Katana
JB-1012 Katana
Koa Isshin Mantetsu
Spring 1943 Koa Isshin Mantetsu (serial HI 624) — among the last of the recorded 1943 Mantetsu blades, with the muji-hada and suguha hamon that define the type.
JB-1013
£1,000
Mumei kotō-period blade with a clean gunome hamon, remounted at least three times across centuries of use. Now a bare blade with a slight bend, noted in the listing.
- Period
- Kotō (pre-1596)
- Mounting
- Bare blade — no current mounting.
- Hamon
- Gunome — clean and well-defined despite age.
- Condition
- Mumei nakago. Saya evidence of at least three historic remounts. A few nicks in the edge consistent with combat use. A slight bend to the blade, easiest to see sighting down the mune.
A kotō-period blade with the patina of a working sword. The nakago is mumei, typical for the era, where blades older than a smith’s reputation often passed through generations of owners without a recorded attribution, or had their original signatures lost to subsequent suriage shortenings. What survives instead is the blade’s history of service: three separate remounts across centuries, each one reflecting a new owner re-fitting an inherited weapon for the koshirae conventions of their day.
The hamon is gunome, irregular and well-defined for a blade of this age, and the edge carries a few nicks consistent with combat use rather than display. Currently presented as a bare blade.
One thing to know before you enquire: the blade has a slight bend, easiest to see when you sight down the mune from the nakago. It is disclosed here because you would spot it in hand, and it is the kind of fault a qualified polisher can usually correct as part of a full polish. Factor it into your plans for the blade, and ask for photographs from any angle you like.
The right project for a collector who wants a genuine kotō piece to commission a shirasaya for, and (if desired) a fresh polish and shinsa submission to lift an attribution from the work itself. The bend sits naturally inside that same restoration plan.
Age-verified delivery · UK / EU / international · Insured to declared value.
Related
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JB-1021 Katana
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JB-1001 Sold · Katana
Katana — Mumei Shinto (1650)
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