Antique Japanese Samurai Sword 74.93 cm. 0.635 Kasane Fujiwara Muneyuki Wazamono

Description

An important Samurai sword made by Fujiwara (Fujihara) Muneyuki circa 1596-1615. Takeda School, Bungo Province, Wazamano. His swords were well known as superior battle weapons. Original restored koshirae. I "found" this katana in a barbershop outside of St. Augustine ,Florida about 14 years ago. The Koshirae was mostly present with the exception of most of the same' on the saya, the kashira, and all of the ito tsuka wrap and the same' on the tsuka. The black lacquer on the saya was intact, although it has beautifully faded to a rich dark brown. The menuki sleeve is a masterpiece: geese flying over and under the face of a shakudo moon on the ura and omote. The koshirae was restored to original condition with the exception of the kashira which I had done in horn, as I mentioned previously it was missing. The kashira, fuchi and kojiri were all originally matching and the fuchi and kojiri depict plover birds in the surf. the surf is carved in 3 dimensions with silver beads. It was my intention to keep it as original as possible so I decided not to have the blade polished. The blade is thick (kasane 0.635) and heavy. This is not a polished out "Old Soldier". The hamon that starts with a single gunome at the habaki on either side and follows as a suguha slowly thickening to almost 3 times it's width below the kissaki. The boshi is the entire kissaki. It is completely tempered with a small turnback on the mune. The blade is healthy. No kizu or pits. No forging flaws whatsoever. The shape mimics a cut down very large Nambokucho katana, which would be thicker at the habaki and end in a smaller kissaki. Nihonto translators in the US were having difficulty with the characters so I enlisted some help from an acquaintance who knew more knowledgeable scholars in Japan. If you are interested in any more photos or other information about this item please don't hesitate to ask.
On Jan-31-23 at 15:37:56 PST, seller added the following information:
I have received several questions about the length. 74.93 cm is the Nagasa, the cutting edge. 29.5" cutting edge. A long sword.