Item description:

We have here an exceptional katana with a very elegant Shinto sugata and a horimono of a Dragon on one side and sand script on the other. The Hada is brilliantly forged with masame in the shinogi-ji and tight mokume throughout covered with ji-nie. The hada has that oily appearance to the steel seen on the best of swords. No forging flaws are apparent on this blade.The hamon is also very active. A brilliant Sugu-ba-midare is frosted in nioi with a beautiful layer of nie. There is much activity to enjoy with many hours of viewing and studying pleasure.There is a beautiful key-fret designed gold washed habaki that adorns the blade along with gold washed seppa.  The workmanship is superb and the shape of this particular blade is very unique and attractive. The hada is very well forged. The hamon is subdued and is a very elegant sugu-midare-ba with hataraki thru out the hamon.  This blade has a deeply carved horimono of a dragon that stands out and adds to the uniqueness of this work.  The blade comes with NTHK papers attesting to its quality.

Mino-province swords were, from the start, famous for their sharpness. Smiths centered in the town of Seki are representative of the Mino tradition of the time just after the middle of the Muromachi period. Generally, Mino-province swords of this period are known as Sue-Seki swords, because of the prosperity of the town of Seki.” This particular blade is from the Shinto period and displays the splendor of the swords from this era.

This sword with beautiful horimono emulates the great blades from an ealier era.  There is beautiful horimono of Bonji on one side and a Dragon on the other. The blade is  tremendously healthy and in a spectacular newer polish. The hamon is a very subtle sugu-ha-midare. There is a well worked fantastic hada of ko-mokume/itame and can be appreciated from across the room and can be viewed in these new High Definition photos.  The sword is in a shirasaya and a tsunagi holds the koshirai together for display.

To Note:
Many Horimono found on swords were either put there at a later date or to cover flaws. As can be seen in this blade that it is not the case. The sword is virtually flawless and the horimono was carved as intended.As seen these carvings are true works of art and are immense but do not take away from the aesthetics of the blade. These large carvings are executed in the utmost manner as to enhance the quality of the sword overall!

The koshirae for this blade is ensuite with a Dragonfly/Tomba theme. The fuchi/kashira, tsuba and kojiri and menuki are all in Dragonfly motif. The saya is a red lacquered ribbed style with black sageo to match the black tsuka-ito which is over an old well patina’d Same(rayskin). A beautiful set of mounts. There is a gold washed habaki in the key-fret design as well as gold washed seppa to accent this blade perfectly. According to legend, a dead soul can take the shape of a dragonfly, especially during Bon, the Buddhist Day of the Dead.