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Hamon : Nioi deki ko gunome in a suguha style. There are nizumi ashi and regular ashi. Sunagashi is also present. The overall tone of the hamon is soft and classic.
Boshi : Jizo on one side with midare-komi on the other. There is a togari toward the ha in the middle of the long kaeri on the midare-komi side.
Kitae : Itame with shirake utsuri and abundant ji-nie.
About this sword : This is a powerful koto naginata. The blade is over 50 cm long and the ubu nakago is even longer at 54.6cm. This blade has been attributed to Mino Kanetsune circa Eiroku 1558 - 1570. This blade has no kizu. It is in nice polish and is a healthy work. There are a few scratched areas on the polish. These are small and on the shinogi-ji (see photos). The famous Sue Seki Kanetsune group of Mino sword smiths were active from Oei (1394) to the end of the Koto period. Some sources state that there were as many as 12-15 smiths using the Kanetsune mei. The Kanetsune mon has a high reputation and this has been true since olden times. Fukunaga is quoted in Fujishiro's Koto hen as discovering an old passage concerning the exportation of Nihonto to mainland China in the Koto period. The Chinese book is entitled "Bubizi" (Record of Weaponry) and it states "A person by the name of Kanetsune is highly esteemed". Also, in Malcolm Cox's book "Mino-to" he explains that Tokugawa Iyeyasu had ordered 100 yari from the Kanetsune mon. Ubu koto naginata are rare and this example exhibits the classic naginata sugata of the period. Also, it is a nicely representative work for the study of Mino den and the Kanetsune group. It comes with an old shirasaya. The shira saya is the style made without a mekugi-ana hole. There is a copper habaki and a NTHK kanteisho paper. A well-made, powerful naginata and attractively priced.
Hold
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