Q561.  Mumei katana in nice mounts.

Nagasa:  27″  68.5 cm.

Sori:  2 cm.

Moto haba:  3 cm.

Moto kasane:  .7 cm.

Saki haba:  2.1 cm.

Saki kasane:  .4 cm.

Nakago nagasa:  7″  17.8 cm.

Overall in koshirae:  38 3/4″  99.5 cm.

Shinogi zukuri, strong koshi zori, iore mune, chu kissaki, suriage 3 holes (2 are plugged with lead). The hada is ko itame with some mokume. The hada in the shinogi ji is a flowing masame with one instance of a long, coarse grain (consistant with a masame). The hamon is suguba with subtle hataraki in a bright nioi guchi covered in ko-nie. The boshi continues the hamon and ends in chu maru with a medium length kaeri. This blade was difficult to photograph; my usual mediocre pictures are worse than normal and don’t do it justice. Other than the mentioned prominent masame in the shinogi ji, the blade is flawless and in polish. It is mounted with a silver foil habak; a piece of the foil is missing.

The koshirae is complete and in great condition. The black lacquer saya has horn at the kojiri, kurikata, and koi guchi. I find one small dent in the lacquer but none of it is missing. The sageo is crisp (not worn out). The tsuba is iron with gold inlay and a patterned shakudo fukurin. The fuchi kashira are gilt yamagane (some of the gilding has been worn away) with chidori and the menuki are shakudo dragons with gold inlay. The same’ and tsuka-ito are clean and intact. Everything fits properly.

If I had to guess at the age of this katana I would say Shinto sometime, largely due to the masame in the shinogi ji. But I may be wrong. This is a nice package whenever and by whom it was made: complete and needing nothing to be enjoyed. 3 pounds, 1 ounce.  $2,475.