Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Shintō katana of 72.1 cm, signed on the front and dated on the back to the second month of Jōkyō 5 (1688), with an unaltered tang and a period mounting in black lacquer.
Kiyohira was the fourth son of the first Kanewaka of Kaga. Born in Kaga in 1621, he moved down to Edo around 1652 and entered the service of the Inaba house when Inaba Masakatsu received the Odawara fief, signing there as “Sōshū Hachimanyama Kiyohira”. When the Inaba moved to Takada in 1685 he returned to Edo, and this blade was forged there in 1688, in his sixty-seventh year. It measures 72.1 cm nagasa with 1.8 cm sori, showing a well-forged itame hada and a gunome-midare hamon in nioi with nie; the originating seller places it very close to his father's work. The photographs show a sound tang with even patina and no visible retouching, a kurijiri end, one mekugi-ana per face, the long signature on the front and the date 貞享五年二月日 (Jōkyō gonen nigatsu hi) cut on the back. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate. It comes with a restrained Edo-period koshirae whose saya is finished in black rō-iro lacquer.
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon with the mounting included
- Signed and dated on the tang itself: second month of Jōkyō 5 (1688)
- Ubu tang, sound and with a single mekugi-ana, confirmed in the photographs
- 72.1 cm nagasa, a generous length for a shintō blade
- Fourth son of the first Kanewaka of Kaga, trained in that tradition
- Edo-period koshirae with a saya in black rō-iro lacquer
Points to bear in mind
- No shirasaya included
- The originating seller does not describe the koshirae fittings one by one
- Neither the condition of the blade nor the state of the polish is stated
Score
144.4 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+50
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper +50
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Tang
+20
Tang intact according to the photographs +20
-
Declared condition
−20
The original seller says nothing about the condition −20
-
Signature and date
+25
Signed and with an engraved date +25
-
Mounting
+30
Mounting from the same period as the blade +50 · rewrapped ito −5 · replaced same −15
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Blade
+10
72.1 cm: within the usable range +10
-
Shirasaya
0
No shirasaya: one will have to be made 0
-
Price
+29.4
Price: the more affordable, the more points +29.4
The score adds and subtracts points for each feature of the piece and has no ceiling: the highest in the catalogue today is 255. It is computed from the record, not from an opinion. The mounting starts from what is known of its period, adds what vouches for it (its own NBTHK paper, a signed fitting, a crest) and subtracts what has been restored (saya, ito, same, habaki or sageo).
Measurements
- Nagasa
- 72.1 cm
- Sori
- 1.8 cm
- Tang
- Intact according to the photographs
- Certificate
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon
- Mounting
- Period mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- No
- Period
- Shintō (1596-1780)
- Dating
- 2nd month of Jōkyō 5 (1688)
- Province
- Musashi (Edo)
- Mekugi-ana
- 1
- Condition
- Condition not declared
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- Yes
- Motohaba
- 3,14 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,70 cm
- Sakihaba
- 1,93 cm
- Sakikasane
- 0,42 cm
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