SIGNED FUJIWARA KUNIHIRO, LATE MOMOYAMA PERIOD (CIRCA 1610)

Details

A SHINTO TANTO [DIRK]
REGISTERED AS A JUYO TOKEN [IMPORTANT SWORD]
Signed Fujiwara Kunihiro, Late Momoyama Period (Circa 1610)
Sugata [configuration]: hirazukuri [flat-sided], mitsumune [tri-bevelled back]

Kitae [forging pattern]: slightly undulating itame [wood grain] with jinie [hard metal granules over the surface of the blade]

Hamon [tempering pattern]: chu-suguha [straight line of medium width] with slight notare [undulations], and with sunagashi [thick lines of nie] and ko-nie [very small hard metal granules]

Boshi [tip]: komaru [gently turned-back temper line]

Nakago [tang]: ubu [unaltered] with osujikai yasurime [diagonal file marks descending sharply to the right], two mekugi-ana [holes for retaining pegs], kurijiri [rounded heel], signed Fujiwara Kunihiro

Fitted with a two-tier gilt habaki [collar]

Shirasaya [plain wood scabbard] variously inscribed Kyonan
Kunihiro Kunihiro Taikan shosai, Showa sanjuichinen haikan Kanzan shirusu. Showa rokunen togi narabini kore o kan, Hon'ami Koson. Showa roku kanoto-hitsuji nen shigatsu kain, Toko. Shuhin. Showa nijushichinen shoshun haiken Kunzan. Showa gojuyonen natsu kore o haikan, Taia Minamoto Sadakazu [Known as the Kyonan Kunihiro, illustrated in Kunihiro Taikan, examined by [Sato] Kanzan, 1956. Polished and examined by Hon'ami Koson, 1931. Examined by Toko, late April 1931.
Excellent piece. Examined by [Honma] Kunzan, early spring of 1952.
Examined by Taia Minamoto [Gassan] Sadakazu, summer 1979.]

The outer storage box of plain paulownia wood, the inner storage box of black lacquer inscribed on the outside in silver lacquer Senzaimaru, the inside with a gold and silver lacquer cherry design
Black-lacquered aikuchi koshirae [set of mounts with flush fitting between scabbard and hilt] comprising: black-lacquered saya [scabbard]; tsuka [hilt] covered in white sharkskin; shakudo [copper-gold alloy] menuki [hilt decorations] worked with butterfly motifs; black-lacquered horn kashira [fitting at the end of the hilt], fuchi [hilt collar], koikuchi [scabbard-mouth], kurikata, kaerizuno [cord fittings] and kojiri [scabbard butt]; shakudo kozuka [knife] worked in relief with three conjoined butterfly motifs, with purple silk hilt binding, modern
Overall length of blade: 14 15/16in. (37.9cm.)
Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 10 7/8in. (27.7cm.)
Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 1 1/16in. (2.7cm.) (2)

Provenance

Accompanied by a handscroll by Kamiya Mon'ichiro (an expert in swords and sword-fittings), dated 1958, stating that the sword was previously owned by Hirabe Kyonan, a Confucian scholar and historian of Hyuga province (Miyazaki prefecture) and a friend of General Tani Kanjo who was member of the loyalist forces that crushed Saigo Takamori's 'Satsuma Rebellion' in 1877

Exhibited

With original certificate of registration as a Juyo token [Important sword] by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai on 25 February 1961

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

Originally called Tanaka Kakuzaemon, Kunihiro (1531-1614) was the founder of the Horikawa line of smiths and, with Umetada Myoju, the co-founder of the Shinto ['new sword'] style. His earliest dated work was made in 1576 and from then until 1589 he was active in the province of Hyuga in Kyushu, but in 1599 he settled in Kyoto where he remained for the rest of his career; swords forged by him in Kyoto are known as Horikawa-uchi. His last known work dates from 1613, but many of the most famous swordsmiths of the seventeenth century were pupils of the Horikawa school. The few blades by Kunihiro with a suguha hamon may be regarded as hommages to the much admired Kamakura-period Yamashiro and early Soshu style of Yukimitsu (compare lot 4) and other smiths associated with Shintogo Kunimitsu and his followers. This blade from the end of Kunihiro's career could perhaps even be regarded as superior to its classical model.

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