Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Katana by Izumi no Kami Kaneshige, a master of early Shintō in Edo, with a signed ubu tang, NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper and a late-Edo Matsushiro mounting.
Izumi no Kami Kaneshige worked in the earliest years of the Shintō period and, according to the original seller, was one of the founders of sword-making in Edo and the teacher of Kotetsu. This katana, which the seller places around the Kan'ei era, is shinogi-zukuri with an iori-mune, 70.75 cm in nagasa and 1.7 cm in sori, with a marked taper towards a slightly compact chū-kissaki. The photographs show a notare hamon mixed with gunome and carved grooves: according to the seller, goma-bashi on the omote and futasuji-hi on the ura. The seller describes an itame jigane mixed with mokume, abundant jinie and chikei, and a bright nioiguchi with thick ashi, konie and sunagashi. The tang is ubu, with a kurijiri tip, ō-sujikai yasurime and one mekugi-ana, as the photographs show; it is signed 和泉守藤原兼重 (Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kaneshige). The blade is fitted in a Matsushiro mounting, 松代拵 (Matsushiro-goshirae), which the seller dates to the late Edo period: an iron tsuba with a brass rim, a black-wrapped tsuka with gilt menuki and a black lacquered saya. It comes with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers.
Strong points
- Signature 和泉守藤原兼重 (Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kaneshige) on an ubu tang with a single mekugi-ana
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper
- Early Shintō smith of Edo, regarded as Kotetsu's teacher according to the original seller
- Complete Matsushiro mounting, dated by the seller to the late Edo period
- Notare hamon with gunome visible in the photographs
Points to bear in mind
- The listing does not state the condition of the blade.
- The mounting is late Edo, some two centuries later than the blade; it was not made with it.
- The blade's date is an estimate by era: the tang carries no inscribed date.
Score
126.7 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+50
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper +50
-
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
+35
Antique mounting, from another period than the blade +35
-
Blade
+10
70.8 cm: within the usable range +10
-
Shirasaya
0
No shirasaya: one will have to be made 0
-
Price
+11.7
Price: the more affordable, the more points +11.7
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
- 70.8 cm
- Sori
- 1.7 cm
- Tang
- Intact (ubu)
- Certificate
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon
- Mounting
- Period mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- No
- Period
- Shintō (1596-1780)
- Dating
- Kan'ei era (1624–1644)
- Province
- Echizen
- Mekugi-ana
- 1
- Condition
- Condition not declared
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- No
- Motohaba
- 3,15 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,0 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,7 cm
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