Kitsunegasaki
狐ヶ崎 (Kitsunegasaki)
The tachi by Tametsugu of Ko-Aoe that the Kikkawa house has kept since a battle in 1200, with its original mounting.
History
It was forged by Tametsugu, of the Aoe school of Bitchū, between the end of the Heian and the beginning of the Kamakura period, and bears his two-character signature. It takes its name from the place in Suruga where, in 1200, Kikkawa Tomokane wielded it in the fight against Kajiwara Kagetoki’s party. The Kikkawa family has kept it ever since together with its tachi mounting of the same age, one of the oldest known; it is designated a National Treasure and is held at the Kikkawa Historical Museum in Iwakuni.