Katana by Fujiwara Nobuchika, a Musashi smith active in the final years of the shogunate. According to the original seller, he entered the school of Nobuhide in 1864 at the age of sixteen, and after the ban on wearing swords he turned to forging knives and carving tools; this blade belongs to his short sword-making period. Shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune, a wide blade, high shinogi, little taper between base and tip, shallow sori and an ō-kissaki. The original seller describes an itame jigane mixed with mokume, fine ji-nie and chikei, and a gunome midare hamon with angular, chōji-like and pointed elements, ashi, ko-nie, tobiyaki, shimaba and sunagashi; the bōshi is midare-komi with a pointed turn-back. The tang is ubu, with ō-sujikai yasurime and keshō-yasuri, kurijiri and one mekugi-ana, as the photographs confirm. Signed 於東武大城下藤原信近作之 (Tōbu Daijōka ni oite Fujiwara Nobuchika kore o saku) and dated 慶應元年八月吉日 (Keiō gannen hachigatsu kichijitsu). It comes in shirasaya with an ink sayagaki, a gold-foiled copper habaki and a cloth bag, without koshirae. The original seller states NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers issued in 2021.