top of page

Tanto
Muramasa (NBTHK - Hozon)

japanese sword gallery germany

very rare sunnobi-tanto by Muramasa (NBTHK - Hozon)

Sunnobi Tanto in shira-saya (NBTHK Hozon)

and saya-gaki of Tanobe sensei (1st generation Muramasa)

Signature: Mura ****

Offered is a very rare still partly signed sunnobi-tanto by the famous smith - Muramasa. Muromachi period.

The saya-gaki of Tanobe sensei reads as follows:

Sesshu Muramasa, only the character for "Mura" is preserved, but this speaks for a subsequent editing in the course of the Muramasa sword carrying ban of the old feudal system.

Because of the way the jiba works and the way the tang is worked, this blade can be attributed to the first generation. The deki is also good. Blade length 1 shaku 6 bu (approx. 32 cm).

Appraised and confirmed by Tanzan Hendo, Heisei in the Year of the Ox (2009), on a lucky day in April.

The blade length is 31.8 cm, the sori 0.6 cm, kasane 5.2 mm.

Hira-zukuri,mitzu-mune, wide mihaba, relatively thin kasane, little sori. The kitae is a very finely forged itame with ji-nie.

The hamon is an almost identical notare in nie-deki on both sides, mixed with gunome-midare. The boshi is an early kaeri with a strong hakikake component, running at an obtuse angle to the back. The nakago is ubu, kiri-yasurime, kuri-jiri, two mekigi-ana, the character for "mura" is chess recognisable. The kanji for "masa" is no longer present.
 
 
Explanation:

During the Edo period, the wearing of Muramasa blades was forbidden by law, as the family of the Tokugawa shogun considered them to be evil and cursed. This led to the alteration of signatures, or as in this case, the removal of the kanji, in order to comply with the law prohibiting the wearing of Muramasa blades.

Most blades belong to the second generation, but due to the round back of the tang, the extremely rare first generation is offered here.


 





 

 

 

 

bottom of page