Uchigatana Koshirae

This is a very beautifully balanced set of fittings for a short katana or long wakizashi. The style is very austere – very samurai. The fuchi, kashira and tsuba are all very nice deep dark brown patinated russet iron. The tsuba is a nice sukashi Owari school tsuba in dark brown patina with remnant black lacquer, the fuchi is plain iron with copper nakago dai and the kashira is iron with a carved dragon effigy. The tsuka is rather long – long enough to fit both of my large hands on. It also has a very nice hour glass taper to it which follows the curvature of the blade that it would have housed. This is something that is usually seen in early fittings. The silk lacing is old but in very nice preserve. The ray skin has a perfect dark patina showing beautiful natural aging. The menuki are very darkly patinated yamagane plum or cherry trees in blossom with some gilt blossoms that appear to be uttori. I imagine this set housing a Muromachi era sword that was shortened in ! the Genna - Kambun (early Edo) period. A very nice representation of a “Pure Samurai” koshirae. Very zen. This fitting is in generally excellent condition with a couple flea bites in the lacquer, but no cracking. The fittings are tight and well matched. The sunagi is not a full length blade but is tight fitting and displays well. This set of fittings comes with the pure silk sageo cord pictured and a decorative koshirae bag.

Overall Length: 77 cm    Saya Length: 57 cm  Tsuba: 7.2 cm x 7.1 cm x 0.6 cm thickness
 

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