Description

(The sashiryo of Lord Okabe Nagachika; Hakkei nao migaku beshi (from the Shijing, China's oldest collection of poetry): Humans must continue their training until death; as there is no end to things, even if one thinks they have reached perfection, they must continue to polish themselves further.) It has arrived, it has arrived—a wonderful, precious, and miraculous wakizashi belonging to the 9th Lord of the Kishiwada Domain (famous worldwide for the Danjiri Matsuri), Okabe Nagachika, the renowned wise ruler of the 53,000-koku Okabe family. Lord Okabe Nagachika is particularly famous as a wise leader who strove for the financial reconstruction and educational promotion of the Kishiwada Domain. On the nakago of this wakizashi, there is a kiritsuke-mei reading "Nagachika Haito" (Nagachika's worn sword) and "Hakkei no ten nao migaku beshi" (The flaw in a white jade scepter may be polished away). On the saya of the wakizashi, a sentence from the "Rai Sanyo Gaishi" is magnificently depicted in gold makie. This poem by Rai Sanyo (a spiritual pillar for the loyalist shishi who aspired to revere the Emperor and overthrow the Shogunate, who greatly influenced the Sonno Joi thought of the Bakumatsu and was respected by many samurai of that era) praises a person's character, stating: "Though the appearance is soft and elegant, within there is the toughness of hundred-fold forged steel, and light dwells within the depth of that person's magnanimity." Just by deciphering the kanbun written on Lord Nagachika's wakizashi, one can understand the high level of education of the Bakumatsu samurai who could immediately grasp these meanings; simply viewing this wakizashi reveals the high cultural refinement of the samurai of that time. The maker of this wakizashi, Hizen no Kuni Hiro, was the eldest son of Hashimoto Souemon Hirosada, a pupil of the first generation Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi; his younger brother was Harima no Daijo Tadakuni. This wakizashi exhibits a goso (grand) wakizashi sugata with a wide moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba. The jigane is well-forged in ko-itame hada, and the hamon is a spirited ko-nie deki gunome-midare mixed with tobiyaki, showing a magnificent tempered edge. The koshirae is a luxurious Daimyo koshirae featuring Edo-period karashishi-botan (Chinese lion and peony) kanagu, which adds further splendor to this wakizashi. As this piece has miraculously appeared in the world for the first time, please enjoy this precious wakizashi of the 9th Lord Okabe Nagachika, who was adored as a wise ruler of the Osaka Kishiwada Domain and is of great historical significance.