Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
The piece
Mino kotō katana signed 兼常 (Kanetsune), late Muromachi to Momoyama, with an ubu tang and NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers.
Katana from the Seki school of Mino, signed 兼常 (Kanetsune), a name the lineage carried from Ōei to the end of the Edo period. The original seller places it between the late Muromachi and the Azuchi-Momoyama periods and suggests, as a hypothesis based on the stroke of the character 常 (tsune), that it may be an early work of the smith who later signed Sagami no Kami Masatsune. Shinogi-zukuri blade, 74.6 cm nagasa and 1.3 cm sori, of generous width and thickness, with a slightly acute chū-kissaki. According to the original seller, the jigane is ko-itame mixed with itame, with thick ji-nie and chikei, and the hamon is gunome midare with ko-gunome and ara-nie, kinsuji and sunagashi in Mino Sōshū style; the photographs confirm the irregular gunome midare along the blade. The tang is ubu, with an iriyamagata tip, ōsujikai file marks and a single mekugi-ana, as the photographs show. Gold-foiled copper habaki and an older polish. The blade is housed in shirasaya according to the listing. It comes with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers dated 5 April Heisei 6 (1994).
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers (1994)
- Ubu tang with a single mekugi-ana
- Long, robust blade: 74.6 cm nagasa
- Gunome midare hamon in Mino Sōshū style
Points to bear in mind
- No koshirae: offered in shirasaya, stated in the listing but not shown in the photographs
- Older polish, not recent
- The attribution to Masatsune's early period is only a hypothesis of the original seller
Score
152.1 pointscurrent max. 255
-
Certificate
+50
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper +50
-
Tang
+25
Tang intact according to the seller at origin +25
-
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
+15
74.6 cm: long blade, 74 cm or more +15
-
Shirasaya
+5
With a storage shirasaya +5
-
Price
+27.1
Price: the more affordable, the more points +27.1
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
- 74.6 cm
- Sori
- 1.3 cm
- Tang
- Intact (ubu)
- Certificate
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon
- Mounting
- No mounting
- Storage shirasaya
- Yes
- Smith
- Kanetsune
- Period
- Kotō (up to 1596)
- Dating
- Late Muromachi to Azuchi-Momoyama (16th century)
- Province
- Mino
- Mekugi-ana
- 1
- Condition
- Sound condition according to the seller at origin
- Signed
- Yes
- With an engraved date
- No
- Motohaba
- 3,07 cm
- Sakihaba
- 2,04 cm
- Motokasane
- 0,68 cm
- Sakikasane
- 0,50 cm