Collection
Katana Sword, Attributed to Osafune Tomomitsu
| Katana Sword, Attributed to Osafune Tomomitsu |
| Blade length 69.0 cm, curvature 1.3 cm; Nanbokuchﾅ period, 14th century; Gift of the Ii Family |
This sword initially belonged to first daimyo Ii Naomasa and was passed down to second daimyo Naotaka, then to third daimyo Naosumi. The forging pattern (kitae) has a mixed cathedral-grain (itamehada) and burled-grain (mokume) design, while the tempering pattern (hamon) has gentle undulations and sparkling konie particles. Though lacking a signature, the blade is attributed to Osafune Tomomitsu, a swordsmith of Bizen Province (now Okayama Prefecture). It was originally much longer. The Umetada tﾅ糠u, an Edo-period record of the Umetada school of swordsmiths, states that the Tomomitsu signature had almost faded when Umetada Jusai remade this sword in the first half of the seventeenth century.
