An exquisite long older sword this fine katana has great workmanship and a beautiful gunome midare hamon.  It is in an original older polish and is not signed. Unfortunately the pictures not do justice to this sword.  The hamon is very nicely done with a thick nioi-guchi.  It has many hataraki and ara-nie appear.  The hada is very well forged with a milky looking color of itame with mokume.  This early katana also has an elegant shape and is very well balanced.  The mounts are  in very good shape and add to the overall value of this sword. The laquer is finished in a beautiful red with an iron kojira of dragon theme. The fittings are sounds and have a more simple and traditional look and display very well. Overall this is a fine Japanese katana.  The fuchi-Kashira has a constellation theme of Ursa Major! A rare set of iron.
The mounts are of good quality from tsuka to saya. The constellation theme mixed with dragon motif beautifully finish the tsuka and saya with an exceptional but a little soiled white tsukaito wrap. The saya is an exquisite red lacquer . The constellation motif was sometimes used as a theme for Asian art. Mythological and auspicious symbols were sometimes used as motifs for Japanese sword furniture. dragon motifs would stand alone as designs unto themselves, particularly if they had seasonal or symbolic association.
The seven star motiff was connected to Taoist cosmology and figured heavily in Chinese mythology which many motiffs and legends were based on.