
• Japanese Registration (Tōroku-shō): Akita no. 12415, issued 9 January 1965
• Mounting: Complete katana koshirae, speckled black lacquer saya, iron plum-blossom sukashi tsuba, gold-foiled habaki
• Blade Length (Nagasa): 68.8 cm (2 shaku 2 sun 7 bu and a little more, as recorded on the NBTHK certificate)
• Curvature (Sori): 2.4 cm
• Mekugi-ana: 4
• Shape (Sugata): Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, chū-kissaki, deeply curved, ō-suriage
• Jihada: Itame mixed with mokume, standing grain, masame on the shinogi-ji, ji-nie
• Hamon: Notare mixed with gunome, nie-deki,, with ashi and sunagashi
• Bōshi: Midare-komi with a ko-maru turn-back
• Habaki: Copper under gold foil, two-tier

A full-length Muromachi katana attributed by the NBTHK to Kashū Ietsugu 加州家次 of Kaga Province, papered Hozon. The blade measures 68.8 cm with a deep 2.4 cm curvature, and comes fully mounted.

The blade was cut down from a longer sword (ō-suriage): the original tang and signature were removed and a new tang was shaped from the lower blade, which is why the NBTHK attributes it from its workmanship rather than from a signature. Four mekugi-ana record the successive mountings it has worn over the centuries. The deep curvature that remains, even after shortening, tells you the original was a long, strongly curved sword of the earlier Muromachi style.

The hamon is a notare mixed with gunome in nie-deki, with ashi reaching into the edge and streaks of sunagashi running through the nie. It carries into the point as midare-komi and turns back in a ko-maru.

The steel is the dark, standing itame and mokume of the Hokuriku provinces, with masame along the shinogi-ji and ji-nie throughout. The blade is in an older polish that softens some of the finer activity; the grain is open in places, as expected on a sword that has been polished many times over five centuries. No fatal flaws are visible.

Koshirae Details

The tsuba is iron, in a softly lobed round shape, pierced in ji-sukashi with a gnarled plum branch in blossom (ume). The two hitsu-ana are worked into the branches rather than cut as plain openings. Plum is the first tree to flower at the end of winter, and on a sword guard it stands for perseverance.

The fuchi is shakudō, finely grooved and set with gold chrysanthemum crests inside a gold rim; the kashira is a plain, dark cap. They were not made as a pair, and the koshirae was assembled from good Edo-period parts, as most working mounts were.

The menuki depict an ise-ebi (Japanese spiny lobster), a traditional emblem of longevity, in dark copper alloy with red and black lacquer, the fan tail, legs and long antennae visible between the wrap. The tsuka is wrapped in black silk hineri-maki over white same with a large oyatsubu.

The saya is a speckled black lacquer with black horn fittings and a dark sageo. The habaki is copper under gold foil, in a two-tier form, and four seppa complete the mount. Wrap and lacquer are in excellent, restored condition.

The Swordsmith: Kashū Ietsugu 加州家次

Ietsugu is one of the main smith names of Kaga Province, on the Sea of Japan coast. The name was carried by several generations, from the Ōei era (1394–1428) through the late Muromachi period and into the early Edo period. References do not agree on the lineage: some place the Ietsugu line within the Fujishima school, others within the Sanekage group, the two main schools of Kaga.

Kashū Ietsugu is also known as "Kaga Aoe", a name that links the line to the Aoe school of Bitchū.

The NBTHK attributes this blade to Kashū Ietsugu without naming a generation. On an ō-suriage blade there is no signature to read and no date to go by, so we do not claim one; the deep curvature and the dark northern steel are consistent with Muromachi work of the school.

The Swordsmiths of Kaga

Sword making in Kaga grew from the Nanbokuchō period, when Fujishima Tomoshige, traditionally a student of Rai Kunitoshi of Kyoto, settled in the province. Alongside the Fujishima line, the Sanekage smiths and their successors made Kaga one of the productive sword centres of the Hokuriku region through the Muromachi period. Kaga blades are recognised by dark, strong northern steel and by nie-based tempers that mix notare and gunome, which is what this katana shows.

What is offered here is a full-length Muromachi katana attributed by the NBTHK to Kashū Ietsugu of Kaga Province, 68.8 cm with a deep sori, papered Hozon, registered in Japan since 1965, complete in a restored koshirae with an iron plum-blossom tsuba and gold-foiled habaki.