Particulars
- Maker
- Mitsutada 光忠
- Type
- Tachi
- Period
- Mid-Kamakura period
- Measurements
- Nagasa 66.9 cm, sori 2.2 cm
- Papers
- Tokubetsu Jūyō Tōken, NBTHK 6th shinsa, 1978
- Collection
- Private collection
A tachi by Mitsutada, founder of the Osafune school, mid-Kamakura period. Formerly in the collection of the Kan’in-no-miya princely house; registered under Prince Kan’in Haruhito in 1946.
The work
Mitsutada worked in Bizen in the mid-Kamakura period and is regarded as the founder of the Osafune school.
This tachi was shortened, and with the shortening most of its long signature was lost. What remains is the character 備 and the top of 前: the beginning of 備前国長船光忠, Bizen no Kuni Osafune Mitsutada. Tanobe Michihiro’s sayagaki of 2024 notes that, apart from two-character signatures, the only surviving blade signed in this way is the Mitsutada in the imperial collection.
Its hamon is a flamboyant chōji-midare with kawazu no ko-chōji, the manner of Mitsutada’s prime, rising gradually to a peak at the middle of the blade.
Provenance
Formerly in the Collection of the Kan’in-no-miya Princely House
Mid-Kamakura period
Made in Bizen by Mitsutada, founder of the Osafune school, and signed with a long signature.
Per the papers
c. 1935–1945
In Type 94 army mounts with the silver crest of the Kan’in-no-miya, made, it appears, for Prince Kan’in Kotohito; it passes to his son Prince Haruhito in 1945.
Well supported
1946
A possession licence of 14 October names “Haruhito O”, identified by provenance research as Prince Kan’in Haruhito (閑院宮春仁王), with the Imperial House Museum, Ueno, as custodian.
Established
1946–1948
The swords of the Kan’in-no-miya are dispersed, it appears, through the dealer Iida Kunitarō.
Well supported
1954
Designated Tokubetsu Kichō Tōken by the NBTHK (5 April).
Established
1971
Designated Jūyō Tōken, NBTHK 20th shinsa (1 June, item 167).
Established
1978
Designated Tokubetsu Jūyō Tōken, NBTHK 6th shinsa (9 March, item 18).
Established
2024
Sayagaki by Tanobe Michihiro (Tanzan), November.
Established
Record of Provenance No. 2 (draft for curatorial review)
Enter the case
The work in its KATANA BAKO case, in the museum’s rooms.
Private collection
The presentation
- The case
- KATANA BAKO, by Keisuke Nakamura
- Film and presentation
- The Meihin Museum
- The full-length photographs
- Paul Kremers, tsuba.info
- The papers
- NBTHK, Tokubetsu Jūyō Tōken, 6th shinsa, 1978
- Research
- Grandmaster Mitsutada (2025)