Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
This tanto by Sadatsugu, dated Genko 3 (1333), exhibits the elegant form typical of late Kamakura to early Nanbokucho period blades. It features a beautiful itame hada with mokume and masame, and a suguha hamon with subtle activities. The blade is accompanied by a solid gold double habaki and shirasaya, and is certified Tokubetsu Hozon by the NBTHK.
NihontoWatchmei · Aoe · Nanbokucho · nagasa 28.79cm
Aoe (Bicchu, Nanbokucho) · Bitchu · around 1346-1376
Fujishiro Jo saku
1 piece on the market now
A wakizashi dated Shōhei 5 (1350), signed in full as Ōsumi no Gon no Suke Taira Sadatsugu of Bitchū Province and long held in the Naitō house of Nobeoka, fixes the Sadatsugu of this entry in time: not the early-Kamakura Ko-Aoe smith of the same name, but the Nanbokuchō continuation of the Aoe line in Bitchū. The published sources treat Sadatsugu as one of the representative houses of Aoe, the name carried in unbroken succession from the close of the Heian period down through the Nanbokuchō era. Within that long descent they recognize several distinct smiths working in different generations under the single name, a point the NBTHK states outright when it observes that within the Bitchū Aoe line 'multiple smiths of the same name are recognized'[[c:1]]. The most individual of the Nanbokuchō hands is Ōsumi no Gon no Suke Taira Sadatsugu, whose dated works run from Genkō through Shōhei and whom the published sources call a smith who 'reflects a notably strong individuality in his workmanship even within his school'[[c:2]].
His recognized work is the hira-zukuri tantō and wakizashi, wide in body and sun-nobi, thin in kasane with shallow sori, the bold and powerful shape of the Nanbokuchō peak. Over a ko-itame mixed with mokume whose grain stands finely into the so-called chirimen-hada, with minute ji-nie, chikei, and patches of clear sumi-hada-toned jifu, he takes the suguha broad, mixing in slight ko-chōji. The nioiguchi is tight and somewhat subdued, with thick ko-nie; ashi and yō enter densely, carrying the inward-slanting saka-ashi of the school. The most striking thing his judges name is what happens inside the temper. The nie gathers and condenses into shima-ba, islands of hardening within the ha; kinsuji and sunagashi are active; and the bōshi turns back in a ko-maru tempered deeply and long down the side. It is this that the published sources mean when they write that 'a certain bold, uninhibited flavour overflowing with vigour is why he is said to be an atypical presence within his school'[[c:3]].
The jigane is the constant beneath that activity. The forging is a tightly worked ko-itame with mokume, the grain standing finely to a crêpe-like chirimen texture, into which enter fine ji-nie in minute particles, delicate chikei, and the sumi-hada-toned mottling that the published sources call the clear-steel patches of Aoe; over it a faint, midare-leaning utsuri rises. The carving program on the tantō is devotional and economical, a bonji seed-syllable with a suken or gomabashi cut beneath it and run off; the long signature sits centrally in somewhat thick chisel, and the file marks are the steep ō-sujikai of Bitchū. These last two, the ō-sujikai tang and the ha-ura reverse-chisel manner of the inscription, are the tang tells the published sources set against the Bizen file when they place a blade with Aoe rather than its near neighbour.
The Sadatsugu name in the Nanbokuchō does not resolve to one man. A second body of signed work, dated through Jōji, Eiwa, and Kōryaku, is by a different and slightly later smith whom the published sources connect with the title Saiga Tarōbyōe no Jō, a maker known for cutting comparatively small signatures and favouring a calm, low-tempered straight hamon. His tantō and naginata-naoshi run a narrow hoso-suguha over a ko-itame that flows toward the edge, the nioiguchi tight with ko-nie, the edge breaking into hotsure, the bōshi a small maru or a yakizume finish. One such wakizashi the judges read as sharing a common thread with neighbouring Ko-Mihara in its standing nagare-itame and the hotsure of its fine suguha, yet on close view deeper and more active in the ha, and so affirmed as Aoe. The third face of the record is the ō-suriage mumei or gold-inlaid naginata-naoshi judged Sadatsugu, and the NBTHK explains the practice plainly: because Aoe Sadatsugu has been held first-rank since the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi, with the Shinkan Hiden-shō valuing Bitchū work at the supreme grade, there is an old habit of attributing a typical, finely made unsigned Aoe blade to him. On the Ebi Kusari-giri naginata-naoshi they make it explicit, that such a gold-inlaid 'Sadatsugu' does not point to the Ko-Aoe smith himself but uses the name 'in the sense of a representative superior work of the school'[[c:4]].
