A very rare signed and dated tanto by Masatada of the Minatogawa Jinja forge with the original WW2 Japanese Naval Officer Dirk mountings.
Masatada (正忠) was born on 1900, his real name was Murakami Michimasa (村上道政), and studied under Kajiyama Yasunori. He was one of the founders of the Minatogawa Jinga forge and given the name "Masatada" in 1941. The Minatogawa Jinga forge operated only from 1941 to 1945 and primarily made swords for the high ranking officers of the Imperial Navy, There are very few swords by Masatada as he only worked at the forge for a couple of years (1941-1942) due to illness and died in 1944.
The blade is in excelent condition and in very nice polish housed in a shirasaya with silver foil habaki. The hamon is suguha and hada is ko-itame and is housed in a shirasaya.
The mounting is the original WW2 Japanese Naval Officer's Dirk (1883-1945) with the sakura menuki in excellent condition.
|
