|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hamon : Ko-nie deki suguha. Ko-ashi is abundant. Togari and uchinoke formations can be seen in many areas. The hamon becomes gunome midare, based on suguha, in the monouchi.
Boshi : Ko-maru, swept with nie, and ending with a medium return on both sides.
Kitae : Vivid ko-mokume that is completely covered in bright ji-nie particles. The ji-nie is entirely made up of ko-nie. Yubashiri that is flame shaped reaches toward the shinoji-ji in many places and tobiyaki is plentiful
About this sword : Miyaguchi Yasuhiro was born on May 11th 1897. His given name was Shigeru and he was from Shizuoka prefecture. His father was Masatoshi and his grandfather was Ikkansai Miyaguchi Shigetoshi. He became a member of the Yasukuni Tanren Kai on 8th July 1933. It was at this time that he was given the name Yasuhiro by War Minister Araki Sadao. Yasuhiro was the first smith appointed to the Jinja and has sometimes been described as the shodai smith. In 1933, he was the best known of the three traditional smiths to be appointed first - Yasuhiro, Yasutoku and Yasumitsu. He made swords at the Yasukuni Shrine until Dec 26th 1936. It is said that he made approximately 500 swords while working at the Shrine. He then left to become Chief Instructor of Swordmaking at the Okura Tanren Dojo that was founded by Baron Okura Kihachiro. He obtained a license to make art swords in 1954 and passed away on 3/21, Showa 31 (1956) at age 60. Some of his achievements include making a sword for the Imperial Army, using shinhagane for presentaion to Emporer Hirohito on Jan 29th 1934. He was also given the the War Misinter award at the Nihonto Tanren Kai held by the Dai Nippon Tosho Kyokai. Yasurhiro was skilled at horimono, which he learned from his cousin Kasama Ikkansai Shigetsugu. He also used the mei of "Miyaguchi Toshihiro" and "Miyaguchi Ikkansai Toshihiro". When he used Western steel at the Okura Tanren Dojo he signed "Ikkansai Kunimori".
This is one of the finest swords we have had the pleasure of offering. The workmanship is truly amazing. This tachi stands out as a top level item even when compared to much older works by famous makers. It is entirely flawless and in perfect polish. The blade was polished by Kotoken Kajihara in the 1980s. It is really breathtaking to see such a fine blade in perfect top-level Japanese polish. There is so much to see in this sword. It is overflowing with ji-nie, there is yubashiri, tobiyaki, etc ... Kajihara's polish makes every nuance crystal clear. This sword is accompanied by a NBTHK Hozon paper and a NTHK kanteisho origami from the 1980s. It should be noted that Kentaro Yoshikawa gave this sword 73 points. This is a very high mark for a 1980s appraisal given to a sword made in 1935 and reflects the special nature and high quality of this sword very clearly. It is common knowledge that Yasukuni-to were made to fit in a gunto koshirae and thus, a nagasa of around 25 - 26 inches is normal. Once in a great while we may see one that is near or at 27 inches and anything over that is basically unheard of. This sword has an amazing nagasa of 29.52 inches ! This sword has keisho yasurime on the nakago mune. This is the mark that some Yasukuni smiths used to identify their Jishin Saku works. Jishin saku are works made by the master himself - not dai sauku, dai mei or shop made stock, which are called kobu saku. This sword was certainly made for some special event or custom order and represents the very finest efforts of Miyaguchi Yasuhiro. We cannot stress enough what a fantastic opportunity this is. Here is a chance to own an item that represents the very best of its era.
Price: $19,500
