A Toppei-Koshirae Daisho (突兵拵大小)

The toppei-koshirae (突兵拵) represents one of the most fascinating transitional moments in the history of Japanese arms. When Meiji-era Japan adopted French-influenced military dress, the introduction of wide danbukuro trousers demanded a new way of carrying the sword – suspended vertically in a leather frog from the belt. The scabbard butt tapered sharply to slip cleanly through the frog, and this distinctive tapering sayajiri reminded observers of a toppai-kabuto, a helmet with a tapered bowl, giving these fittings their name. Complete toppei-daisho – a matched pair – are genuinely rare survivals from this short-lived transitional era.

The dai (katana) was made by Mitsuoki of the Edo Ishido school, working in the Genroku era (circa 1688–1704) in the classic Bizen-revival tradition that the Ishido smiths inherited from the Kamakura Ichimonji lineage. The sho (wakizashi) is an actual Sue-Kotô Bizen piece from the late Muromachi period, crafted during Japan’s age of civil war and reminiscent of the work of Sukemitsu and Sukesada, with a bright koshibiraki-hamon. Both blades are in good polish and are noticeably light – a practical requirement for swords intended to hang from a leather frog rather than rest in a sash.

The koshirae itself rewards close study. The matching black-lacquered saya bear elegant silver en-suite inlay bands and kurigata (scabbard knobs) fashioned in the design of the Japanese rising sun flag – the Kyokujitsu-ki – strongly suggesting this daisho was carried by a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The redwood ukyo-tsuka (matching hilts) are finished with iron fuchi-kashira and gold dragon menuki, their vigour well-matched to the severity of the iron fittings. The tsuba of both swords are iron with Amida-yasurime file strokes radiating like the corona of an Amida Nyorai Buddha statue. The dai saya also houses a fine kozuka (utility knife) signed by Hamano Yoshinao with kao, depicting the three-arrowroot-leaves crest on a checkerboard ichimatsu pattern – itself holding an NBTHK Hozon certificate.