An Unji Katana (宇甘住雲次)

The majority of tachi from the golden Kamakura period have been shortened to katana or wakizashi length over the centuries, and in that process the original mei is almost always lost. This sword is a rare exception. When the blade was reduced, the smith’s signature was carefully preserved and inlaid into the new nakago as a gaku-mei – a framed inlay – a mark of respect for both the blade and the man who made it. The inscription reads Ukan Ju Unji, identifying the smith and his home in Ukai village, Bizen province.

Unji belongs to the Ukai school, a lineage founded by smiths who travelled from Yamashiro (Kyoto) to Bizen, and whose work reflects that Yamashiro heritage rather than the local Bizen tradition. The steel is worked in ko-itame with a streaming quality, with patches of mokume-hada and dark swirls of chikei visible in the polished surface. The hamon is suguha with gentle ko-notare, punctuated by ko-ashi legs in the Yamashiro manner, and nijuba – a second line running parallel to the main temper – appears along sections of the blade. The boshi is hakikake, giving the tip a brushed, sweeping character. A bo-higroove runs the length of the blade on both faces, tapering to a pointed kaki-nagashi as it descends into the nakago.

The koshirae is a handsome ensemble built around a Ko-Katchushi school tsuba – hammered polished iron with a raised rim, pierced with water mill silhouettes and a comma-shaped heraldic design, certified NTHK-NPO Kanteisho and dated to the mid-Muromachi period, 1400s. The saya is lacquered in rich chocolate-brown with a suede sageo. The tsuka is wrapped in smoked suede leather over lacquered black samekawa, and the menuki carry a hyotan gourd theme – a motif long associated with happiness, success, and the legendary warlord Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The kashira is carved and polished horn. The sword has been awarded the highest certification at the NTHK-NPO – the Yushuto designation – and is noted as a candidate for inclusion in a future publication showcasing Yushuto-awarded swords.