{"product_id":"katana94","title":"Antique Japanese Muromachi Katana Sword, Ō-suriage Mumei with Gunome Hamon, Gold Shishi Fuchi and Red and Black Lacquer Saya","description":"\u003c!-- Katana 94 — mumei, o-suriage, 3 mekugi-ana — no shinsa paper — Koto, late Muromachi — Toroku-sho Iwate 1981 — Tokyo Nihonto --\u003e\n\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 (\u003cspan lang=\"ja\"\u003e無銘\u003c\/span\u003e) — unsigned\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePeriod:\u003c\/strong\u003e Kotō — late Muromachi period\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAttribution:\u003c\/strong\u003e No shinsa paper\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRegistration (Tōroku-shō):\u003c\/strong\u003e Iwate Prefecture No. 26385, issued 17 July 1981 (Shōwa 56)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMounting:\u003c\/strong\u003e Complete katana koshirae — red and black lacquer saya, round iron tsuba with gold and silver dot inlay, shakudō nanako fuchi with gold shishi, teal silk ito over honey-toned same\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlade Length (Nagasa):\u003c\/strong\u003e 69.9 cm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCurvature (Sori):\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 cm — shallow, the original curve reduced by the shortening\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMekugi-ana:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNakago:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ō-suriage, flat-cut end, dark even patina\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShape (Sugata):\u003c\/strong\u003e Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, chū-kissaki\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eJihada:\u003c\/strong\u003e Tight ko-itame, dark and closely worked\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHamon:\u003c\/strong\u003e Regular gunome in nioi-deki, with a tight nioiguchi, even from the machi to the monouchi\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBōshi:\u003c\/strong\u003e Midare-komi, faint in the present polish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHabaki:\u003c\/strong\u003e Single-piece silver-coloured habaki, engraved on both faces\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cstrong\u003eKotō katana of the late Muromachi period\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eō-suriage\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003emumei\u003c\/em\u003e: shortened at the tang long ago, with the smith's signature lost in the process. The blade measures \u003cstrong\u003e69.9 cm\u003c\/strong\u003e of nagasa with \u003cstrong\u003e0.8 cm\u003c\/strong\u003e of sori and carries \u003cstrong\u003ethree mekugi-ana\u003c\/strong\u003e. It comes in complete \u003cstrong\u003ekoshirae\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the temper line reads clearly from end to end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dating is written into the sword itself. Blades made from the Edo period onward were forged to the length they were meant to be worn at, so they are rarely cut down; the swords that get shortened are the older ones, made for a different way of fighting. Three mekugi-ana say the same thing from another angle — this blade was refitted at least twice after it left the forge. The shallow \u003cstrong\u003e0.8 cm\u003c\/strong\u003e of sori is not an Edo trait here but a consequence of that shortening: the deepest part of the original curve sat in the steel that was cut away at the base.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003ehamon\u003c\/em\u003e settles the question. It is a \u003cstrong\u003eregular gunome\u003c\/strong\u003e — evenly spaced, evenly sized rounded heads repeating without hesitation the whole length of the ha — worked in \u003cstrong\u003enioi-deki\u003c\/strong\u003e with a tight, controlled \u003cem\u003enioiguchi\u003c\/em\u003e. That disciplined, repeating temper over a tight, dark \u003cem\u003eko-itame\u003c\/em\u003e is the hallmark of the late Muromachi workshops, the ones supplying a country at war and judged on how well their swords cut rather than on how much activity they could show off in the steel. Into the kissaki the \u003cem\u003ebōshi\u003c\/em\u003e runs \u003cem\u003emidare-komi\u003c\/em\u003e, faint under the present polish, and the point is the one area where the surface has gone tired.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003enakago\u003c\/em\u003e is dark and evenly patinated, cut flat at the end, with no trace of a mei and the black speckling at the \u003cem\u003ehabaki-moto\u003c\/em\u003e that comes of centuries in and out of mounts. This is a sword that was carried, shortened, remounted and kept — and it has been in continuous registration in Japan since 1981.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"koshirae\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eKoshirae Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mounting is a complete, matched \u003cem\u003ekatana koshirae\u003c\/em\u003e, and it is genuinely handsome. The \u003cstrong\u003esaya\u003c\/strong\u003e is lacquered in two registers: a bright, glossy \u003cstrong\u003evermilion red\u003c\/strong\u003e section at the koiguchi end running back to a band of black, then \u003cstrong\u003eblack lacquer\u003c\/strong\u003e for the length of the scabbard, worn through along the ridges to a silvery underlayer and, in places, to the red beneath. The kojiri is bare at the very tip where the lacquer has gone, exposing the honoki core. A thick, flat-plaited \u003cstrong\u003eblack sageo\u003c\/strong\u003e is tied at the kurikata.