SIGNED SHOWA JUHACHINEN HACHIGATSU KISSHOJITSU [AN AUSPICIOUS DAY IN AUGUST 1943], GASSAN SADAKATSU KINSAKU WITH KAO [RESPECTFULLY MADE BY GASSAN SADAKATSU], AND ON THE URA ZOHEIKYOKU GOSHUGO TACHI [SWORD TO GUARD THE MINT] ZOHEIKYOKUCHO SUGAMURA MICHITARO KAKKA SHOKU (NI) OZURU [MADE TO THE ORDER OF THE HEAD OF THE MINT- HIS EXCELLENCY SUGAMURA MICHITARO], SHOWA PERIOD (20TH CENTURY)

The ancient Gassan school, probably dating back to the Kamakura period, was closely connected to the Shugendo, the school of ascetic practices of the yamabushi, adherents of the mountain religion. Around 1830 AD a smith named Sadayoshi, who had been taught by Suishinshi Masahide, the founder of the Restoration Sword movement, set up his forge in Osaka. He worked in the Soshu and Bizen styles of Masahide, but also revived the undulating sinusoidal forging grain of the ancient Gassan school known as ayasugi hada. His grandson Sadakatsu was born in 1869, to continue the Gassan style. He received commissions from the Imperial Househols and government officials. His son Sadaichi, later Sadakazu, was made a Living National Treasure, as was his son in turn, Sadatoshi, the present master of the tradition.

Sadakatsu died in 1943, so the present sword was one of the last, if not the last, he made. The configuration of the blade, known as 'Kogarasu Maru' [Little Crow], is based on the shape of the Heian period sword of that name said to have been made by a an early smith named Amakuni. A sword of the same form was made by his father Sadakazu for the coronation of the Taisho Emperor in 1912. See M. Ogawa Japanese Master Swordsmiths: The Gassan Tradition, (Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1989), fig. 17.