Antique Japanese Sword Tachi Signed by Bizen Noritsuna NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Certificate
SOLD
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Specifications
67.8 cm
2.1 cm
About the maker
Yoshii Noritsuna則綱
Noritsuna worked within the Yoshii group of Bizen Province, a branch whose origins remain the subject of ongoing study. Sword reference works identify the earliest generation as beginning with dated examples from the Joji era (1362-1368), with subsequent generations active around the Meitoku and Kansho eras; however, as the NBTHK has observed, "there remains room for further study regarding how these generations should be distinguished." Signed and dated tachi by Noritsuna are exceedingly rare, lending his extant *nenki-saku* particular importance as documentary material. The works attributed to Noritsuna divide broadly into two modes: those presenting a linked *ko-gunome* temper and those in *suguha*. In the former style, a small-patterned continuous *gunome* constitutes, in the NBTHK's assessment, "a hallmark unique to this group." Yet Noritsuna's earlier productions are distinguished from later Yoshii-school work by conspicuously stronger *nie* and vigorous internal activities -- *sunagashi* and *kinsuji* working clearly within the tempered area -- characteristics that mark what the examiners term an "old Yoshii" work free of later-period mannerisms. The *kitae* is consistently *itame-hada* mixed with *mokume* or *masame*, tending toward *hada-dachi*, with *ji-nie* and, on certain pieces, *utsuri*. In the *suguha* mode, the *nioiguchi* is tight with *ko-nie* and occasional *hotsure*, yielding a quieter but no less accomplished expression. Noritsuna's surviving corpus spans both tachi and *kodachi* forms from the late Nanbokucho into the early Muromachi period, with dated inscriptions from Joji 3 (1364) and the Meitoku era (1391-1392). These pieces preserve clearly legible signatures cut in bold strokes toward the *mune* side, and as the NBTHK has noted, they "constitute valuable documentary material" for the Yoshii school during a transitional era in Bizen sword-making.
