17th Century Shinto Japanese Katana Sword and Scabbard

This is a civilian Shinto period piece with a short blade and a red bamboo scabbard with a 20th century brown leather cover.

The blade is made in the ‘shinogi-kukuri’ pattern.

Its mune (blade back) is shaped in the ‘Ihori’ style and its kissaki (point) is ‘chu’ (medium).

The boshi (sword tip) hamon is Jizo (shaped like Buddha’s head).

The hamon is shaped in the ‘Toran’ (billowing) pattern.

The tang nakako (shape) is futsu with a nakago-jiri (tang’s tip) shaped in the iryamagata pattern with taka-no-ha yasurime (kesho tang file marks).

The swords fittings are made of steel and black painted brass.

The habaki (blade locket/ferrule) is made of brass and it has two components. Please refer to the pictures.

The brass tsuba (guard) is shaped as two dragons facing each other.

There are three seppa (spacers), two brass ones on each side of the blade and a leather one which acts as a safety catch for the scabbard.

The fushi (sleeve) is made of highly decorated brass and is black painted.

The tsuka (grip) is made of bamboo covered with white rayskin and black coloured woven silk. The menuki (ornaments) are in the form of the elements.

The saya (scabbard) is made of red painted bamboo and covered with a 1030’s military style brown leather. Its brass ring is of a civilian type.

~ Dimensions ~

The blade is 22.5 inches (57 cm) long and the overall length of the sword is 30.5 inches (80 cm).

The length of the sword in its scabbard is 32.5 inches (82.5 cm).

It weighs 2.16 Kg.

~ Condition ~

The blade is in excellent condition, free of any damage.

All the other components are excellent with minimum wear.

The scabbard aged but remains in good condition with some amount of wear on the brown cover.

ref. GS703A62C / MLAICOX43L43EE5TT