What sets this Nanbokuchō Aoe apart is exactly what the published sources name as its own. Where the work resembles its neighbours it is by tradition rather than by borrowing: the standing itame with jifu and ji-nie is the Aoe jigane, and the temper, the judges write, follows 'what may be called the Aoe tradition, a suguha into which saka-ashi enter'[[c:5]]. On the ō-suriage attributions a bright midare-utsuri stands clear, and over it a suguha mixed with ko-chōji, ko-gunome, and small midare takes a saka-gakari turn, nioi-dominant and bright, kinsuji and sunagashi fine. The inward-slanting feet and clusters, the clear utsuri, and the bright tight nioiguchi are the marks that hold a blade to Bitchū and away from the Bizen chōji it might otherwise be mistaken for; against the famed Ko-Aoe name the surviving signed and attributed work is read.
For the collector Sadatsugu is a scarce Nanbokuchō name rather than a common one. Fujishiro grades him Jō saku. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through one Tokubetsu Jūyō and fourteen Jūyō, with one prewar Jūyō Bijutsuhin, sixteen designated works in all on record. The published sources call the Shōhei 5 Ōsumi no Gon no Suke wakizashi a kessaku and the very finest among his works, sound in both ji and ha, and note that as surviving examples by this smith are few the dated pieces carry high documentary value. His blades descend through documented houses: the Tokubetsu Jūyō wakizashi in the Naitō family, lords of the Nobeoka domain in Hyūga; a dated wakizashi held by the Onuki family, hereditary chief retainers of the Satake lords of Akita; and two of the gold-inlaid naginata-naoshi, bearing the names Kitakaze and Ebi Kusari-giri, owned by Miura Shōgen, a senior retainer of the Kishū Tokugawa, one of them received from the prelate Tenkai. With only a small number in the Tokubetsu Jūyō and Jūyō tiers, a signed Aoe Sadatsugu comes to market only seldom, and a privately held example is a notable thing for a collector to encounter, a document of how the celebrated Aoe name was carried into the Nanbokuchō age.
Where Sadatsugu stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Bizen-den · Bitchu
Phase: Chū-Aoe中青江· 1235–1334
8 pieces on the market now
The Chu-Aoe school represents the middle and culminating phase of the Aoe tradition of Bitchu Province, encompassing smiths active from the late Kamakura period through the Nanbokucho era. The lineage traces its origins to an ancient swordmaking heritage in the lower basin of the Takahashi River, a tradition already celebrated in the eleventh-century Shin Sarugakki, which counted "the swords of Bitchu" among the notable products of the provinces. Scholars conventionally distinguish earlier Ko-Aoe production, extending through the mid-Kamakura period, from the Chu-Aoe and later Sue-Aoe phases that carried the tradition forward. The name Sadatsugu -- transmitted since the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi as one of the goban-kaji appointed to serve Retired Emperor Gotoba and accorded the highest valuation in the Shinkan Hiden-sho -- stands as the school's most prestigious lineage name, while Yoshitsugu, Naotsugu, Tsunetsugu, and Hidetsugu represent the principal working smiths whose signed and dated examples anchor the chronology of the late Kamakura Aoe group. With the transition into the Nanbokucho period, a second flowering emerged under Tsugunao, Tsuguyoshi, and Moritsugu, who are consistently identified by the NBTHK as the representative smiths of Aoe in that era. The technical identity of Chu-Aoe is defined by a constellation of traits that recur with remarkable consistency across the school's members. The forging characteristically displays tightly packed ko-itame-hada mixed with mokume, upon which extremely fine ji-nie adheres thickly and delicate chikei are interwoven. A mottled, patch-like jifu texture frequently appears, and the distinctive crepe-like surface known as chirimen-hada is encountered among several smiths. Most diagnostic of all is the school's utsuri, which manifests in multiple forms: midare-utsuri, the stepped dan-utsuri in which linear utsuri near the edge transitions to midare-utsuri toward the mune, and the dark-toned sumihada. The hamon is fundamentally suguha-based, ranging from narrow hoso-suguha to medium chu-suguha with shallow notare, into which ko-gunome, ko-choji, and saka-ashi are mixed. The nioiguchi is universally described as tight, bright, and clear -- the single most defining quality of the school -- producing a deep shio-ai that is repeatedly praised in NBTHK assessments.
