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Lot Essay
Accompanied by a certificate of registration as Tokubetsu Hozon Token [sword especially worthy of preserving] no. 150489 & 150499 issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword] on 23 June 2005.
Accompanied by a certificate of registration as Hozon Tosogu [sword-fittings worthy of preserving] no.448544 issued by the N.B.T.H.K. on 22 June 2005.
The maker of the wakizashi Chobei Kiyomitsu (d. 1687) is popularly known as juni gatsu (the twelfth month) Kiyomitsu, from the characteristic way in which he sometimes inscribed the 'aoi' radical in the character 'kiyo', and also as 'hinin' [outcast] Kiyomitsu. Following a famine in Kanazawa Han in 1669 a poor-house was established to the south of Kanazawa castle in 1670 to accommodate and care for the large number of beggars. Kiyomitsu was confined to an 'outcast cottage' where he was allotted a ration of rice for his wife and child and there he made swords, it is believed, from 1673 to at least 1688. According to the Kyoho record of smiths a Kiyomitsu, probably the son Chobei or the last son Taro who used to help his father by obtaining commissions, was still there in 1720. There is a large stone memorial to Kiyomitsu at the site of the 'outcast cottage' in Kanazawa.
The maker of the katana, Kanenori, was a contemporary of Kiyomitsu living in Kanazawa.
On the katana the cutting test 'wakige' was to cut through the trunk just below the armpits, 'iri dodan' might imply cutting through the body and into the earth mound on which it was supported. On the wakizashi 'tsugi do' and 'karigane' might be provincial expressions for the method of testing. 'Dodan barai' implies cutting through into the earth mound.
Accompanied by a certificate of registration as Hozon Tosogu [sword-fittings worthy of preserving] no.448544 issued by the N.B.T.H.K. on 22 June 2005.
The maker of the wakizashi Chobei Kiyomitsu (d. 1687) is popularly known as juni gatsu (the twelfth month) Kiyomitsu, from the characteristic way in which he sometimes inscribed the 'aoi' radical in the character 'kiyo', and also as 'hinin' [outcast] Kiyomitsu. Following a famine in Kanazawa Han in 1669 a poor-house was established to the south of Kanazawa castle in 1670 to accommodate and care for the large number of beggars. Kiyomitsu was confined to an 'outcast cottage' where he was allotted a ration of rice for his wife and child and there he made swords, it is believed, from 1673 to at least 1688. According to the Kyoho record of smiths a Kiyomitsu, probably the son Chobei or the last son Taro who used to help his father by obtaining commissions, was still there in 1720. There is a large stone memorial to Kiyomitsu at the site of the 'outcast cottage' in Kanazawa.
The maker of the katana, Kanenori, was a contemporary of Kiyomitsu living in Kanazawa.
On the katana the cutting test 'wakige' was to cut through the trunk just below the armpits, 'iri dodan' might imply cutting through the body and into the earth mound on which it was supported. On the wakizashi 'tsugi do' and 'karigane' might be provincial expressions for the method of testing. 'Dodan barai' implies cutting through into the earth mound.