Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Katana by Munetoshi of Mutsu province, dated the eighth month of Tenpō 6 (1835), with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers and kept in shirasaya.
A shinshintō katana signed on the omote 奥州住宗敏作 (Ōshū-jū Munetoshi saku) and dated on the ura 天保六未年八月日 (Tenpō roku hitsuji-doshi hachigatsu hi), the eighth month of 1835. According to the original seller, the smith is not listed in the reference directories of swordsmiths, and the NBTHK issued its paper treating him as a smith omitted from them; the seller suggests, without asserting it, a possible link with the Koyama school. The blade measures 71.5 cm in nagasa with 0.9 cm of sori, a motohaba of 3.05 cm and a motokasane of 0.77 cm, with a marked taper from base to point and a bare weight of 782 g. The original seller describes a masame jigane mixed with mokume, well forged and tight, a chū-suguha hamon with fine sunagashi and kinsuji, and a straight bōshi with a rounded turn-back; the photographs show the suguha along the whole blade. In the photographs the tang appears intact, with a single mekugi-ana. The blade comes with a copper habaki, a shirasaya and NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers (no. 1020449, 2023).
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers (no. 1020449)
- Signed and dated: 8th month of Tenpō 6 (1835)
- Intact tang with a single mekugi-ana, per the photographs
- Little-documented smith, recognised by the NBTHK as absent from the directories
Points to bear in mind
- Offered without koshirae: shirasaya only
- The listing does not state the condition of the blade
- No biographical data on the smith in the directories; the Koyama link is a conjecture of the original seller
Score
95.8 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+50
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper +50
-
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
−15
No mounting −15
-
Blade
+10
71.5 cm: within the usable range +10
-
Shirasaya
+5
With a storage shirasaya +5
-
Price
+20.8
Price: the more affordable, the more points +20.8
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
- 71.5 cm
- Sori
- 0.9 cm
- Tang
- Intact according to the photographs
- Certificate
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon
- Mounting
- No mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- Yes
- Smith
- Munetoshi
- Period
- Shinshintō (1781-1876)
- Dating
- 8th month of Tenpō 6 (1835)
- Province
- Mutsu
- Mekugi-ana
- 1
- Condition
- Condition not declared
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- Yes
- Motohaba
- 3,05 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,38 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,77 cm
- Sakikasane
- 0,52 cm
- Blade weight
- 782 g