The boshi characteristically runs straight, turning back in ko-maru with a tendency toward a pointed tip. A critical stylistic evolution occurred within the Nanbokucho period: while the late Kamakura smiths worked predominantly in suguha, the later generation developed a splendid, flamboyant saka-choji-midare that became the school's most celebrated mode. Tsugunao is recognized as "a master of saka-choji," producing tempering of such florid brilliance that the NBTHK characterizes it as "the exclusive forte of this group" -- an emblematic and highly individual domain. The reverse-slanting tendencies visible in earlier Kamakura-period works are understood as precursors to this splendid later development. The Chu-Aoe school occupies a position of enduring prestige within the Japanese sword canon. The Hon'ami family developed a longstanding practice of rendering Sadatsugu appraisals for unsigned Aoe works of particularly fine workmanship, treating the name as a mark of the highest quality within the tradition. Naotsugu and Yoshitsugu, whose signed examples bearing official court titles and era dates from Gentoku through Kanno survive in exceptional condition, furnish irreplaceable documentary material for the study of Bitchu swordmaking. Works from the school have been transmitted through distinguished collections -- the Choshu Mori, the Nabeshima of Hizen, the Uesugi, and the Maeda of Kaga -- attesting to sustained appreciation across centuries. Naotsugu occupies a pivotal position at the transition from the ko-nie-deki manner of the Kamakura period to the tighter, brighter nioi-deki workmanship of the Nanbokucho era, while Moritsugu's rare surviving works bridge the late Kamakura and early Nanbokucho phases with tanto displaying both the traditional suguha and a saka-choji not previously encountered in the school. In both the quiet restraint of their suguha and the gorgeous brilliance of their saka-choji-midare, the smiths of Chu-Aoe demonstrate the Bitchu tradition at its most refined and accomplished -- a school whose tightly forged steel, luminous nioiguchi, and distinctive utsuri constitute an aesthetic achievement of the first order. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tsugunao次直 | 1345-1361 | 25 |
| Naotsugu直次 | 1335-1364 | 15 |
| Yoshitsugu吉次 | 1326-1332 | 17 |
| Moritsugu守次 | 1356-1361 | 9 |
| Tsuguyoshi次吉 | 1338-1358 | 19 |
Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteIf, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.
This tanto by Sadatsugu, dated Genko 3 (1333), exhibits the elegant form typical of late Kamakura to early Nanbokucho period blades. It features a beautiful itame hada with mokume and masame, and a suguha hamon with subtle activities. The blade is accompanied by a solid gold double habaki and shirasaya, and is certified Tokubetsu Hozon by the NBTHK.
NihontoWatchmei · Aoe · Nanbokucho · nagasa 28.79cm
Aoe (Bicchu, Nanbokucho) · Bitchu · around 1346-1376
Fujishiro Jo saku
1 piece on the market now
A wakizashi dated Shōhei 5 (1350), signed in full as Ōsumi no Gon no Suke Taira Sadatsugu of Bitchū Province and long held in the Naitō house of Nobeoka, fixes the Sadatsugu of this entry in time: not the early-Kamakura Ko-Aoe smith of the same name, but the Nanbokuchō continuation of the Aoe line in Bitchū. The published sources treat Sadatsugu as one of the representative houses of Aoe, the name carried in unbroken succession from the close of the Heian period down through the Nanbokuchō era. Within that long descent they recognize several distinct smiths working in different generations under the single name, a point the NBTHK states outright when it observes that within the Bitchū Aoe line 'multiple smiths of the same name are recognized'[[c:1]]. The most individual of the Nanbokuchō hands is Ōsumi no Gon no Suke Taira Sadatsugu, whose dated works run from Genkō through Shōhei and whom the published sources call a smith who 'reflects a notably strong individuality in his workmanship even within his school'[[c:2]].
His recognized work is the hira-zukuri tantō and wakizashi, wide in body and sun-nobi, thin in kasane with shallow sori, the bold and powerful shape of the Nanbokuchō peak. Over a ko-itame mixed with mokume whose grain stands finely into the so-called chirimen-hada, with minute ji-nie, chikei, and patches of clear sumi-hada-toned jifu, he takes the suguha broad, mixing in slight ko-chōji. The nioiguchi is tight and somewhat subdued, with thick ko-nie; ashi and yō enter densely, carrying the inward-slanting saka-ashi of the school. The most striking thing his judges name is what happens inside the temper. The nie gathers and condenses into shima-ba, islands of hardening within the ha; kinsuji and sunagashi are active; and the bōshi turns back in a ko-maru tempered deeply and long down the side. It is this that the published sources mean when they write that 'a certain bold, uninhibited flavour overflowing with vigour is why he is said to be an atypical presence within his school'[[c:3]].
