SIGNED BIZEN NO KUNI NO JUNIN SAKON NO SHOGEN KAGEYORI TSUKURU AND DATED 1300, LATE KAMAKURA PERIOD

Details

A BIZEN TACHI
REGISTERED AS A JUYO TOKEN [IMPORTANT SWORD]
Signed Bizen no kuni no junin Sakon no shogen Kageyori tsukuru and dated 1300, Late Kamakura Period
Sugata [configuration]: shinogi-zukuri [longitudinal ridge], ko-kissaki [small point], iori-mune [shallow peaked back]

Kitae [forging pattern]: tight ko-itame [fine wood grain] with fine jinie [hard metal granules over the surface of the blade]

Hamon [tempering pattern]: hoso-suguha [straight, narrow line]

Boshi [tip]: sugu ni komaru [straight and then gently turned-back temper line]

Nakago [tang]: ubu [unaltered] with shallow katte sagari yasurime [diagonal file marks sloping towards the back of the tang], one mekugi-ana [hole for the retaining peg], kurijiri [rounded heel], signed one on side Bizen no kuni no junin Sakon no shogen Kageyori tsukuru [made by Sakon no shogen Kageyori, resident in the province of Bizen] and dated on the other Shoan ninen juichigatsu hi [a day in the eleventh month of the second year of Shoan (1300)]

Fitted with a two-tier gilt habaki [collar]

Shirasaya [plain wood scabbard] signed by Honma Kunzan and dated January 1979

Black-lacquered uchigatana koshirae [set of mounts] comprising: black-lacquered saya [scabbard]; tsuka [hilt] covered in white sharkskin and wrapped in brown leather forming a lozenge pattern; shakudo [copper-gold alloy] menuki [hilt decorations] worked in relief iroe [soft-metal decoration]; black-lacquered horn kashira [fitting at the end of the hilt], koikuchi [scabbard mouth], kurikata, kaerizuno [cord fittings] and kojiri [scabbard butt]; shakudo fuchi [hilt collar] worked in relief; oval shakudo nanako [granulated ground] tsuba [hand guard] worked in gold around the edge with kiri-mon [paulownia crests], diameter 2¾in. (7cm.); and shakudo nanako kozuka [knife] and kogai [skewer] worked in relief iroe with similar decoration, with brown leather hilt binding, modern
Overall length of blade: 34 5/16in. (87.2cm.)
Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 26 3/8in. (67cm.)
Sori [curvature]: 11/16in. (1.8cm.)
Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 1 1/16in. (2.7cm.)
Sakihaba [width before tip]: 9/16in. (1.5cm.) (2)

Exhibited

With certificate of re-registration as a Juyo token [Important sword] by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai on 23 March 2001, first certificated on 10 July 1976

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

There are several theories about the family and professional background of the somewhat mysterious Sakon no shogen Kageyori. Some scholars hold him to have been the son of Kagehide, others make him a pupil of Kunimune and still others make him the founder of the Yoshii line, but on the basis of his name it seems likely that he was part of the group that included Muneyori, Chikayori, Ujiyori and other smiths associated with the Nitta sho [estate]. Although few of his works survive today, we know from signed examples that he was active from the Koan (1278-88) to the Kengen (1302-3) periods. The present blade thus has considerable documentary importance, as well as an exceptionally finely shaped unaltered tang.

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