Katana by Suishinshi Masahide, the great reformer of shinshintō and retained smith of the Akimoto clan, active in Musashi (Edo). According to the original seller, he trained under Shitahara Yoshihide, worked through the Yamato, Sōshū, Mino and Bizen traditions and, in his maturity, championed a return to the old techniques. This blade, 69.6 cm in nagasa with 1.8 cm of sori, dates from 1808, when he was about sixty: shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, thick kasane and chū-kissaki. The Jūyō paper describes a tightly forged ko-itame jigane with abundant ji-nie and a hamon that starts in suguha and opens into ō-gunome mixed with notare in tōran style, strong in nie, with kinsuji and sunagashi and a bright nioiguchi: an interpretation of the tōran of Sukehiro of Ōsaka. The tang is ubu, with one mekugi-ana; the omote bears the signature 水心子正秀 (Suishinshi Masahide) with kaō, and the ura the date 文化五年八月日 (Bunka go-nen hachigatsu hi). Designated Jūyō Tōken at the 61st NBTHK session (2015). It comes with a shirasaya and a koshirae the seller presents as a period mounting: a polished black-lacquer saya inlaid with crushed shell, and iron fittings inlaid with gold and other metals depicting gourds and rain dragons.