Large beautifully mounted katana by Sadahiro from Tosa/Gassan School. We believe that this Sadahiro has ties or a relation to the Gassan School. Very nicely made, this blade with a hamon of Soshu styled notare with lots of small fine activity of kinsuji in places. Inazuma is present with large chikei in the ji. The hada is a mix of ko itame with o hada in places. Most likely this blade is a copy of some famous Soshu blade from the koto period as the Gassan School did this often. The blade is in good polish and has excellent balance for a sword of this size. Since the blade has a special order signature on the tang, we can deduce that this blade was most likely made with a better effort than his regular swords. The tang is also finished in the deeply cut file marks famous for the Gassan School.
The mount is very interesting, a mix of modern artists and antique fittings. The theme of tigers in the bamboo forest is a long time favorite theme, especially to those of the Satsuma province. The mount is very well made with a excellent tsuka wrapped in fine string wrap. The fuchi kashira are old, a toned down version of what was known as "Oni" nanako. In the old days the story goes that Oni nanako (Oni meaning demon) were very sharp, and some were intended to make the wearer bleed as he gripped the sword with intent for use. By doing this, it supposedly put the user in a particular mindset ready for battle. This set is NOT so sharp as some I have seen, in fact no different than large nanako, but visually have the same design as Oni nanako pieces that I have seen in the past. The large tiger menuki are very nice and are of the style made by the Mito kinko school during the 1800's. Done in shakudo with gold inlay for the stripes, they match the mount perfectly. The tsuba is a large red copper plate with what appears a s shakudo inlay of bamboo. The tsuba is most likely modern in manufacture, but matches the scabbard very well. The scabbard has a very nicely done lacquer work of bamboo done in black on a reddish brown base. An excellent set of blade and mounts at a very special price pre San Francisco show.
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