Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Katana of the Osafune school of Bizen, signed 備州長船祐定 (Bishū Osafune Sukesada), mid to late Muromachi, with Tokubetsu Hozon papers, koshirae and shirasaya.
A blade from the Sukesada family of Osafune, the house that epitomises Bizen production in the later Muromachi period. According to the original seller it retains its elegant form, with a marked difference in width between base and point and the curvature concentrated in the upper half (saki-zori). The seller describes a well-forged mokume jigane, slightly standing out, with chikei, and a notare hamon with gunome, plentiful ashi, sunagashi and some ko-chōji; the bōshi runs in midare and turns back rounded. The photographs show the notare with gunome along the entire blade. The tang, with two mekugi-ana, appears intact and bears the signature 備州長船祐定 (Bishū Osafune Sukesada). The seller describes the blade as healthy, with no forging flaws worth noting. It comes with a double shakudō habaki and an uchigatana koshirae with a black ishime-lacquered saya, an openwork iron tsuba depicting a pine and a hut, and shakudō fuchi-kashira with a gold chrysanthemum; it is also kept in a shirasaya with its tsunagi. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers.
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers
- Signed 備州長船祐定 (Bishū Osafune Sukesada); tang intact in the photographs
- Notare hamon with gunome visible in the close-ups
- Complete koshirae with ishime-lacquered saya and openwork iron tsuba
- Also kept in a shirasaya with tsunagi
Points to bear in mind
- The signature does not specify the generation, so it does not identify which of the Sukesada smiths made it.
- According to the original seller, the tsuka has slight play, which can be corrected by rewrapping or shimming it.
- The koshirae is undated and has no papers of its own; the sageo appears recent.
Score
133.8 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+50
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper +50
-
Tang
+20
Tang intact according to the photographs, with 2 mekugi-ana +20
-
Declared condition
+30
Healthy according to the original seller +30
-
Signature and date
+15
Signed, with no engraved date +15
-
Mounting
0
Mounting described, undated +5 · new sageo −5
-
Blade
0
65.9 cm: outside the usable range 0
-
Shirasaya
+5
With a storage shirasaya +5
-
Price
+13.8
Price: the more affordable, the more points +13.8
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
- 65.9 cm
- Sori
- 2.1 cm
- Tang
- Intact according to the photographs
- Certificate
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon
- Mounting
- Mounting described piece by piece by the seller at origin
- Storage shirasaya
- Yes
- Smith
- Osafune Sukesada
- Period
- Kotō (up to 1596)
- Dating
- Mid to late Muromachi period
- Province
- Bizen
- Mekugi-ana
- 2
- Condition
- Sound condition according to the seller at origin
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- No
- Motohaba
- 3,27 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,21 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,75 cm
- Sakikasane
- 0,55 cm
- Blade weight
- 682 g
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