Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Early Edo katana signed 陸奥守藤原歳長 (Mutsu no Kami Fujiwara Toshinaga), with an intact tang, NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper and shirasaya.
According to the original seller, Mutsu no Kami Toshinaga was a son of the first Toshinaga, a native of Awa, and trained with his brothers among the Horikawa school smiths in Kyoto; the family, said to descend from Hasebe Kunishige, also worked in Ise and Osaka. The seller places this blade around the Jōkyō era. It is a katana somewhat shorter than the standard length, with a nagasa of 63.45 cm and a sori of 1.15 cm, a wide mihaba (3.30 cm at the base) and a sturdy kasane. The photographs show a rounded gunome hamon in sanbonsugi style, with pointed elements here and there; the seller describes a very dense, flawless jigane and a bright nioiguchi with abundant nie and active ashi. The tang, ubu judging by the photographs, keeps its file marks and a single mekugi-ana, and bears the signature 陸奥守藤原歳長 (Mutsu no Kami Fujiwara Toshinaga). It comes with a double copper habaki with gold foil, a shirasaya and the NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper of July 2014.
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper (2014)
- Intact tang signed 陸奥守藤原歳長 (Mutsu no Kami Fujiwara Toshinaga)
- Sanbonsugi-style gunome hamon with pointed elements
- Wide, sturdy blade with a dense jigane according to the original seller
- Double copper habaki with gold foil, and shirasaya
Points to bear in mind
- Offered in shirasaya, without koshirae.
- The smith's generation is uncertain: the original seller acknowledges that attribution between the first and second generation is unresolved.
- The photographs show some light surface scratches near the base on the ura side.
Score
129.4 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+50
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper +50
-
Tang
+20
Tang intact according to the photographs +20
-
Declared condition
+30
Healthy according to the original seller +30
-
Signature and date
+15
Signed, with no engraved date +15
-
Mounting
−15
No mounting −15
-
Blade
0
63.5 cm: outside the usable range 0
-
Shirasaya
+5
With a storage shirasaya +5
-
Price
+24.4
Price: the more affordable, the more points +24.4
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
- 63.5 cm
- Sori
- 1.2 cm
- Tang
- Intact according to the photographs
- Certificate
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon
- Mounting
- No mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- Yes
- Period
- Shintō (1596-1780)
- Dating
- Jōkyō era (1684–1688)
- Province
- Mutsu
- Mekugi-ana
- 1
- Condition
- Sound condition according to the seller at origin
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- No
- Motohaba
- 3,30 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,42 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,73 cm
- Sakikasane
- 0,56 cm
- Blade weight
- 722 g