The jigane is the constant beneath that activity. The forging is a tightly worked ko-itame with mokume, the grain standing finely to a crêpe-like chirimen texture, into which enter fine ji-nie in minute particles, delicate chikei, and the sumi-hada-toned mottling that the published sources call the clear-steel patches of Aoe; over it a faint, midare-leaning utsuri rises. The carving program on the tantō is devotional and economical, a bonji seed-syllable with a suken or gomabashi cut beneath it and run off; the long signature sits centrally in somewhat thick chisel, and the file marks are the steep ō-sujikai of Bitchū. These last two, the ō-sujikai tang and the ha-ura reverse-chisel manner of the inscription, are the tang tells the published sources set against the Bizen file when they place a blade with Aoe rather than its near neighbour.
The Sadatsugu name in the Nanbokuchō does not resolve to one man. A second body of signed work, dated through Jōji, Eiwa, and Kōryaku, is by a different and slightly later smith whom the published sources connect with the title Saiga Tarōbyōe no Jō, a maker known for cutting comparatively small signatures and favouring a calm, low-tempered straight hamon. His tantō and naginata-naoshi run a narrow hoso-suguha over a ko-itame that flows toward the edge, the nioiguchi tight with ko-nie, the edge breaking into hotsure, the bōshi a small maru or a yakizume finish. One such wakizashi the judges read as sharing a common thread with neighbouring Ko-Mihara in its standing nagare-itame and the hotsure of its fine suguha, yet on close view deeper and more active in the ha, and so affirmed as Aoe. The third face of the record is the ō-suriage mumei or gold-inlaid naginata-naoshi judged Sadatsugu, and the NBTHK explains the practice plainly: because Aoe Sadatsugu has been held first-rank since the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi, with the Shinkan Hiden-shō valuing Bitchū work at the supreme grade, there is an old habit of attributing a typical, finely made unsigned Aoe blade to him. On the Ebi Kusari-giri naginata-naoshi they make it explicit, that such a gold-inlaid 'Sadatsugu' does not point to the Ko-Aoe smith himself but uses the name 'in the sense of a representative superior work of the school'[[c:4]].
What sets this Nanbokuchō Aoe apart is exactly what the published sources name as its own. Where the work resembles its neighbours it is by tradition rather than by borrowing: the standing itame with jifu and ji-nie is the Aoe jigane, and the temper, the judges write, follows 'what may be called the Aoe tradition, a suguha into which saka-ashi enter'[[c:5]]. On the ō-suriage attributions a bright midare-utsuri stands clear, and over it a suguha mixed with ko-chōji, ko-gunome, and small midare takes a saka-gakari turn, nioi-dominant and bright, kinsuji and sunagashi fine. The inward-slanting feet and clusters, the clear utsuri, and the bright tight nioiguchi are the marks that hold a blade to Bitchū and away from the Bizen chōji it might otherwise be mistaken for; against the famed Ko-Aoe name the surviving signed and attributed work is read.
For the collector Sadatsugu is a scarce Nanbokuchō name rather than a common one. Fujishiro grades him Jō saku. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through one Tokubetsu Jūyō and fourteen Jūyō, with one prewar Jūyō Bijutsuhin, sixteen designated works in all on record. The published sources call the Shōhei 5 Ōsumi no Gon no Suke wakizashi a kessaku and the very finest among his works, sound in both ji and ha, and note that as surviving examples by this smith are few the dated pieces carry high documentary value. His blades descend through documented houses: the Tokubetsu Jūyō wakizashi in the Naitō family, lords of the Nobeoka domain in Hyūga; a dated wakizashi held by the Onuki family, hereditary chief retainers of the Satake lords of Akita; and two of the gold-inlaid naginata-naoshi, bearing the names Kitakaze and Ebi Kusari-giri, owned by Miura Shōgen, a senior retainer of the Kishū Tokugawa, one of them received from the prelate Tenkai. With only a small number in the Tokubetsu Jūyō and Jūyō tiers, a signed Aoe Sadatsugu comes to market only seldom, and a privately held example is a notable thing for a collector to encounter, a document of how the celebrated Aoe name was carried into the Nanbokuchō age.
