Kantei

NH-0037 Rank 49

Hōshū Takada-jū Fujiwara Muneyuki

豊州高田住藤原統行

Work of the second generation Muneyuki of the Takada school of Bungo, with an untouched single-hole tang and an unusual saya: a net stretched over it, lacquered and polished to a honeycomb.

Shintō (1596-1780)Kan'ei era (c. 1624)Bungo (Takada)NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon

Silhouette of the blade to scale, aligned at the machi

Photographs by the seller at origin.

Description

The Takada school of Bungo begins in the Nanbokuchō period with Tomoyuki, a pupil of Sa Monji of Chikuzen. Kotō blades sign with the Taira surname and, from the shintō period onwards, with Fujiwara. It is a school with a long reputation for working swords: during the Sengoku it forged for Ōtomo Sōrin and rivalled Seki and Osafune in output. Muneyuki, civil name Nakama Shingorō, received a character of his name from the daimyō Ōtomo Yoshimune, is regarded as the founder of Takada shintō and is classed wazamono. This blade is attributed to the second generation: a strong shape with broad saki-haba and an extended point, a slightly dark ko-itame hada with flowing grain and faint utsuri, a tight, luminous suguha with occasional ko-notare, frequent ashi and yō of archaic feel, and a straight bōshi with a broad, round turnback. It measures 69.9 cm nagasa with 1.22 cm sori, motohaba 30.8 mm and motokasane 7.2 mm; it weighs 704 g bare and 1,037 g mounted. The koshirae is uchigatana in kuro-rō-nuri with a kawari ami-maki saya: a net was stretched over the scabbard, lacquered over and polished back to leave a honeycomb pattern. The fittings form an isshin set in shibuichi migaki-ji. Shirasaya and tsunagi are included.

Strong points

  • NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon, with koshirae, shirasaya and tsunagi
  • Ubu nakago with a single mekugi-ana
  • Kuro-rō-nuri ami-maki saya: a net stretched, lacquered and polished to a honeycomb pattern
  • Matching isshin fittings in shibuichi migaki-ji
  • Takada school of Bungo, with Muneyuki classed wazamono
  • 704 g bare: a light, manageable blade for its 69.9 cm

Points to bear in mind

  • The original seller states plainly that the koshirae is not the one original to this blade
  • The tsuba is loose and rattles; the seller himself suggests fitting sekigane
  • The signature bears no date; the Kan'ei dating is an estimate
  • The fittings carry no tōsōgu papers

Score breakdown

62.6/100

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).

  1. Signature and date 10 of 18 Signed, with no engraved date
  2. Tang 22 of 22 Tang intact according to the seller at origin
  3. Mounting -2 of 18 Mounting that is not the blade’s original
  4. Declared condition 12 of 20 With a warning from the seller at origin
  5. Blade 8 of 8 69.9 cm: within the usable range
  6. Shirasaya 4 of 4 With a storage shirasaya
  7. Price 8.6 of 10 Rank 20 of 139 by price, from the most affordable to the dearest