A finely mounted Mino aikuchi (short sword)


The blade by Kanetsuna, Muromachi period (1333-1573), late 15th century, the fittings by Shoami Katsuyoshi (1832-1908), Meiji era (1868-1912), dated 1875The blade of hira-zukuri form, medium suguba of nioi with profuse nie and a section of notare, tight mokume-hada, the ubu nakago with one mekugi-ana, signed Kanetsuna; koshirae (mounting): the saya of black lacquer; the en-suite fittings of silver, engraved in katakiri and kebori with bamboo, the kozuka signed Katsuyoshi with a kao, dated Meiji hachi koyomi kinoto-i chuto kore o saku (made in November 1875), the wari-kogai signed Kaiguzoroi Shoami; with two silk bags. The blade 21.5cm (8½in) long. (5).
|Accompanied by a NBTHK Hozon certificate issued in August 2006 for the blade.One of the greatest metalworkers of the Meiji era, Katsuyoshi was born in Mimasaka Province (present-day Okayama Prefecture). He received his early training from his father Nakagawa Katsutsugu, but was adopted at age 18 by a local branch of the Shoami, a dynasty of sword-fitting makers active all over Japan, and went on to work for the Ikeda family in Bizen Province. Although he remained in his home district for most of his career, he developed his practice by studying with his older brother Nakagawa Issho, from whom he absorbed something of the style of Issho's teacher, the great Goto Ichijo. With the onset of the Meiji restoration (1867–8) and the Haitorei edict of 1876, which proscribed the traditional samurai privilege of wearing two swords, Katsuyoshi lost his traditional sources of patronage but soon became exceptionally successful at adapting his skills to new kinds of production including tea-ceremony utensils, flower vases, and incense burners. He also exhibited frequently at major domestic and international expositions, garnering no fewer than 28 awards. Always keen to broaden his artistic horizons, in 1900 Shoami Katsuyoshi finally moved to Kyoto. Pieces by Shoami Katsuyoshi are featured in several important collections of Meiji-era art. Among the most famous are a silver incense burner in the form of a caparisoned Buddhist elephant in the Khalili Collection and a large group in Kyoto's Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum.