Bungo Takada Wakizashi
Formal Court Koshirae
S0091
SOLD
A mumei hirazukure wakizshi attributed to Fujiwara Takada mounted in formal court koshirae. Hawatare: 1 shaku 3 sun 1 bu (39.695 cm or 16.63"). Suguba ko-midare in ko-nie deki. Ashi iri, ko-choji, sunagashi. The jigane is itame with ji nie and chikei. There are some areas of loose welds resulting in small tate ware, nothing significant. NBTHK Hozon kanteisho.
The tsuba is Goto circa 1750, as per Robert Haynes. Excellent nanako on rich shakudo plate, with a female dragon swimming in and out of the surface. The fact that this is a female dragon, indicates that this is half of a dai-sho. Fuchi-kashira and kojiri are gold dragons on a deep black shakudo base. The fuchi-kashira are signed, Sekijoken Motosane, who was an artist from Hitachi province circa 1850. Ref. Haynes H 055919.0, Wakayama Vol. III, pages 57 - 63. The fact that Wakayama devotes six pages to this artist, speaks well of his importance. The menuki are well sculpted red copper dragons with gold highlights. The kozuka is nanako on copper with a stylized dragon in shakudo, which looks more Celtic than Japanese. This may not be original to the koshirae. The saya is some of the best same nori that I can remember seeing.