NH-0014 Rank 33
Hitachi no Kami Muneshige
常陸守宗重 以南蛮鉄作之
Shintō blade from Settsu of the Kanbun era, forged in nanbantetsu by a pupil of Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro. With period koshirae and shirasaya. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon.
Silhouette of the blade to scale, aligned at the machi
Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
Description
Signed 常陸守宗重 以南蛮鉄作之, “Hitachi no Kami Muneshige, made with nanbantetsu”, this shintō blade from Settsu belongs to the Kanbun era, around 1670. Muneshige, known as Tada Uhei and later Sohei, was the father of the second Munehide of Himeji; he moved down to Osaka and joined the school of Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro, living between Himeji and Obama. The original seller holds that he worked as daisaku for Sukehiro and sees the proof in this blade: a clear, lively ko-mokume hada and a suguha whose edge he compares to torn hōsho paper, with kinsuji inside the temper. It is forged in nanbantetsu, the imported iron also used by Echizen Yasutsugu and extremely costly at the time. The shape is the typical Kanbun-shintō outline with little sori: 69.2 cm nagasa, 1.1 cm sori, motohaba 3.07 cm and sakihaba 1.96 cm. The photographs show the whole tang from both sides, with a single mekugi-ana, a symmetrical kurijiri nakago-jiri and the signature set well clear of the hole, all features of an ubu tang. Koshirae, shirasaya and NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers are included.
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon, with koshirae and shirasaya
- Pupil of Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro, a leading Osaka workshop
- Forged in nanbantetsu, imported steel, as the signature itself states
- Coherent koshirae: cha-nuri saya, black ito over gold-flecked same, gold menuki, pierced iron tsuba and fuchi-kashira with floral gold inlay
- The photographs show the complete tang from both sides, with a single mekugi-ana and symmetrical kurijiri: features of an ubu tang
- The NBTHK origami, with the oshigata of the tang, is photographed
Points to bear in mind
- The signature carries no date
- The original seller does not state that the tang is ubu: the evidence comes from the photographs
- Nor does he describe the blade's state of preservation or the age of the polish
- The fittings are unsigned and have no papers: the Edo-period dating of the mounting rests on the original seller's word
Score breakdown
66.8/100
The score shares out 100 points: Signature and date 18 · Tang 22 · Mounting 18 · Declared condition 20 · Blade 8 · Shirasaya 4 · Price 10. 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).
- Signature and date 10 of 18 Signed, with no engraved date
- Tang 20 of 22 Tang intact according to the photographs
- Mounting 4 of 18 Period mounting
- Declared condition 11 of 20 Condition not declared
- Blade 8 of 8 69.2 cm: within the usable range
- Shirasaya 4 of 4 With a storage shirasaya
- Price 9.8 of 10 Rank 4 of 139 by price, from the most affordable to the dearest