Q733. Suriage katana signed Wa – the 1st character in Wakasa Province.

Nagasa: 27 3/4″ 70.5 cm.

Sori: 1.5 cm.

Moto haba: 3 cm.

Moto kasane: .8 cm.

Saki haba: 2 cm.

Saki kasane: .4 cm.

Nakago nagasa: 8″ 20.3 cm.

Overall in koshirae: 37 1/2″ 95 cm.

Shinogi zukuri, koshi zori, iore mune, chu kissaki. The hada is itame in bright ji-nie. The hamon is a bit of everything: notare and variations of choji with areas of strong tobi-yaki reaching to the shinogi, all worked in prominent sunagashi and hotsure, covered in nie. The nie on the bottom half of the blade tend towards large, ara nie, and on the top more ko-nie. The boshi on the omote is kaen and on the ura o-maru, both brushed (hakikake) and with a long kaeri. There are pin prick and pen prick (a bit larger) pits in a few spots but nothing seriously wrong.

The saya is black lacquer with horn kojiri, koiguchi, and kurikata. One of the soft metal washers on the kurikata is missing. The tsuba is iron and signed Choshu ? Ju Kawaji Saku. The tsuka has black lacquered same’. The fuchi and kashira are mismatched. The menuki are shakudo and gold; not sure what the theme is but they are nice. Quite good condition on the koshirae.

My pictures don’t do justice to this blade; I tried taking them 3 times and they are lousy still. The work is very active, very bright; wish I could capture that. When the mei (signature) begins with Wakasa there is a good chance the smith was one of the Ujifusa. A lot to appreciate here. 3 pounds. $3,495.