Features:

A refined chu Koto katana, displaying the classic Nanboku-cho era shape. This is a work by the swordsmith Kanenobu who was active in the late 1300’s. He was a swordsmith of the Naoe Shizu school, the cornerstone of the Mino tradition that was founded by the famous student of Masamune, Shizu Kaneuji. Kaneuji established his school in the town of Naoe within Mino province, where they propagated their own brand of the Soshu tradition, eventually evolving it into a unique style characterized by pointed gunome formations and extremely sharp swords. Kanenobu was a top student of Kaneuji and his work is well-regarded.

The blade features a stout, straighter sugata capped by a desirably long O-Kissaki. The nakago is mumei and o-suriage, indicating the sword was previously longer as expected with swords from the 1300’s. The jigane is a well-grained itame hada. The hamon is a prominent and billowing gunome notare-ba composed of copious sprays of nie. The hamon showcases the early elements of the Mino tradition via pointed togari-ba blended in amongst the gunome. The hamon also displays Soshu-style hataraki of dense yubashiri and a flamboyant midare-komi boshi.

Along with high quality Edo period koshirae.