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    Sale 7115

    IMPORTANT SWORDS FROM THE MUSEUM OF JAPANESE SWORD FITTINGS

    London

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    10 November 2004

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    • An Edo Katana
    Lot 17

    An Edo Katana

    SIGNED NAGASONE OKISATO NYUDO KOTETSU, EDO PERIOD (17TH CENTURY)

    Price realised

    GBP 117,250

    Estimate

    GBP 30,000 - GBP 40,000

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    An Edo Katana
    Signed Nagasone Okisato Nyudo Kotetsu, Edo Period (17th Century)
    Sugata [configuration]: honzukuri, iori-mune, chu-kissaki, Kanbun style

    Kitae [forging pattern]: fine close itame, very close masame on shinogiji

    Hamon [tempering pattern]: tight gunome of nioi with konie, ashi

    Boshi [tip]: ko-maru, katte-sagari, ha-agari, kurijiri

    Nakago [tang]: one hole

    Habaki [collar]: double, gold

    In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard]

    Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 75.6cm.

    Sori [curvature]: 1.2cm.

    Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 3.3cm.

    Sakihaba [width before tip]: 2.2cm.

    Provenance

    Aoyama Kokichi

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    Literature and exhibited

    Literature

    The Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Tokubetsu ten, Edo Jidai no Katana to Tosogu (Tokyo, 1999), cat.no.8, p.8
    Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, Token Bijutsu, English edition, vol. 52 (Tokyo, 1992), p.2
    Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, Kotetsu Taikan, new edition, (Tokyo, 1974), cat.no.93, p.122
    Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, Kotetsu Taikan, original version, (Tokyo, 1955), cat.no.66, p.43


    Exhibited

    Tokubetsu ten, Edo Jidai no Katana to Tosogu [Special Exhibition, Swords and Sword Fittings of the Edo Period], The Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Tokyo, from April 1999


    Lot Essay

    This is a fine standard work by Kotetsu. The smith was originally an armour maker of Fukui in Echizen Province, who took to sword-making in the 1650s, at the age of fifty. He went to Edo, sometime entering the priesthood, and used the expression nyudo [Entered the Way]. He is believed to have been taught by Izumi no kami Kaneshige, whose work, like that of Kotetsu, sometimes bears the gold inlaid cutting test inscriptions of the Yamano family.
    This style of signature, known as 'hako tora', dates from 1664. Other characteristics of the signature, such as the first stroke of the character nyu, rather straight and levelling out at the end in the style of his older signature, indicate that this is an early work dating from soon after 1664. The hamon is also un-contrived, in contrast to his later regular juzuba [rosary beads] hamon. The jigane is a very close bright itame with areas of larger grain near the base of the blade, characteristic of Kotetsu's work, and known as tekogane [literally 'lever metal'] implying the part of the billet of steel held in the hand during the forging process. He died in 1678, in his seventies.

    Other information

    Special Notice


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


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