Important Japanese Swords and Armour from the Paul L. Davidson Collection
Important Japanese Swords and Armour from the Paul L. Davidson Collection
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March 25, 03:19 PM GMT
Estimate
18,000 - 25,000 USD
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Description
A katana
Signed Yokoyama Kozuke Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada, Bishu Osafune junin, Kashu shi Morinao kore o atau
(Yokoyama Kozuke Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada, a resident of Osafune in Bizen Province, given to Mr Kashu Morinao)
Edo period, dated Enpo kinotono-u nen hachigatsu hi (a day in the 8th month of the Year of the Wood Rabbit according to the 52nd term of the sexagenary cycle, 1675)
Sugata [configuration]: shinogi zukuri, iori-mune, thick kasane, deep tori-zori, chu-kissaki
Kitae [forging pattern]: dense ko-itame hada with ji-nie and chikei
Hamon [tempering pattern]: fukushiki gunome, round gunome with ko-gunome and ko-ashi, split yaki-gashira or yahazu ba
Boshi [tip]: midare-komi, komaru with turnback
Nakago [tang]: ubu, kurijiri, katte sagari, one mekugi ana
Habaki [collar]: double clad, silver on copper
In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard] with sayagaki by Tanobe Michihiro
Nagasa [length from kissaki to machi]: 69.8 cm., 27½ in.
Saki-haba [width at the yokote]: 2.2 cm., ⅞ in.
Moto-haba [width at the machi]: 3.3 cm., 1¼ in.
Accompanied by a certificate of registration as Tokubetsu Hozon Token [Sword Especially Worthy of Preservation], no. 100960 issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword], dated Showa 61 (1986).
Art of the Samurai: The Paul L. Davidson Collection (New York, 2023), p. 46.
Kozuke Daijo Sukesada (circa 1633-1721) was the son of Osafune Shichibei no Jo Sukesada, one of the leading Osafune smiths of the shinto style, active circa 1652-1673. He received the title Kozuke Daijo in 1664, but his career as a swordsmith before 1664 is uncertain.
Sukesada made Kanbun era (1661-1673) style shinto-suguta with shallow curvature and conventional blade width (mihaba), displaying a less tapering shape, deep curvature and extended medium-sized point (chu-kissaki) associated with the style of the Genroku era (1688-1704). The configuration of his blades (sugata) were formed with thick kasane, and occasionally dense small wood grain (ko-itame) in the forging pattern with ji-nie and chikei.
As can be seen in the reference oshigata, Sukesada's style of layered gunome (fukushiki-gunome) has a particular pattern. Compared with the boshi of Sukesada from the earlier Sue-Bizen school, Kozuke Daijo Sukesada's boshi becomes striaghtly tempered (sugu), and occasionally with an irregular finish (midare-komi), then turns back in ko-maru.
It is very rare to see carvings (horimono) on the work of Kozuke Daijo Sukesada except bo-hi. His tang are finished in the same manner as that of the Sue-Bizen school with little tapering shape, gently curved kurijiri and katte-sagari at an obtuse angle.
