A Hachidai Nobutaka Katana (尾張国八代目信高)

The Hoki no Kami Nobutaka school is one of the most distinguished sword-making lineages in Japanese history, beginning with the first generation in service to the powerful daimyô Oda Nobunaga. After Nobunaga’s death in 1582, the school passed into the patronage of the Tokugawa clan of Owari province, retaining that honour for ten successive generations until the close of the Edo period. Born Shimizu Jinnoshin, 8th generation Nobutaka was regarded as equal in quality and skill to the celebrated first three generations – high praise indeed for a late Edo smith.

This katana is a notable departure from the Nobutaka school’s typical work. Rather than the dramatic notare or gunome hamon associated with the line, this blade was hardened in a bright chu-suguha – a straight temper evoking the classic Yamato tradition. Bold, confident strokes of kinsuji flash through the hamon, and the presence of nijuba and kuichigaiba pay direct tribute to the ancient schools of Yamato. Tanobe Michihiro’s sayagaki confirms the blade’s exceptional nature, noting it as rare among Nobutaka’s works for this suguha treatment, and describing its historical value as considerable. The sword was signed and dated on a lucky day in September of Bunka 11 (1814).

The sword comes fitted in a striking tachi koshirae with matching Edo period fittings in a unified kiri-mon (paulownia crest) theme. The scabbard carries a deep vermilion stone-lacquered finish, and the shakudo tsuba – bearing arabesque karakusa foliage and inome (wild boar eye) corner motifs – is certified authentic by the NTHK-NPO. Menuki on the gold-braided tsuka carry matching go-san no kiri-mon. A complete, coherent set of considerable aesthetic presence.