{"product_id":"katana95","title":"Antique Japanese Katana Sword attributed to the Fujiwara Takada School with Long 76 cm Nagasa, Suguha Hamon and Dragon Menuki - NBTHK Hozon","description":"\u003c!-- Katana 95 — mumei ubu, NBTHK Hozon 3037838 attribution Fujiwara Takada 藤原高田 — Bungo, Shinto\/Edo — nagasa 76.0 cm — Toroku-sho Fukushima 65266 (2025) — 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, attributed by the NBTHK to \u003cspan lang=\"ja\"\u003e藤原高田\u003c\/span\u003e Fujiwara Takada\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchool \/ Tradition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Takada school, Bungo province — the Shintō-period generations, who signed with the Fujiwara name\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePeriod \/ Province:\u003c\/strong\u003e Edo period, \u003cem\u003eShintō\u003c\/em\u003e — Bungo Province (modern Ōita Prefecture, Kyūshū)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCertificate:\u003c\/strong\u003e NBTHK Hozon Tōken (\u003cspan lang=\"ja\"\u003e保存刀剣\u003c\/span\u003e) No. 3037838 — issued 1 December Reiwa 7 (2025)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlade Length (Nagasa):\u003c\/strong\u003e 76.0 cm (2 shaku 5 sun 1 bu, a shade under)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNakago:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ubu — unshortened, kurijiri, single mekugi-ana, dark russet patina\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMekugi-ana:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1\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 forged\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHamon:\u003c\/strong\u003e Suguha in nioi-deki, with a tight, quiet nioiguchi running the full length of the ha\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBōshi:\u003c\/strong\u003e Follows the suguha into the point and turns back in a small ko-maru\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMounting:\u003c\/strong\u003e Complete katana koshirae — black ishime lacquer saya, iron tsuba with gold and silver inlay, copper nanako fuchi with bamboo leaves, gilt kashira, dragon menuki\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHabaki:\u003c\/strong\u003e Single-piece habaki in silver-coloured metal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn \u003cstrong\u003eNBTHK Hozon-certified katana\u003c\/strong\u003e attributed to the \u003cstrong\u003eFujiwara Takada\u003c\/strong\u003e smiths of Bungo province, and a big one: \u003cstrong\u003e76.0 cm\u003c\/strong\u003e of nagasa, two shaku five sun and one bu. That is a full head of length over the everyday Edo katana, and it changes how the sword handles — real reach, real presence, a blade meant to be used by someone with the frame to use it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003enakago\u003c\/em\u003e is \u003cstrong\u003eubu\u003c\/strong\u003e. The tang has never been shortened: it retains its original shape, a rounded \u003cem\u003ekurijiri\u003c\/em\u003e end, a single \u003cem\u003emekugi-ana\u003c\/em\u003e and an even dark russet patina. On a blade of this age that matters more than collectors new to the field usually realise. It means the 76 cm is the length the smith intended, not what is left after somebody cut the sword down, and it means the proportions in your hand are the proportions he designed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003ehamon\u003c\/em\u003e is \u003cstrong\u003esuguha\u003c\/strong\u003e — straight, unbroken, executed in \u003cstrong\u003enioi-deki\u003c\/strong\u003e with a tight and quiet \u003cem\u003enioiguchi\u003c\/em\u003e that holds its width from the machi to the point. Suguha is the least forgiving temper in the repertoire. There is no midare to hide behind: any wobble in the clay, any lapse in the quench, shows immediately. Into the kissaki the \u003cem\u003ebōshi\u003c\/em\u003e carries the same straight line and turns back in a small \u003cstrong\u003eko-maru\u003c\/strong\u003e. The \u003cem\u003ejihada\u003c\/em\u003e beneath it is a tight, dark \u003cem\u003eko-itame\u003c\/em\u003e, hard and closely forged — the Takada steel exactly as the books describe it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sword surfaced recently and went straight through the proper channels: \u003cstrong\u003eregistered in Fukushima Prefecture in June 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003epapered by the NBTHK in December of the same year\u003c\/strong\u003e. It is offered complete in its \u003cem\u003ekoshirae\u003c\/em\u003e, with the blade in polish and healthy along its whole length.\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 sober, well-judged fighting set — black, iron and copper, with the colour kept for one detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003esaya\u003c\/strong\u003e is lacquered in a matt black \u003cstrong\u003eishime-ji\u003c\/strong\u003e, a deliberately granular, stone-textured finish that absorbs light rather than reflecting it, running the full length to a rounded, glossy kojiri. A thick \u003cstrong\u003ebrown and gold sageo\u003c\/strong\u003e is wound at the kurikata, and the lacquer beneath it at the koiguchi carries a warm translucent russet tone where it has thinned with handling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003etsuba\u003c\/strong\u003e is the piece to look at. An iron plate in \u003cem\u003emokkō-gata\u003c\/em\u003e with a heavy pitted surface and a deep brown patina, cut with \u003cem\u003eryō-hitsu\u003c\/em\u003e — and inlaid, unusually, with \u003cstrong\u003eweapons\u003c\/strong\u003e: on one face a mounted sword laid diagonally across the plate in gold and silver \u003cem\u003ezōgan\u003c\/em\u003e, hilt wrapping and fittings picked out line by line; on the reverse a long shafted weapon running corner to corner in gold. Armament as decoration is a far rarer choice on a guard than flowers or landscape, and