Where Sadatsugu stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Bizen-den · Bitchu
Phase: Chū-Aoe中青江· 1235–1334
8 pieces on the market now
The Chu-Aoe school represents the middle and culminating phase of the Aoe tradition of Bitchu Province, encompassing smiths active from the late Kamakura period through the Nanbokucho era. The lineage traces its origins to an ancient swordmaking heritage in the lower basin of the Takahashi River, a tradition already celebrated in the eleventh-century Shin Sarugakki, which counted "the swords of Bitchu" among the notable products of the provinces. Scholars conventionally distinguish earlier Ko-Aoe production, extending through the mid-Kamakura period, from the Chu-Aoe and later Sue-Aoe phases that carried the tradition forward. The name Sadatsugu -- transmitted since the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi as one of the goban-kaji appointed to serve Retired Emperor Gotoba and accorded the highest valuation in the Shinkan Hiden-sho -- stands as the school's most prestigious lineage name, while Yoshitsugu, Naotsugu, Tsunetsugu, and Hidetsugu represent the principal working smiths whose signed and dated examples anchor the chronology of the late Kamakura Aoe group. With the transition into the Nanbokucho period, a second flowering emerged under Tsugunao, Tsuguyoshi, and Moritsugu, who are consistently identified by the NBTHK as the representative smiths of Aoe in that era. The technical identity of Chu-Aoe is defined by a constellation of traits that recur with remarkable consistency across the school's members. The forging characteristically displays tightly packed ko-itame-hada mixed with mokume, upon which extremely fine ji-nie adheres thickly and delicate chikei are interwoven. A mottled, patch-like jifu texture frequently appears, and the distinctive crepe-like surface known as chirimen-hada is encountered among several smiths. Most diagnostic of all is the school's utsuri, which manifests in multiple forms: midare-utsuri, the stepped dan-utsuri in which linear utsuri near the edge transitions to midare-utsuri toward the mune, and the dark-toned sumihada. The hamon is fundamentally suguha-based, ranging from narrow hoso-suguha to medium chu-suguha with shallow notare, into which ko-gunome, ko-choji, and saka-ashi are mixed. The nioiguchi is universally described as tight, bright, and clear -- the single most defining quality of the school -- producing a deep shio-ai that is repeatedly praised in NBTHK assessments.
The boshi characteristically runs straight, turning back in ko-maru with a tendency toward a pointed tip. A critical stylistic evolution occurred within the Nanbokucho period: while the late Kamakura smiths worked predominantly in suguha, the later generation developed a splendid, flamboyant saka-choji-midare that became the school's most celebrated mode. Tsugunao is recognized as "a master of saka-choji," producing tempering of such florid brilliance that the NBTHK characterizes it as "the exclusive forte of this group" -- an emblematic and highly individual domain. The reverse-slanting tendencies visible in earlier Kamakura-period works are understood as precursors to this splendid later development. The Chu-Aoe school occupies a position of enduring prestige within the Japanese sword canon. The Hon'ami family developed a longstanding practice of rendering Sadatsugu appraisals for unsigned Aoe works of particularly fine workmanship, treating the name as a mark of the highest quality within the tradition. Naotsugu and Yoshitsugu, whose signed examples bearing official court titles and era dates from Gentoku through Kanno survive in exceptional condition, furnish irreplaceable documentary material for the study of Bitchu swordmaking. Works from the school have been transmitted through distinguished collections -- the Choshu Mori, the Nabeshima of Hizen, the Uesugi, and the Maeda of Kaga -- attesting to sustained appreciation across centuries. Naotsugu occupies a pivotal position at the transition from the ko-nie-deki manner of the Kamakura period to the tighter, brighter nioi-deki workmanship of the Nanbokucho era, while Moritsugu's rare surviving works bridge the late Kamakura and early Nanbokucho phases with tanto displaying both the traditional suguha and a saka-choji not previously encountered in the school. In both the quiet restraint of their suguha and the gorgeous brilliance of their saka-choji-midare, the smiths of Chu-Aoe demonstrate the Bitchu tradition at its most refined and accomplished -- a school whose tightly forged steel, luminous nioiguchi, and distinctive utsuri constitute an aesthetic achievement of the first order. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tsugunao次直 | 1345-1361 | 25 |
| Naotsugu直次 | 1335-1364 | 15 |
| Yoshitsugu吉次 | 1326-1332 | 17 |
| Moritsugu守次 | 1356-1361 | 9 |
| Tsuguyoshi次吉 | 1338-1358 | 19 |
Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteIf, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.
