SIGNED NORISHIGE, LATE KAMAKURA PERIOD (14TH CENTURY)

Details

A Soshu Tanto
Signed Norishige, Late Kamakura Period (14th Century)
Sugata [configuration]: hirazukuri, mitsumune

Kitae [forging pattern]: o-itame covered with jinie and in various formations (matsukawa hada)

Hamon [tempering pattern]: narrow ko-midare of nie, kinsuji chikei

Boshi [tip]: ko-maru with some hakikake on ura

Horimono [carvings]: bonji on both side

Nakago [tang]: ubu, four holes, heavily curved

In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard]

Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 24.8cm.

Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 2.5cm.

Literature

Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, Token Bijutsu, English edition, vol. 34 (Autumn 1987), p. 14 and 19, no. 5

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

Etchu Norishige is believed to have been a contemporary of Masamune and a fellow pupil of Shintogo Kunimitsu. This blade has all the characteristics of Norishige's work, with a large itame and mokume hada, with thick lines of jinie known as matsukawa hada [pine bark], and one of his two main styles of signature. The Sanskrit characters on each side of the blade represent the main Buddha of the Shingon sect, Dainichi Nyorai, and the most important of the Go Dai Myo-O [the 'Five Kings of Light'], Fudo-Myo-O.

More from IMPORTANT SWORDS FROM THE MUSEUM OF JAPANESE SWORD FITTINGS

View All

View All