Archived Nihonto.ca (Yuhindo.com): Hizen Tadakuni
Harima no Daijo Tadakuni
| period: | Shinto (ca. 1648) |
| designation: | NTHK Kanteisho (72 points) |
| nakago: | slightly suriage, 2 mekugiana |
| mei: | Hizen Ju Harima no Daijo Fujiwara Tadakuni |
| nagasa: | 70.6cm |
| price: | N/A |
click here to view the 16 picture slideshow for this sword.
This is a sword by the Shodai Hizen Tadakuni, from the earlier part of his career. He was born in 1604 and is the son of Hizen Yoshiie, and has the family name of Hashimoto. Hizen Yoshiie was the younger brother of the first Tadayoshi, making Shodai Tadakuni the nephew of the grandmaster smith. Fujishiro rates Tadakuni as Jo-saku for superior skill, and he has been given the Wazamono rating for manufacture of sharp blades.
The Hizen school was patronized by the powerful Nabeshima family, and under this arrangement they thrived. Tadakuni at the end of his career received the Harima no Kami title, and later on became a Buddhist priest before his death, after a long life, in 1681.
The nakago has an unusual shape on this sword, and two theories seem to have been advanced by the NTHK when judging this sword. Eguchi Soshin san, a Hizento expert and the head shinsa judge when this sword received its papers, told the owner of this sword the tang was shaped as it is in order to fit tachi koshirae. In their worksheet though the NTHK has marked it as suriage, so it is possible that there has been a small modification to the base of the nakago. Since the nagasa is still over 70cm even with the machi being moved up, it would seem to indicate that it may just be an unusual specimen and original length.
The jigane of this sword is ko-mokume, but Hizen swords are notoriously thin skinned and some core steel shows through in places showing itame and some masame. The gunome midare hamon is rich and vibrant; typical for this smith, done in thick ko-nie showing sunagashi, kinsuji, ashi and yo. There are a couple tobiyaki that can be found on the ji as well.
The NTHK awarded this sword 72 points, and the worksheet has been preserved by the owner to indicate this. As a result, this sword as received the NTHK Kanteisho paper which is higher than the Shinteisho.
There are well preserved WWII era mounts that come with this sword. The menuki are unusual, featuring two family mon.
