REGISTERED AS A JUYO BIJUTSUHIN [IMPORTANT ART OBJECT] SIGNED KUNITOKI, KAMAKURA/NANBOKUCHO PERIOD (14TH CENTURY)

Details

A Yamashiro Tachi
Registered as a Juyo Bijutsuhin [Important Art Object]
Signed Kunitoki, Kamakura/Nanbokucho Period (14th Century)
Sugata [configuration]: shinogi-zukuri [longitudinal ridge], ko-kissaki [small point], maru-mune [rounded back]

Kitae [forging pattern]: ko-itame [fine wood grain] with shirake, jinie [hard metal granules over the surface of the blade] and chikei [short lines of nie]

Hamon [tempering pattern]: chu-suguha [straight line of medium width] of nie [hard metal granules] with ashi [lines projecting into the hardened edge]

Boshi [tip]: ko-maru [gently turned-back temper line]

Horimono [carvings]: a single kakudome-hi [square-ended groove] on each side down to the middle of the tang

Nakago [tang]: suriage [shortened], kiri-yasurime [almost horizontal file-marks], kiri-jiri [square-cut heel], two mekugi-ana [holes for retaining pegs], signed Kunitoki

Fitted with a two-tier gilt habaki

Shirasaya [plain wood scabbard]

Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 25 1/16in. (63.6cm.)
Sori [curvature]: 9/16in. (1.5cm.)

Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 1½in. (3.8cm.)

Sakihaba [width before tip]: 1in. (2.5cm.)

With an additional shirasaya [plain wood scabbard] inscribed by Honma Kunzan in Showa 38 (1963)

Literature

Honma Junji and Hiroi Yuichi, Nihonto juyo bijutsuhin zenshu [A complete collection of Japanese swords registered as Important Art Objects] vol. 6 (Tokyo, 1985), cat. no. 863 (p. 288); Honma Kunzan and Sato Kanzan, Shinpan Nihonto koza [A new series of symposia on Japanese swords] vol. 3 (Tokyo, 1967), p. 359; Nihonto taikan [A survey of Japanese swords], Koto [The koto period] vol. 3, (Tokyo, 1969), p. 280

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Further details

Prospective buyers of this Lot should be aware that as an 'Important Art Object' this Lot cannot, as matters presently stand, leave Japan. Successful buyers are themselves responsible for registering their acquisition of the Lot with the Cultural Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Japanese Government within 14 days of the date of the sale. This Lot is subject to Japanese consumption tax at 5 on the hammer price and is zero-rated for United Kingdom VAT.

Sale room notice

Please note the motohaba measures 2.8cm and the sakihaba 1.9cm, and not as stated in the catalogue.

Lot Essay

Originally registered as a Juyo bijutsuhin [Important Art Object] on 27 May 1937, as confirmed in Nihonto juyo bijutsuhin zenshu (see above)

Kunimura worked in Kikuchi, Higo Province, the son or younger brother of the actual founder of the Enju school. The traditional founder of the Enju School, Hiromura, was a grandson of Rai Kuniyuki, providing a link with one of the most distinguished early groups of swordsmiths. The name Kunitoki was passed down through several generations until the later Muromachi period but this blade is thought to be by the first Kunitoki.

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