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Hamon : Nie deki gunome midare with notare. The nioi guchi is bright and thick. There is abundant sunagashi as well as inazuma and kinsuji. In some areas. the hamon is completely filled with hataraki all the way to edge of the blade.
Kitae : O-itame mixed with mokume that is nagareru and hada-tachi. The jigane is dark. Chikei as well as ji-nie are abundant.
Boshi : O-maru on the omote and midare-komi on the ura. The kaeri ends just past the yokote. The boshi is hakikake and has active nie hataraki.
About this sword : This is a Ko-Uda katana from the Nanbokucho jidai(1333-1394). Ko-Uda is the term used by shinsa teams to specify works of the Uda school made before Oei(1394). This blade exhibits the distinctive Hokkokumono hada and dark jigane color that Ko-Uda are known for. This blade also shows Yamato characteristics of a high/wide shinogi and Soshu style nie-hataraki. These are the classic kantei points of Ko-Uda. The highly active nie-hataraki of this blade and well tempered jigane are especially enjoyable. Overall this sword can be recommended as being highly representative of Ko-Uda.
Please reference the article "Ura Nihon no Toko" by Yoshikawa Kentaro to learn more about Ko Uda school.
This blade is in full polish. It has some surface scratches(see photos). There are some kitae-ware present. One is in the ha as show in the photo below. Ware are not uncommon in blades of this age and particularly with Hokkoumono.
This katana has a shira-saya featuring a saya-gaki by Tanobe Michihiro. It sates, "Etchu no Kuni Ko-Uda - The blade is osuriage mumei and dates to the Nanbokucho period - Its jiba show the characteristic features of this school." followed by the nagasa, Tanobe's signature and date of the attribution(2005).
It is very difficult to find a long (28.0" / 71.0cm) Tokubetsu Hozon 14th century katana available and even more so in this price range. It is in polish and accompanied by a old habaki, shira-saya with Tanobe Michihiro's saya-gaki, storage bag and a NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper.
Price: $6900
