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Akita Ryōkai (秋田了戒)
A tantō of 27.2 cm, without curvature, in kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri, an Important Cultural Property; it was a National Treasure until the post-war revision of the designations. Its name comes from Akita Sanesue (秋田実季, Akita Sanesue, 1576–1660), and it later belonged to the Maeda of Kaga, according to Sesko. Itame with masame, ji-nie and shirake-utsuri; a ko-nie suguha with nijūba; a pointed bōshi with a long, wide kaeri, also with nijūba. Sesko calls it a meibutsu; we have not verified that it is in the 『享保名物帳』 (Kyōhō meibutsuchō) or in the official database.
The tachi of 1305 of the Atsuta shrine
An Important Cultural Property tachi of the Atsuta Jingū shrine (熱田神宮, Atsuta Jingū), in Nagoya, dated to the Kagen era, in 1305. It was exhibited in 2018 at the Kyoto National Museum, in 「京のかたな」 (Kyō no katana, “The swords of Kyoto”), as no. 84. We have not found its record in the official database.
Important Cultural Properties
Sesko counts five blades that are Important Cultural Properties, three tachi and a tantō (he does not detail the fifth), no National Treasure, some 90 NBTHK Jūyō and two Tokubetsu Jūyō. Rai Kunitoshi, for comparison, has four National Treasures, seventeen Important Cultural Properties, more than two hundred Jūyō and nearly thirty Tokubetsu Jūyō, because he ran a large workshop. One of those tachi, which belonged to the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira of Iyo-Matsuyama, is unshortened: 80.3 cm, 3.0 cm of curvature and 3.0 cm wide; ko-itame with masame-nagare, ji-nie and shirake, and a ko-nie chū-suguha with ko-midare and ko-ashi. It passed the first NBTHK Jūyō session, in 1958.
NBTHK Tokubetsu Jūyō
An unshortened tantō of 24.9 cm, hira-zukuri, with a slight uchizori: tight ko-itame with shirake-utsuri, a ko-nie chū-suguha with nijūba, a suken with bonji on one side and goma-bashi on the other, and a furisode nakago. Without nagare-masame, it is very close to Kunitoshi, according to Sesko.
In museums
The Tokyo National Museum holds a tachi signed 了戒 (Ryōkai), F-15, unshortened: a 79.98 cm blade, 2.7 cm of curvature, funbari and a ko-kissaki; ko-itame with masame, shirake and jifu, suguha with ko-midare and ko-chōji, and a midare-komi bōshi with ko-maru-kaeri, according to Sesko. The museum does not publish its photo. It also holds a tantō signed 了戒 (Ryōkai), F-16, with two parallel grooves and the nakago unshortened.
The Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya keeps a naginata signed 了戒子息久信作 (Ryōkai shisoku Hisanobu saku, “work of Hisanobu, son of Ryōkai”), dated to the Tokuji era (徳治, Tokuji), in 1308; it was exhibited in Kyoto in 2018.
In the old lists
His only appearance in a historical list is the 1313 report on cutting swords, the 注進物 (Chūshin-mono), in which he appears and his father does not. In what was consulted, no work of his is recorded in the wazamono lists.