it is beautifully restrained here — flat inlay on bare iron, nothing raised, nothing gilded beyond the drawing itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003efuchi\u003c\/strong\u003e is copper with a fine \u003cstrong\u003enanako\u003c\/strong\u003e ground and sprays of \u003cstrong\u003ebamboo leaves\u003c\/strong\u003e in low relief; the \u003cstrong\u003ekashira\u003c\/strong\u003e answers it in plain gilt copper. The \u003cstrong\u003etsuka\u003c\/strong\u003e is wrapped in black silk ito over full panels of white \u003cem\u003esame\u003c\/em\u003e with large, clean nodes, and beneath the wrap sit \u003cstrong\u003edragon menuki\u003c\/strong\u003e in patinated copper — head, horns and scaled coils modelled in full relief, with gilt eyes. Two pairs of copper \u003cem\u003eseppa\u003c\/em\u003e and a single-piece silver-coloured \u003cstrong\u003ehabaki\u003c\/strong\u003e complete the fittings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"smith-background\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Takada School and the Fujiwara Name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attribution on this sword's paper is precise in a way that is easy to miss. The NBTHK did not simply write \"Takada\" — it wrote \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"ja\"\u003e藤原高田\u003c\/span\u003e, Fujiwara Takada\u003c\/strong\u003e, and that single word dates the blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Takada school of Bungo ran for roughly three hundred years, and it changed its signature partway through. In the \u003cstrong\u003eKotō\u003c\/strong\u003e period its smiths signed with the surname \u003cstrong\u003eTaira\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cspan lang=\"ja\"\u003e平\u003c\/span\u003e), and their work is catalogued as \u003cem\u003eTaira Takada\u003c\/em\u003e. From the \u003cstrong\u003eShintō\u003c\/strong\u003e period onward they signed with \u003cstrong\u003eFujiwara\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cspan lang=\"ja\"\u003e藤原\u003c\/span\u003e), and the later school is known as \u003cem\u003eFujiwara Takada\u003c\/em\u003e. The NBTHK uses the two names to separate the eras on unsigned blades. An attribution to Fujiwara Takada therefore places this katana firmly in the \u003cstrong\u003eEdo period\u003c\/strong\u003e, among the Shintō generations, rather than in the older Kotō line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe school itself was founded by \u003cstrong\u003eTomoyuki\u003c\/strong\u003e in the Kenmu era of the Nanbokuchō period, around 1334-1338. Tomoyuki travelled to Bizen to learn the methods of the great eastern tradition and brought them home to Bungo, where he trained the smiths who became the Takada line. By the Sengoku era the school was the armoury of the \u003cstrong\u003eŌtomo clan\u003c\/strong\u003e, supplying the swords that Ōtomo Sōrin's campaigns consumed across Kyūshū.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTakada blades were made to be used. They were never the most decorative work in Japan and their smiths were not competing for the attention of Kyōto connoisseurs; what they were known for was \u003cstrong\u003ecutting ability and toughness\u003c\/strong\u003e, and in wartime their swords were actively sought out for it. Several Takada smiths — Muneyuki among them — are rated for their cutting performance. The workmanship you see on this blade is that philosophy in metal: a hard tight jihada, an honest straight hamon, a substantial 76 cm of steel, and nothing at all wasted on show.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection id=\"school-history\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eBungo, Kyūshū and the Business of Arming a Province\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBungo\u003c\/strong\u003e sat on the north-east coast of Kyūshū, facing the Inland Sea — the part of Japan closest to the continent, and the first to see foreign trade, foreign firearms and foreign missionaries. Its lords, the \u003cstrong\u003eŌtomo\u003c\/strong\u003e, were among the most powerful families in western Japan, and under \u003cstrong\u003eŌtomo Sōrin\u003c\/strong\u003e (1530-1587) the province became a hub of commerce, of Christianity, and of near-continuous warfare with the Shimazu and the Mōri.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWars of that scale are logistical problems before they are heroic ones, and a daimyō fighting them needs volume. The Takada forges around Takada in Ōita district supplied it. The school's reputation among Japanese collectors is a practical one — Bungo work is routinely compared to the output of \u003cstrong\u003eMino\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eBizen\u003c\/strong\u003e, the two greatest production centres in the country, for exactly that reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the wars ended and the Tokugawa peace settled in, Takada carried on through the \u003cstrong\u003eShintō\u003c\/strong\u003e era under the Fujiwara name, and it is to those generations that this sword belongs. What is offered here is a complete and honest example of their work: a \u003cstrong\u003e76.0 cm ubu mumei katana\u003c\/strong\u003e, certified by the \u003cstrong\u003eNBTHK at Hozon\u003c\/strong\u003e as Fujiwara Takada, showing a quiet suguha hamon in nioi-deki over a tight dark ko-itame, mounted in a black ishime lacquer saya with a weapon-inlaid iron tsuba, bamboo-leaf copper fuchi and dragon menuki, registered in Japan in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e","brand":"Tokyo Nihonto","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57235586875716,"sku":"KATANA95","price":5900.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0753\/4080\/8516\/files\/Katana95_420K_0044_GenerativeFill3.jpg?v=1789133550","url":"https:\/\/tokyo-nihonto.com\/products\/katana95","provider":"Tokyo Nihonto","version":"1.0","type":"link"}