VERY RARE PUBLISHED KATANA BY IZUMO TADASADA
There are very few remaining signed examples of blades by this smith who worked in the Muromachi Era. Tadasada belonged to the Unshu Yoshii school which is a later offshoot of the Yoshii school founded by Tamenori in the Nanbokucho Era. Yoshii is near Osafune in Bizen. The workmanship of this school shows its own distinctive traits and is an unorthodox variation of the Bizen tradition. Tadasada worked from about the Bummei Era to the Eisho Era (1469-1520). THIS IS THE SWORD PUBLISHED ON PAGE 189 OF THE KOTO HEN OF FUJISHIRO.
This is a graceful katana with pronounced koshi-zori. The cutting edge is 26 3/16 inches which is common for swords produced around this time as they were meant to be able to be used with one hand. The hamon is a mixture of gunome with choji midare. There is strong utsuri as one would expect from a blade done in the Bizen tradition. The hada is itame. The boshi is irregular in shape with a komaru turn back and a modest kaeri. The blade is signed Tadasada and there is no date.
This sword comes in very nice katana mounts. The saya is black roiro lacquer. The tsuba is shakudo with a tiger and bamboo delicately carved on both sides. The mimi is gold nanako. The tsuka is wrapped in a dark blue ito. The kashira is horn and the fuchi is shakudo nanako. The menuki are shakudo Ho birds. The kozuka and matching kogai are very impressive. They are shakudo nanako with a silver peony flower with gold leaves. The reverses of both pieces are gold. This is a very nice formal mounting which goes well with this graceful sword.
This sword comes with a variety of documentation. There are NBTHK Tokubetsu Kitcho papers from 1957. There is also a letter written in 1963 to the prior owner of this sword by Mr. Susumu Kashima of the NBTHK verifying the authenticity of this sword and the fact that works by this smith are very rare. Finally, there is a Yushu paper from the NTHK dated 1962. Yushu papers are the highest paper issued by this sword organization and are equivilant to Juyo Token papers issued by the NBTHK.
This blade would be an excellent candidate for the next NBTHK Juyo shinza.
PRICE: $42,500.00
SUPER SALE PRICE: $31,500.00
