A yoroi-doshi tanto [armour-piercing dagger] | Signed Kiku mon [chrysanthemum crest] and Omi no kami Minamoto Hisamichi | Edo period, 17th century

A yoroi-doshi tanto [armour-piercing dagger]

Signed Kiku mon [chrysanthemum crest] and Omi no kami Minamoto Hisamichi

Edo period, 17^th century

Sugata [configuration]: hira-zukuri, iori mune, no curvature, thick kasane and relatively wide mihaba

Kitae [forging pattern]: densely packed itame with much ji-nie attached

Hamon [tempering pattern]: generally wide suguha based mixed with gunome

Boshi [tip]: wide suguha suddenly turning into ko-maru with steep and deep turn back

Habaki [collar]: copper-gilt, carved, chased and engraved, single clad

Nakago [tang]: ubu, kengyo, no file markings, one mekugi-ana

In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard] with sayagaki by Tanobe Michihiro

Koshirae [mount]: the associated later 20^th century koshirae with a polished black lacquer ground saya, the silver kozuka inlaid in gilt and copper with red-capped cranes beneath pine branches, signed Kimura Sadakatsu, the blade inscribed, copper-gilt menuki in form of further cranes, the Nara school fuchi-kashira probably associated with further cranes among pine, signed Toshinaga and kao [cursive monogram], the circular iron tsuba pierced with stylised foliage and rounded rim (late 18^th – early 19^th century), unsigned

Nagasa [length from kissaki to machi]: 28.8 cm., 11⅜ in.

Moto-haba [width at the machi]: 3 cm., 1⅛ in.

Accompanied by a certificate of registration as Tokubetsu Hozon Token [Sword Especially Worthy of Preservation], no. 140742 issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword], dated Heisei 7 (1995).