KANEFUSA
(Seki) Kanefusa(fss-429)
Mei: NOSHU
SEKI JU KANEFUSA
Date: koto
Nagasa : 23 3/8 "
Sori: 21.0 mm
Width at the ha-machi: 29.1 mm
Width at the yokote: 18.8 mm
Thickness at the mune-machi: 6.2 mm
Construction: shinogi-zukuri
Mune: iori
Nakago: ubu
Kitae: itame
Hamon: gunome midare
Boshi: maru
Condition: old polish
A fine example of the older Mino style blades this sword was shortened to true uchikatana size though still retains the original mei of � Noshu Seki Ju Kane Fusa �. Uchikatana were mainly used in one handed fighting styles which were prolific during the Muramachi period. The hamon is a wonderfully active Gunome midare with a hada of itame.
The koshirae is a true fit to the blade and is in the Uchikatana style. The motif is horses with a Chinese scholar on the tsuba.
� The first Japanese horse, born from the head of the dead Uke-mochi, the food goddess. Stones with markings are considered sacred in Japan. They're supposed to be the hoof prints of Amida and the other first legendary horses as they left the water, for land and people.
The sword comes with 2 sets of papers attesting to the authenticity and validity of the sword and the Koshirae comese with one set of papers attesting this also.
During the twelfth century Uchigatana started to be used and by the Muromachi Period approximately 1336 to 1573 the uchigatana began to rival the tachi as the sword of choice by warriors. Unlike the tachi, the uchigatana was worn edge-up in the belt, this and usually being slightly smaller than the tachi was the main difference between the tachi and the uchigatana. Since it is worn differently, the engraved words on the sword are also opposite to the tachi, making the words still upright instead of upside-down like when one wears the tachi like an uchigatana. This sword became popular for several reasons, the uchigatana was more convenient to wear and did not get in the way of using a polearm as much as a tachi, also the frequency of battles fought on foot and the need for speed on the battlefield, were major reasons for the uchigatana being rapidly accepted and indicated that battlefield combat had grown in intensity. Since it was shorter, it could be used in more confined quarters, such as inside a building.
Unlike the tachi, with which the acts of drawing and striking with the sword were two separate actions, unsheathing the uchigatana and cutting the enemy down with it became one smooth, lightning-fast action (this technique was called battojutsu otherwise known as Battokiri). The curvature on the blade of the uchigatana differs from the tachi in that the blade has curvature near the sword�s point (sakizori), as opposed to curvature near the sword�s hilt (koshizori) like the tachi. Because the sword is being drawn from below, the act of unsheathing became the act of striking. For a soldier on horseback, the sakizori curve of the uchigatana was essential in such a blade, since it allows the sword to come out of the saya (sheath) at the most convenient angle for executing an immediate cut.
The word uchigatana can be found in literary works as early as the Kamakura Period, but during that time the uchigatana was used only by individuals of low status and privates in the ranks. Most uchigatana made during the early Kamakura Period were not of the highest standard, and because they were considered disposable, virtually no examples from these early times exist today. It wasn�t until the Muromachi Period (considered by some to be a kind of Dark Age in the history of the Japanese Sword), when the samurai began to use them to supplement the longer tachi, that uchigatana of high quality began to be made. In the Momoyama and Edo Periods, the tachi was almost totally abandoned and the custom of wearing a pair of long and short uchigatana together, the daisho (literally �big-little�) became the dominant sign of the Samurai class.
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FULL IMAGE
Details
KOSHIRAI
PAPERS
NINTEISHO
1, WAKIZASHI
MEI: NOSHU SEKI JU KANEFUSA
Length: A little over 1 shaku 9 sun 5 bu
The above item, as a result of a shinsa at this organization, has been designated a TOKUBETSU KICHO TOKEN, and is confirmed as being authentic.
November 11, 1967
NBTHK
NINTEISHO
1, WAKIZASHI
MEI: KUROROIRO NURIZAYA (Black Lacquered Saya) UCHIGATANA KOSHIRAE
Fuchi-Kashira ? theme, Tetsu ji
Mekugi: Shakudo� ji
Tsuba Chinese person theme, Tetsu ji
Length: A little over 1 shaku 9 sun 5 bu
The above item, as a result of a shinsa at this organization, has been designated a TOKUBETSU KICHO KODOGU, and is confirmed as being authentic.
April 7, 1970
NBTHK
This sword is on consignment.
Order number for this item is : fss-429
~SOLD~
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