NihontoWatchIt has appeared, it has appeared, an astonishing, super-massive meito exceeding 3 shaku has appeared. The swordsmith, So Tsutomu, was born in Showa 2 and is far too famous as a contemporary master craftsman, having won numerous special prizes in the Shinsaku Meito Ten competitions, including the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award, the Mainichi Shimbun Award, the Kunzan Award, the Chairman's Award, and others. Coming from a lineage of swordsmiths for generations, he built a vast fortune by producing whale knives with outstanding sharpness that could cut through frozen whales or steaming whales in a single stroke under the harsh conditions of whale hunting in the Antarctic Ocean; using that wealth, he unsparingly used top-grade tamahagane to create meito that are wonderful for appreciation and also possess the outstanding sharpness that is the original mission of the nihonto. This sword is a katana that So Tsutomu oversaw as the master, while his disciples swung the mukozuchi and poured their souls into its creation. Due to registration matters, it bears the mei of So Tsutomu's junior fellow student, the swordsmith Muneshige, but it is a super-massive masterpiece katana made with the full strength of the So school, copying the Bakumatsu master Minamoto Kiyomaro. The sugata shows a katana sugata that emphasizes the grand katana sugata of Minamoto Kiyomaro, with a wide moto-mihaba and a wide saki-mihaba. The jigane is a well-tightened ko-itame hada forged into a powerful jigane, and the hamon is a gunome midareba of Minamoto Kiyomaro fired with a wonderfully bright interior of the blade. The koshirae is also a luxurious koshirae with specially ordered kanagu, adding further splendor to this sword. This time, an old collector who personally visited the forge and made repeated, forceful requests over more than a year to have this super-massive meito specially made, entrusted it to us saying, "We have also grown old, so please pass it on at a low price to someone who will cherish it in the future." For that reason, we are offering it at a special bargain price of one-third of what it cost when it was made. Creating a super-massive sword like this, along with the nagasa of the sword, when adding the 60 cm nakago attached during forging, the total length becomes 160 cm; the length of the furnace to heat the toshin to high temperatures must be made large and long, and the mizutoke for yaki-ire must also be specially ordered to be long and large; since the production of super-massive swords is not something swordsmiths do routinely all the time, there are many unknowns, and this super-massive meito was completed by overcoming various difficulties through repeated failures. Because it is super-massive, the togishi also had to work in pairs or groups of three to polish it, and the many hardships of the creators are conveyed. Please, by all means, enjoy it.
Offered by Nipponto
3 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Chikuzen · around 1989-2019
3 pieces on the market now
Shōwa to the present: destruction and revival
The twentieth century nearly killed the craft twice: wartime distortion, then the occupation ban. The NBTHK’s founding in 1948 and licensed forging from 1953 rebuilt the sword as an art, crowned by Living National Treasures and the mukansa rank.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
For returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
¥1,700,000