Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Signed katana by Masanao, a Kazusa smith and pupil of Kiyomaro, from the late Edo period, with an ubu tang and designated Jūyō Tōken at the 23rd NBTHK session. Presented in shirasaya.
Masanao worked in Kazusa province and also in Edo, and was a pupil of Kiyomaro, the great smith of the shinshintō period; this blade clearly shows the style of that school. It is a shinogi-zukuri katana with an iori-mune, 69.4 cm in nagasa and 1.4 cm in sori, with a wide mihaba and an ō-kissaki. According to the paper and the original seller, the jigane is a well-forged itame mixed with mokume, with thick ji-nie and chikei, and the hamon is a notare with gunome, chōji and pointed elements in strong nie, with ashi and yō and abundant kinsuji and sunagashi. The photographs show the undulating hamon along the whole blade. The tang is ubu, with a kurijiri tip, sujikai file marks and one mekugi-ana, and bears on the omote the signature 上総国住人正直 (Kazusa no kuni jūnin Masanao), cut with a large chisel. It was designated Jūyō Tōken at the 23rd NBTHK session (1 July 1975); the certificate and the pages of the designation book appear in the photographs, and their text calls it an outstanding work of the smith. It is kept in shirasaya with an ink sayagaki and a gilt habaki; there is no koshirae.
Strong points
- Jūyō Tōken, 23rd NBTHK session (1975)
- Signed 上総国住人正直 (Kazusa no kuni jūnin Masanao), ubu tang with one mekugi-ana
- Characteristic work of the Kiyomaro school: notare with gunome, kinsuji and sunagashi
- Shirasaya with ink sayagaki
Points to bear in mind
- The original seller's listing says nothing about the condition of the blade.
- No koshirae: the blade is offered in shirasaya only.
- The blade is undated; the late Edo dating comes from the original seller.
Score
155 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+140
NBTHK Jūyō paper +140
-
Tang
+25
Tang intact according to the seller at origin +25
-
Declared condition
−20
The original seller says nothing about the condition −20
-
Signature and date
+15
Signed, with no engraved date +15
-
Mounting
−15
No mounting −15
-
Blade
+10
69.4 cm: within the usable range +10
-
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
- 69.4 cm
- Sori
- 1.4 cm
- Tang
- Intact (ubu)
- Certificate
- NBTHK Jūyō
- Mounting
- No mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- Yes
- Smith
- Kazusa Masanao
- Period
- Shinshintō (1781-1876)
- Dating
- Late Edo period (shinshintō)
- Province
- Kazusa
- Mekugi-ana
- 1
- Condition
- Condition not declared
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- No
- Motohaba
- 3,1 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,35 cm