Hizen Masatsugu Daito (fss-882)
Hizen Masatsugu Daito (fss-882) New Item Available Sold On Hold Special Sale One of the five greatest Shinto smiths was Hizen Tadayoshi, a student of Umetada Myojo.The Hizen style stands out and is easily recognized on this sword. It has a elegant Shinto sugata, with a strong active hada. This sword is machi-Okuri and retains a full signature. There is a sugu-ha hamon with ko-maru turnback. The sword was an ancestral blade mounted in military koshirae. The hada is itame covered in konoku-hada a straight of the Hizen smiths. The blade is 27 1/4″ and has an elegant sugata. Comes in WWII era koshirae and were called “kai-gunto” or Naval officer sword mountings. These particular style mounts are of very high quality with a rayskin covered saya and in excellent condition. Its important to note that to retain this signature on the sword it was not cut down. The Kai-gunto handle was extended. We have not seen an example this long. The handle was custom fashioned to preserve this signature. These are highly sought after by the WWII Japanese sword collector. There is a Samurai family mon on the saya as well as a sword tassel. The saya has the double Obi-tori with Ashi. A beautiful package for both the WWII collector and the collector of Hizen blades. This sword is signed “ HIZEN No KUNI JU MINAMOTO MASATSUGU and the signature is guaranteed by us for one year if submitted to shinsa within that time. The following is a history of the Masatsugu:The first generation Hizen Munetsugu was originally called Sakai Mitsuemon or Sakai Sanuemon. His first residence was in Nagase in Saga-gun. He...
Bizen Katana (fss-881)
Bizen Katana (fss-881) New Item Available Sold On Hold Special Sale This is a koto Bizen katana. It looks like its from the Muromachi era. The quality of this sword is good and has virtually no flaws. This blade is ubu and there are 2 holes to the sword. There also appears to be a signature and date that is very obscured and not legible but is there. The hamon is a mixture of sugu-ha and slight shallow notare midare with an itame/mokume mix for hada that is well forged. The koshirai is black lacquered and in the handachi style all in suite . The mounts are in good shape and are more in a classical style for a samurai and not meant to be flashy. The handle has a leather tsukamaki that is black lacquered. The tsukamaki is a very nice detail and not always found in this condition. The tsuba is a Kinai sukashi style of a Dragon. The menuki are also of dragons in gold wash and the tsuki-ito is a black leather over black Same(rayskin), with a gold and black sageo to match. The habaki is of good quality. It is in polish. It would be a great candidate for shinsa someday. Its mounted solidly . Bizen Province: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...
Kanenori Tanto (fss-880)
Kanenori Tanto (fss-880) New Item Available Sold On Hold Special Sale This is a very nice koto tanto by the Koto Mino smith, Kanenori. There were several generations of smiths who signed using this kanji. I believe It is a late Muromachi tanto. It is a quintessential muramachi tanto with a cutting edge of. The 2-character signature is completely intact. This signature is 100% genuine. The jitetsu is a flowing itame with very fine ji-nie that create an almost utsuri like effect. The blade is shobu-zukuri in shape and the hamon is a peaked notare-gunome-midare with togariba. There is a habuchi that becomes especially active in the monouchi area with areas of kinsuji and sunagashi as well as ji-nie. There is a very active kissaki indicative of the Muromachi era when this blade was made. The very active hamon continues into the bôshi creating a nie-kuzure effect. Accompanying this fine sword is a beautiful style mounting with all of the components being made of horn with a black lacquered saya. The menuki are of tigers and there is a kodzuka of the many animals of the Asian zodiac. These mountings are in very good condition. The tsuka is of a nicely aged same (rayskin) with large knodes in the upper portion. There is no wrapping of this style tsuka. The habaki is a 2-piece copper syle with a streaking rainfall design. There is a very nice bi-color sageo in the battlewrap style, Mei: Mumei Date: Edo (1600’s-1700’s) Nagasa: 11-1/2 inches Sori: 0 mm Width at the ha-machi: 25.5 mm Thickness at the mune-machi: 8.2 mm Construction: Shinogi zukuri Mune: Iori Nakago: Ubu Kitae: Itame Hamon: Midare Boshi: Maru Condition: old polish Click...
Bizen Tanto (fss-879)
Bizen Tanto (fss-879) New Item Available Sold On Hold Special Sale A very nice koto era tanto that deserves to be restored in full polish and all its glory it is mumei with nice Bizen workmanship. This sword is not signed but appears to be by the Bizen group of smiths and from the muromachi period. There were many Bizen smiths working at this time and this could be one of many if attributed to this group. It is constructed in typical bizen fashion with wide tang, a classic Bizen trait. The hamon is sugu-ha in slight notare with activity and plenty of nie with nioi. The hada looks to consist of burls of mokume blended with itame and interspersed with O-hada. Clear utsuri appears throughout the blade if looked from the correct angle.. The koshirae consist of a vermilion lacquered saya with black streaks. There are gold flowered menuki on shakudo with a matching fuchi kashira motif.. A very nice package . There is a Kodzuka which appears to be of ancient style Chinese kanji with a depiction of a fly. The koshirae are a version that fit very nice and hold tightly together. There is a mokku style iron tsuba also.. The tsuka-ito is gold with black sageo contrasting nicely with the Same. There is a copper habaki and seppa, The blade is an excellent example of a Bizen Koto tanto and all that is left to complete this package is to have it polished with shirasaya and then submit it to shinsa. This blade should paper very well. Mei: Mumei Date: Edo (1500’s) Nagasa: 11-1/8 inches Sori: 3.0 mm Width at the ha-machi: 26.1 mm Thickness at the mune-machi: 6.7 mm Construction: Shinogi zukuri Mune: Iori...About Moses Becerra
With over 30 years of experience and dedication to this art you can count on his integrity, professionalism, passion and honesty to work with new and old clients every day.