Description

大和保昌重要刀剣 Yamato Hosho Katana The 59th Juyo Token SCHOOL Den Yamato Hosho PAPER/CLASSIFICATION NBTHK Juyo Token, 59th Session, 2013 PERIOD Nanbokucho Jidai (1333-1392) MEI Mumei FORM Katana NAGASA 78.25 cm 30.08 inches SUGATA Shinogi-zukuri SORI Shallow tori-zori SORI MEASUREMENT 1.65 cm KISSAKI Chu-kissaki KISSAKI LENGTH 3.2 cm MUNE Iori KASANE 6.5mm MOTOHABA 3.0 cm SAKIHABA 2.1 cm NAKAGO LENGTH 20.0cm NAKAGO CONDITION O-Suriage NAKAGO SHAPE Standard with kiri-jiri MEKUGIANA 2 YASURIME Katte sagari About this sword : The Yamato tradition of sword making consists of the Senjuin, Taima, Tegai, Hosho and Shikkake schools. These are the 5 ryu ha that represent the origins of Yamato den in its purest form. The Yamato smiths were retained by the warrior monks of the golden age of Nihonto. Their products were made solely for the serious business of war. The high shinogi and wide shinogi-haba combined with classic masame, nie utsuri and parallel-to-the-ha hataraki and nie-deki suguha are all unmistakably representative of Hosho. Below is a translation of this blade's entry in the Juyo Token Nado Zufu: Designated as Juyo-Token at the 59th juyo shinsa held on October 11th 2013 katana, mumei: Den Hosho (伝保昌) measurements: nagasa 78.25 cm, sori 1.65 cm, motohaba 3.0 cm, sakihaba 2.1 cm, kissaki-nagasa 3.2 cm, nakago-nagasa 20.0 cm, nakago-sori 0.1 cm shape: shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, wide mihaba, noticeable taper, normal kasane, shallow sori, chu-kissaki kitae: very undulating masame that is brimful of ji-nie, in addition chikei and a nie-utsuri that appears parallel to the forging structure hamon: very nie-laden hoso-suguha-cho to slightly undulating notare mixed with ko-gunome, ko-ashi, some hotsure, uchinoke, yubashiri, a little nijuba, and kinsuji and sunagashi boshi: notare-komi with smallish yubashiri; on the omote side a straight ichimonji-style yakitsume; on the ura side a short kaeri horimono: on both sides a bohi that runs with kaki-nagashi into the tang nakago: o-suriage, kirijiri, katte-sagari yasurime, two mekugi-ana, mumei Explanation: From extant signed works we know that the Hosho school was residing in the Takaichi district (高市) of Yamato province. The school flourished from the late Kamakura to the Nanbokucho period and its most well-known smiths were Sadamune (貞宗) and Sadayoshi (貞吉). Also very skillful were Sadakiyo (貞清) and Sadaoki (貞興), and we learn that the Hosho smiths shared the character for "Sada". The workmanship of the school distinguishes itself by forging in pure masame and a suguha or suguha-based hamon. This katana shows a very undulating masame and a nie-utsuri, and the ji-nie is fine but plentiful. The hamon is a hoso-suguha-cho in ko-nie mixed with ko-gunome and with hotsure, uchinoke, yubashiri, and nijuba along the habuchi. The blade shows the characteristic features of the Hosho school - a work that represents the gracefulness of Yamato-mono and is additionally in perfect health. This katana has a saya-gaki by Tanobe