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Hamon : Nioi-deki ko-gunome with ko-nie mixed in. The nioi-guchi is consistent through the whole length of the ha. There are ko-ashi. Fine kuchigaiba can be seen.
Boshi : Ko-maru with a short return.
Kitae : Ko-itame mixed with some o-itame.
About this sword : A rare Japanese Imperial Navy Officers dirk from WWII. These are scarce due to the nature of the Naval battlefields and highly sought after by militaria collectors and historians. This example is especially exciting because it contains a signed and dated tanto by Masatada of the Minatogawa Jinja forge. This forge made traditionally crafted blades exclusively for Naval officers. For the same aforementioned cause, work of the Minatogawa forge is seldom available to acquire.
Masatada came from Shimane Prefecture. He studied under Kotani Yasunori at the Yasukuni Jinja and became the Chief of the Nihonto Research Department at the Yasuki Hitachi plant. Masatada was also a student of Takahashi Sadatsugu. He and Masataka were the founding smiths at the Minagawa Jinja, which opened on July 12th, 1941. Masatada left the shrine in 1942 and passed away from illness in 1944. Masatada had also used the mei of Murakami Muramitsu and Michimasa. A wealth of information on the Minatogawa Jinja can be found in Herman Wallinga's 2000 booklet "Gendaito Made at the Minatogawa Shirne".
This blade has no kizu and is in polish. The nakago is signed, dated and features the engraved Kikusui mon of the Minatogawa Jinja. There is a silver habaki, shira-saya and a tsunagi for the navy dirk koshirae. The koshirae is in excellent condition and is completely original. An exciting opportunity to own an important piece of WWII Naval history as well as a fine Minatogawa Jinja tanto.
$9800
