A Niô Sanekiyo Katana (二王実清作)

The Niô name is said to originate with the Niho manor of Suô province – a domain home to many properties owned by the Todaiji (Great Eastern Buddhist Temple) in Yamato (Nara), the former capital of Japan. As Niô School blades bear a strong resemblance to Yamato works, it is widely assumed that a meaningful technical exchange existed between the two regions. The school’s founder, Kiyotsuna, is represented by a tachi dated March 1265 preserved at the famous Itsukushima-jinja shrine.

This rare katana by Niô Sanekiyo has been signed and dated to the second month of Bunmei 2 – February 1470 – and carries a palpable sense of 555 years of history. The nakago has been shortened via machi-okuri, a process that moves the notches upward to reduce cutting length while preserving the signature and date in full. The complex jihada is a sublime mixture of itame-hada, mokume-hada, and nagare-hada, enriched with chikei and a gorgeous shirake-utsuri that reveals itself as the blade is gently rotated under the light. The bright suguha hamon carries ko-ashi and the rarely seen uchinoke – small crescent-moon formations along the temper line – before resolving into a rounded komaru-boshi at the tip.

The sword is complemented by an exquisite custom koshirae crafted and signed by Mizuo in the modern era. The deep green lacquered saya is adorned with a sweeping ripple design in gold and silver maki-e – a meditation on cause and effect, on the irreversible reach of wise and foolish actions alike. The Hakke-design iron tsuba, attributed to Shinano Tôshô and authenticated by NTHK-NPO Kanteisho, represents the eight trigrams of yin and yang, while the fuchi by Jounsai Hirotoshi captures two boys playing flute and drum. The menuki are hôju-no zu (precious orbs), and a young aristocratic boy gallops on a stick horse decorates the kashira. Silver habakiwith horizontal file marks completes the ensemble. This is a gem of a samurai sword.