Q558.  O-suriage, mumei katana. Note: some of my pictures make it look like there are many nicks in the edge. This is the cloth the sword was laying on; other than for one miniscule nail catcher in the kissaki there are no nicks in the edge.

Nagasa:  28 5/16″  71.8 cm.

Sori:  1.5 cm.

Moto haba:  3.2 cm.

Moto kasane:  .6 cm.

Saki haba:  1.9 cm.

Saki kasane:  .4 cm.

Nakago nagasa:  7 3/8″  18.5 cm.

Overall in shirasaya:  39 3/4″  100.8 cm.

Shinogi zukuri, iore mune, small chu kissaki, koshi zori. The hada is itame with some mokume in fine ji-nie. The hamon is notare with gunome and a bit of hakko in a bright and consistent nioi-guchi covered in ko-nie. There are sunagashi and other subtle hataraki. The boshi nearly covers the kissaki: gentle undulations ending in ko-maru and a medium length kaeri. There are circular and crescent shaped mune-yaki. There are 3 mekugi-ana in the nakago, 2 of which are plugged with lead. The blade is flawless; nothing to warn you of. It is mounted in well made shirasaya in great condition and with a very nice copper habaki (beautiful color here). There is a Hozon paper from the NBTHK in Tokyo, dated Reiwa Gannen (2019) and giving the blade to Fujiwara Takada.

The Takada School worked in Bungo, northern Kyushu, starting in mid Koto and continuing up into Shinto. The paper doesn’t specify a date; if I had to assign one I would say late Koto or early Shinto 16th or 17th century). This, however, is just my opinion and it means nothing.

This is a large, heavy, and well made katana in excellent condition, with a lot to appreciate. I think you’ll be pleased. 3 pounds.  $2,950.