A beautifully preserved un-signed koto wakazashi that has incredible workmanship and a beautiful gunome/midare hamon with utsuri. This blade is ubu and in the Bizen style. A fine example and blend of Bizen work the activity can be seen and appreciated within this blade in the old Bizen tradition. The condition of this koto piece is very good as can be seen in the pictures. A very robust Hamachi and Munemachi can be found.  It is in a new polish with a very nice set of koshirae. The pictures not do justice to this sword.  The hamon is very nicely done with a thick nioi-guchi that flares up here and there.  It has many hataraki and ko-nie appear.  The hada is well forged with a very slick looking nagare-ish itame with mokume.  The boshi is ko-maru with kaen like finish and longish for this size sword. This koto wakazashi has an elegant shape and is very well balanced. The curvature is very noticible and text book Bizen.  The mounts are very unique and add to the overall value of this sword.  The lacquered saya is new and a great expense has gone into the restoration of this sword.  The sword comes with a shirasaya to protect the sword and polish and a wooden tsunagi has been made to display the mounts.  The fittings are sound and have a traditional Samurai appeal and are in iron. They look and display very well.  Overall this is a fine Japanese Koto wakazashi fully restored.  The menuki are a combination of a floral design. The same is black and has a very nice look to it. .

The mounts are of good quality from tsuka to saya.  The floral motif of the menuki was often used as a theme for Asian art. Mythological subjects and auspicious symbols were sometimes used as motifs for Japanese sword furniture. Motifs could stand alone as designs unto themselves, particularly if they had seasonal or symbolic associations, but they were also used as decorative patterns surrounding or backing more pictorial motifs such as this. The habaki is a older style 2-piece in copper. 

This is a wonderful  BIZEN sword for a collector who wishes to view and study the multitude of activity within a BIZEN blade! This is a honest set of koshirae for this sword in the distinct samurai style.

Bizen Province Info:
In the southwest area of Okayama, was once known as the sword kingdom.
Possessing talented swordsmiths and nearby high-quality raw materials accessible by water transportation, Bizen produced the most swords in Japan during the Heian Period (794-1185), beating Yamashiro, Yamato, Sagami and Mino, the other popular sword-making areas.

In the Muromachi period, Harima, Mimasaka and Bizen province had prospered under the protection of the Akamatsu family. Above all, Bizen province has turned out a great many  talented swordsmiths. Supplying the demand of the Age of Provincial Wars in Japan, a large number of swords were made there in the late Muromachi period. Sukesada has become a synonym for the Osafune School though the founder was Mitsutada. It is regrettable that a deluge devastated the School in Osafune districts in Tensho era. Such is the way of the world that even the Osafune School, that prosperity and power had been unparalleled, perished in this way in the deluge.