A Nidai Yasumitsu Katana (備州長船康光)

Nidai Yasumitsu is the son of Shodai Uemonnojo Yasumitsu, who alongside Morimitsu and Moromitsu forms the celebrated Oei San Mitsu – the three great Mitsu smiths of the Oei era. Both generations worked from Osafune village in Bizen province, and their output is so closely matched in quality that even seasoned kantei practitioners find it genuinely challenging to distinguish one from the other. This sword carries all the hallmarks that define premium Bizen kotô work: a magnificently active gunome choji-midare hamon alive with koshibiraki, sunagashi and fine kinsen, and a well-forged itame and masame jihada underpinned by glowing midare utsuri.

The blade has been shortened (suriage) at some point in its long history – a nakago of 14.2cm confirms considerable length was removed, yet the essential character of the work remains fully intact. The bo-utsuri – that vivid shadow line running parallel to the hamon within the ji – lights up the blade with exactly the kind of 600-year-old Bizen magic that makes kotô collecting so compelling. Yasumitsu is rated Jo-saku (superior smith) by Fujishiro and Wazamono for cutting ability, both marks of genuine distinction.

An elegant late Edo-period uchigatana koshirae (early-mid 1800s) accompanies the sword. The tsuba is a striking piece of shakudo nanakoji work attributed to the Yoshioka Inaba no Suke school, with a finely sculpted dragon wrapping around the rim in gold relief – the school worked exclusively for the Tokugawa family and high-ranking daimyo households. The fuchi-kashira is signed by Hideuji of the celebrated Omori school, circa mid-1700s, and depicts a rooster, hen and chick rendered with characteristic warmth and precision. Phoenix menuki complete an ensemble of outstanding quality. The torokusho (registration card) carries serial number 3854 – registered in Hokkaido in Showa 26 (November 1951), among the very first swords formally registered in Japan.