Signed 光忠 Mitsutada, - Riakunin era (1238-1239), Japanese Samurai sword Wakizash

Description

Signed by
光忠
Mitsutada, - Riakunin era (1238-1239), Japanese Samurai sword Wakizashi - 68.3 cm
Signed on nakago with two (2) characters:
光忠
Mitsutada;
A swordsmith in the middle of the Kamakura period (1192-1333).
Province: Bizen.
Era: Riakunin (1238-1239);
School: Osafune, part of the Bizen school.
Famous swordsmith.
Value: 170
(Relative point values, John M. Yumoto).
Hawley’s rating: 200;
Toko Taikan rating: 3000;
Fujishiro rating: Sai-jo saku;
¥ 30 M= 9,068;
Overall length: 683 mm = 68.3 cm;
Length of the blade (nagasa) only: 538 mm = 53.8 cm;
Weight: 419 g;
Sori (curvature): 8 mm;
Nakago (tang): one round hole;
Habaki (collar) – absent;
TSUKA (handle): absent;
SAYA (scabbard): absent;
Provenance: Private collection of arms in Florida.
The Bizen School
is a school that originated in
Bizen Province
corresponding to present-day
Okayama Prefecture
.
Bizen has been a major production area of high quality iron sand since ancient times.
The Ko-bizen school in the mid Heian period was the originator.
The Bizen school consisted of schools such as
Ko-bizen, Fukuoka-ichimonji, Osafune,
and
Hatakeda
.
According to a sword book written in the Kamakura period,
out of 12 best swordsmiths in Japan who were convened by the Retired
Emperor Go-Toba
, 10 were from the Bizen school.
Great swordsmiths were born one after another in the
Osafune
school which started in the Kamakura period, and it developed to the largest school in the history of Japanese swords. Kanemitsu and Nagayoshi of the
Osafune
school were apprentices to
Masamune
of the Sōshū school, the greatest swordsmith in Japan.
While they forged high-quality swords by order, at the same time, from the Muromachi period, when wars became large-scale, they mass-produced low-quality swords for drafted farmers and for export.
The Bizen school had enjoyed the highest prosperity for a long time, but declined rapidly due to a great flood occurred in the late 16th century during the
Sengoku period
.
Their swords are often characterized by curved from the base, irregular fingerprint-like patterns on the surface of the blade, while the hamon has a flashy pattern like a series of
cloves
, and there is little grain but a color gradient at the boundary of the
hamon
.
It is often evaluated as a sword with a showy and gorgeous impression.
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