A very nice and rare osuriage Yamato Hosho school tachi in excellent polish with a fine gold foil habaki in a new shirasaya, and an old shirasaya with tsunagi and saya gaki by Hon'Ami Tenrai attributing the blade to Yamato no koku Sadamitsu. The nakago has a shumei attribution to Sadamitsu by Tenrai with kao.

Nagasa: 29 5/8", 75.1 cm, 2.48 shaku Sori: 0.5", 1.27 cm.

Motohaba: 3.0 cm. Sakihabe: 1.8 cm.

Motokasane: 7mm. Sakikasane: 5 mm.

Nakago: Two mekugi ana, kiri jiri, kiri yasurime, excellent patina and crisp machi.

Mei: Osuriage mumei with a red lacquer shumei by Hon'Ami Tenrai to Sadamitsu

Jidai: Late kamakura- early Nambokucho

This pristine Hosho blade is shinogi zukuri with a medium shinogi ji, a slightly raised shinogi, and iori mune. The blade tapers nicely from motohaba to sakihaba and ends in a longish chu kissaki with a yakizume boshi. The blade is tightly forged in pure masame with chikei running through it. The masa is, for lack of a better term, slightly notare, and follows the curvature of the kissaki up into the mune. Some blades forged in masame have spots of loose grain, but this blade is beautifully forged in a very tight masame. The steel is bright and lovely.

The hamon is in a brilliant nioi deki with kinsuji and inazuma in ko-nie running along and through the hamon, continuing into the boshi. It is a classical Hosho school work in excellent condition and very good polish.

The older saya with sayagaki reads:

大和国 貞光
二尺四寸八分有之但し朱銘也
代参千貫
大正拾一年極月中浣記之
本阿弥 天籟
Yamato Koku Sadamitsu
2shaku4sun8bu koreari
Tadashi shumei nari
Dai 3000 kan
Taisho 11 nen middle of December record
Honami Tenrai

$12,000

A nice mumei katana whose majestic sugata and katte agari yasurime point in the direction of the very good shinshinto smith, Takahashi Nobunaga.

Nagasa: 70.5 cm (27.75")

Motohaba: 35 mm Sakihaba: 24 mm

Motokasane: 9 mm Sakikasane: 7 mm

Nakago: kuri jiri, katte agari yasurime, one mekugi ana

Mei: Mumei

Jidai: Shinshinto (working period of Naganobu was roughly 1830-1869)

The blade is tempered in a bright nioi deki hamon in a shallow gunome with some togari and ashi iri, turning to suguha in the boshi ending in omaru. The kitae is itame with masame as it approaches the shinogi showing chikei and hints of utsuri. The blade has been used for tameshigiri and has cutting marks on the ji and shinogi as would be expected. There are some very localized points of surface rust in a few places on the blade.

The buke zukuri koshirae consists of a black lacquered saya with horn kojiri, koiguchi, and kurihata. The dark brown sageo is leather. The tsuka is wrapped in dark brown leather over same. The menuki are gold leaf or plate in the form of vajra. The fuchi kashira are simple but elegant in shakudo. The one piece habaki is yamagane. the large iron tsuba (8.1 cm wide x 8.6 cm tall) is deeply hammered and carved with a motif of ants at work.

$6000

This flamboyantly tempered, finely forged blade is of long wakizashi length, but has the proportions of a katana, not of a classic shinto wakizashi. It is signed (nagamei) and dated 1752. The "Yoshi" kanji is not the same "Yoshi" as the Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi group, but according to some sources, they are related in the same lineage. According to Nihonto Meikan:

During Bunroku era (1592-95), famed smith KANEMICHI 兼道 who named himself as the 9th generation Shizu Saburo KANEUJI, had moved up to Kyoto along with his four sons. The eldest Iganokami Kinmichi 伊賀守金道 who established a Mishina school 三品派, and the second son Rai-Kinmichi 来金道, third son Tanbanokami Yoshimichi 丹波守吉道 and fourth son Echunokami Masatoshi 越中守正俊. Oumi-no-kami Hisamichi 近江守久道 also joined to Mishina school to form the "5 major Mishina schools" 京五鍛冶 in Kyoto. All of them had been flourished throughout Edo period.
The subject smith YOSHIMICHI 義道 with Sagami-no-kami 相模守 title was a student of 2nd gen. Ouomi-no-kami HISAMICHI 近江守久道. He was born in Hyuga Province (now in Miyazaki pref.) in Kyushu island. His real name was Tomita Jin-uemon 冨田甚右衛門. It is said that he also lived and worked in Hiroshima, Aki province (now in Hiroshima pref.).

Sugata: A shinogi zukuri, iori mune wakizashi/ko-katana, with torii zori, chu kissaki, and a slightly raised, narrow shinogi.

Nagasa: 55.56 cm (21.875") 1.84 shaku Sori: 1.9 cm

Motokasane: 6.1 mm Motohaba: 25.5 mm

Sakikasane: 4.2 mm Sakihaba: 11.5 mm

Hamon: Both sides have a long, Osaka style yakidashi. The omote has a doubled choji with ashi. The monouchi becomes a more continuous stream of large choji with ashi. The ura is similar, with patterns of two choji, but more irregular and with inazuma running along the tops of the choji, kinsuji running throught the ha, and tama in the ji. The boshi is suguha with omaru kaeri with a short turnback.

Kitae: a very finely forged koitame with profuse jinie, almost an utsuri-like effect.

Nakago: Ha agari kuri jiri with katte sagari yasurime, and one mekugi ana.

Mei: Tomita Sagami no kami Yoshimichi

Date: Horyaku ninen nigatsu kitsu jitsu, an auspicious day in the 2nd lunar month of the 2nd year of Horyaku: 1752.

Koshirae: A good shirasaya with sayagaki, good copper habaki.

$3800

Note that in one of the photos, I severely changed the exposure to show off the activity in the hamon. The extreme blue of the steel and the extreme color of the nakago are an artifact of that shift in exposure. Other than that, the photo was not retouched. The top third of the blade loses detail out in the glare.

SC

A contemporary tanto with a 1999 paper from Aoi Art, Tokyo

Omote: Echigo ju Sadaaki saku

Ura: Heisei Kyu Nen Hachi Gatsu Hi (A day in the the 8th month of the ninth year of Heisei), A day in August, 1997.

Nagasa: 11.614 inches

No sori

Jitetsu: Itame hada with masame hada and abundant ji nie

Hamon: Nie deki gonome midare with sunagashi and kinsuji inside the hamon

There are futatsuhi on both sides of the blade.

Sadaaki is making swords in Niigata prefecture. The blade is in polish and shirasaya with a gold wash habaki. The blade is a robust example of what some of the old tanto looked like when they were new.

$2500