Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Katana by Yamato no Kami Yasusada, signed and dated 1657 and designated Jūyō Tōken by the NBTHK. Kept in shirasaya with a two-piece gilt habaki.
Katana signed by Yamato no Kami Yasusada, a smith working in Edo, Musashi province, in the middle of the Shintō period. The Jūyō designation text notes that he was long thought to come from Echizen, that recent research links him to the Ishidō school of Kishū, and that his teacher was most probably Izumi no Kami Kaneshige. The blade is shinogi-zukuri with an iori-mune, a wide mihaba, 1.4 cm of sori and a chū-kissaki. According to the original seller, the jigane is ko-itame mixed with ko-mokume, with thick ji-nie and chikei, and the hamon is gunome mixed with chōji, with tobiyaki, long ashi, sunagashi and a bright nioiguchi; the photographs show an irregular gunome with pronounced ashi. The tang bears on the omote the signature 大和守安定 (Yamato no Kami Yasusada) and on the ura the date 明暦三年八月日 (Meireki sannen hachigatsu hi), with three mekugi-ana, one of them plugged. Designated Jūyō Tōken at the 25th NBTHK session (1977) and published in the Kanzan Tōken Kōza. It is kept in shirasaya with a two-piece gilt habaki; there is no koshirae.
Strong points
- NBTHK Jūyō Tōken, 25th session (1977)
- Signed and dated in the 8th month of Meireki 3 (1657)
- Published in the Kanzan Tōken Kōza, volume 3
- Two-piece gilt habaki
Points to bear in mind
- The original seller describes the tang as machi-okuri; the Jūyō designation text describes it as suriage
- Three mekugi-ana, one of them plugged
- The listing does not state the blade's condition or the date of the last polish
- No koshirae: the blade is kept in shirasaya only
Score
115 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+140
NBTHK Jūyō paper +140
-
Tang
−20
Full-length tang, with the machi moved up (machi-okuri) −10 · 1 extra mekugi-ana −10
-
Declared condition
−20
The original seller says nothing about the condition −20
-
Signature and date
+25
Signed and with an engraved date +25
-
Mounting
−15
No mounting −15
-
Blade
+5
68.1 cm: close to the usable range +5
-
Shirasaya
+5
With a storage shirasaya +5
-
Price
−5
Price: the more affordable, the more points −5
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
- 68.1 cm
- Sori
- 1.4 cm
- Tang
- Full-length tang, with the machi moved up (machi-okuri)
- Certificate
- NBTHK Jūyō
- Mounting
- No mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- Yes
- Period
- Shintō (1596-1780)
- Dating
- 8th month of Meireki 3 (1657)
- Province
- Musashi
- Mekugi-ana
- 3
- Condition
- Condition not declared
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- Yes
- Motohaba
- 3,1 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,2 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,68 cm
- Sakikasane
- 0,45 cm
- Shinogi-kasane
- 0,74 cm
- Blade weight
- 734 g