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003etsuba\u003c\/strong\u003e is an iron plate, near-round with a raised rim, cut with \u003cstrong\u003etwo large hitsu-ana\u003c\/strong\u003e and carrying a deep brown-black patina over a granular forged skin. Around the \u003cem\u003eseppa-dai\u003c\/em\u003e, above and below, radiating stalks of grass are chiselled into the iron, and scattered across them are small \u003cstrong\u003einlaid dots of gold, silver and white metal\u003c\/strong\u003e — turn the guard in the light and the effect is dew caught on grass. Two pairs of copper \u003cem\u003eseppa\u003c\/em\u003e seat the plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003efuchi\u003c\/strong\u003e is the best piece on the sword: \u003cem\u003eshakudō\u003c\/em\u003e with a fine \u003cstrong\u003enanako\u003c\/strong\u003e ground, framed in a milled copper border, carrying \u003cstrong\u003eshishi in high-relief gold\u003c\/strong\u003e — lion-dogs with curled manes and flame tails, bounding across the dark field. The \u003cstrong\u003ekashira\u003c\/strong\u003e answers in a silvered alloy with its own nanako ground, engraved with cloud forms and touched with a small gilt accent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003etsuka\u003c\/strong\u003e is wrapped in \u003cstrong\u003eteal silk ito\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003ehineri-maki\u003c\/em\u003e, over full panels of honey-coloured \u003cem\u003esame\u003c\/em\u003e with large, well-raised nodes, and carries \u003cem\u003emenuki\u003c\/em\u003e in dark patinated soft metal with worn gilding, worked as scrolling plant forms. The \u003cstrong\u003ehabaki\u003c\/strong\u003e is a single-piece collar in silver-coloured metal and, unusually for a plain collar, it is \u003cstrong\u003eengraved on both faces\u003c\/strong\u003e — a flowering plant on one side, bamboo leaves on the other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"smith-background\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eReading an Unsigned Late Muromachi Blade\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat can be said about the maker has to come out of the steel, because the tang no longer carries his name. Three things are legible. The \u003cstrong\u003ehamon\u003c\/strong\u003e is a regular, tightly spaced gunome in nioi-deki — a controlled pattern that has to be laid down in clay at an even width and an even interval before the blade ever touches the water. The \u003cstrong\u003ejihada\u003c\/strong\u003e is a tight \u003cem\u003eko-itame\u003c\/em\u003e, dark and hard rather than bright and airy. And the \u003cstrong\u003esugata\u003c\/strong\u003e, once the shortening is accounted for, is that of a practical fighting sword with a compact chū-kissaki.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTaken together that is the workmanship of the late Muromachi production centres — the large provincial schools that armed the Sengoku wars. It is not the profile of an Edo blade, and the shortening and the three mekugi-ana point the same way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat we will not do is put a name on it. \u003cstrong\u003eNo paper accompanies this sword, so we claim no smith, no school and no province.\u003c\/strong\u003e Several plausible labels suggest themselves and plenty of sellers would pick one; an unpapered attribution is worth nothing at resale, and we will not price one in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat leaves a clean proposition. A full-length Kotō katana, ō-suriage and mumei, with a legible hamon, a sound tang and a complete period mounting, priced as an unattributed blade. Whatever a \u003cem\u003eshinsa\u003c\/em\u003e panel might one day say about it is upside that comes with the sword rather than something you are paying for today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"school-history\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMuromachi Swords and the Shortening of Old Blades\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe late \u003cstrong\u003eMuromachi\u003c\/strong\u003e period was the busiest era in the history of Japanese swordmaking, and the reason is grim: the country spent most of the sixteenth century at war with itself. Demand ran ahead of anything the old master-and-apprentice model could supply, and the great provincial centres — Mino above all, with Bizen close behind — organised themselves to meet it. The swords that came out of that system were judged on cutting ability and reliability, and their temper lines show it: controlled, repeating patterns in nioi-deki laid over hard, tight, dark steel. Exactly what this blade shows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe same century changed how swords were worn, and that is why so many old blades are unsigned today. Through the Kamakura and Nanbokuchō eras the \u003cem\u003etachi\u003c\/em\u003e was slung edge-down from the belt and built long. From the late Muromachi period the \u003cem\u003euchigatana\u003c\/em\u003e took over — worn edge-up through the sash, drawn and cut in a single motion, and most effective at a shorter, handier length.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlades were therefore cut down at the tang to suit the new wear and the new fighting. The process is \u003cem\u003esuriage\u003c\/em\u003e; when enough length is removed to destroy the original signature it is \u003cstrong\u003eō-suriage\u003c\/strong\u003e. It was never vandalism. A good blade was expensive and worth adapting, and the work was done by professionals who reshaped the tang, cut a fresh mekugi-ana and returned the sword to service. The signature was collateral damage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat is offered here is the result of that history, intact. A \u003cstrong\u003e69.9 cm Kotō katana of the late Muromachi period\u003c\/strong\u003e, ō-suriage and mumei with three mekugi-ana, showing a disciplined regular gunome hamon over a tight dark ko-itame, mounted in a red and black lacquer saya with a dew-and-grass iron tsuba, a gold shishi fuchi and a double-engraved silver habaki, and registered in Iwate Prefecture since 1981.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e","brand":"Tokyo Nihonto","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57235552010564,"sku":"KATANA94","price":3450.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0753\/4080\/8516\/files\/Katana94_270K_0039_GenerativeFill.jpg?v=1789131838","url":"https:\/\/tokyo-nihonto.com\/products\/katana94","provider":"Tokyo Nihonto","version":"1.0","type":"link"}