Description

It has arrived, it has arrived—this is a sword that was fashioned into a military sword from a family heirloom to go to the front lines. The smith, Kanetsune, was a descendant of the Yamato Tegai school and belongs to a prestigious lineage of swordsmiths that continued in Mino from the early Muromachi period around the Oei era (1394) (631 years ago). This 9th generation Kanetsune was the father of Sagami no Kami Masatsune, and this is a work from around the Eiroku era (1560) (465 years ago) of the Muromachi period. It was crafted exactly at the time when Oda Nobunaga defeated the great lord of Tokai, Imagawa Yoshimoto, at Okehazama and took his first steps toward unifying the country. This work displays a sugata with a distinct difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba. The jigane is a finely packed itame-hada resulting in a bright steel. The hamon, as you can see, is a spirited gunome-midare in nioi-deki with ko-nie, featuring yahazu-midare, "crab claw" (kani no tsume) shapes, and sharp "water buffalo horn" shapes resembling the wakidate of a kabuto; it is a bright, varied blade with togari-ba that looks as though it would cut exceptionally well. Regarding the Army gunjin-to koshirae of this work, we are told that when the previous owner's grandfather was called up as an officer in a tank unit, this family heirloom Kanetsune was shortened and fitted into military mounts so that it could be carried inside a tank. Fortunately, he returned safely from the battlefield. On this occasion, the current owners have entrusted it to us, stating that they have grown old and wish to pass it on at a low price to someone who will cherish it; therefore, we are offering it at a special bargain price. Please do enjoy this piece.