Kantei
Close-up of the point of the blade, small, on a black background.

Tokyo National Museum, via ColBase · ColBase terms of use

Ko-mokume · ko-midare with uchinoke · two-character signature

Work and style

Slender and very elegant tachi, to the aristocratic taste of Heian, with a narrow temper of many layers and, on the Mikazuki, the half-moons that give it its name.

On this page
  1. Kantei keys
  2. The Mikazuki Munechika, according to its official record
  3. The Mikazuki, up close

Kantei keys

  • Jihada. Soft and beautiful steel, of fine ko-mokume, according to Sesko; the Japanese Wikipedia speaks of very tight itame with ji-nie.
  • Hamon. Relatively narrow, on a suguha base with ko-nie, with horizontal hataraki, a temper of several layers (nijūba, sanjūba), uchinoke and ko-ashi (Sesko). The Japanese Wikipedia: ko-midare, a deep nioiguchi with ko-nie and crescent-moon uchinoke.
  • Bōshi. On the Mikazuki, double, ko-maru and with hakikake, according to its official record.
  • Sugata. “Very elegant and slender”, to the aristocratic taste of Heian (Sesko).
  • Nakago. On the Mikazuki, unshortened (ubu), in kijimomo shape and with two holes.
  • Mei. He signed 宗近 (Munechika), two fine, small characters, on the haki-omote, or 三条 (Sanjō), somewhat larger, on the haki-ura; why one or the other is not known. The blades signed with the four characters 三条宗近 (Sanjō Munechika) have all been dismissed as false (gimei), according to Sesko.

The Mikazuki Munechika, according to its official record

Shinogi-zukuri and iori-mune, with a high koshizori, strong funbari and ko-kissaki. Tight ko-itame with ō-hada and thick ji-nie. Hamon of ko-midare with ko-ashi, a deep nioiguchi and ko-nie, with half-moon uchinoke over the edge of the temper; double bōshi, ko-maru with hakikake. Unshortened tang, in kijimomo shape, with two holes, and the signature on the haki-ura. An 80.0 cm blade, 2.7 cm of curvature, 2.9 cm wide at the base and 1.4 at the point.

A kantei feature: the signature 三条 (Sanjō) is on the haki-ura face (佩裏, haki-ura), not on the haki-omote, which is the usual place, next to the central hole. The Tokyo National Museum sums it up thus: a slim and strongly curved shape, a fine and complex temper and, over the temper, white half-moon lines.