MUNEHIRO (SOKAN) with CUTTING TEST

Musashi Prov. Edo, Circa 1865 AD.

WIDE, DYNAMIC BLADE

RARE DRAGON HORIMONO by MUNEHIRO

NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon

Certificate translation:

KANTEI-SHO (鑑定書) - APPRAISAL

No 142214

katana, mei: Tairyūsai Sōkan kore o tsukuru (泰龍斎宗寛造之)

Moro-guruma setsudan dotan-barai Gotō Shintarō (両車截断土壇払後藤新太郎)
Keiō kigen jūgatsu nijūshichinichi Senju ni oite (慶応紀元十月廾七日於千住)
Genji ninen nigatsu hi (元治二年二月日)

“Made by Tairyūsai Sōken on a day in the second month of Genji two (1865)”
“Gotō Shintarō cut [with this blade] on the 27 th day of the tenth month of Keiō one
(1865) *1 in Senju through one body across the hips and into the earthenmound
below.”

nagasa 71.3 cm

According to the result of the shinsa committee of our society, we judge this work as authentic
and rank it as Tokubetsu-Hozon Tōken.

June 9, 1997
[Foundation] Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, NBTHK (日本美術刀劍保存協會)

*1 The era changed from Genji to Keiō in the fourth month of that year.

 

MUNEHIRO (SOKAN) MASTERPIECE
WITH LIVE CUTTING TEST, AND FINE HORIMONO!

THIS BLADE IS UNDOUBTEDLY ONE OF "MUNEHIRO - SOKAN'S" MASTERPIECES. THIS IS QUITE APPARENT FROM IT'S DISTINCTIVE FEATURES. THE HAMON (TEMPERING) IS HIS SELDOM SEEN "SAKA CHOJI" (REARWARD SLANTING CHOJI) THIS IS FOUND IN THE KAMAKURA BIZEN SCHOOLS OF "ICHIMONJI", AND "BIZEN HATAKADA", HIS NORMAL HAMON IS "GONOME" (ROW OF BEADS), THE HORIMONO IS OF "FUDO'S ROPE", WITH A DRAGONS CLAW, AND A KEN BLADE, ON THE END'S. THE DRAGON (KURIKARA), AROUND A KEN SWORD IS ONE OF HIS SCARCEST CARVINGS, WE KNOW OF ONLY THREE OTHERS LIKE IT.

THE "TAMESHIGIRI" (CUTTING TEST) WAS DONE WITH THE "RYO KURAMA" STROKE (SEE CHART) # 1, THIS IS BY FARE THE MOST DIFFICULT TEST TO SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISH, AND WAS DONE AS A PUNISHMENT (SO INSCRIBED ON THE NAKAGO) ON A "LIVE" CONDEMNED CRIMINAL, AT THE PRISON TESTING GROUNDS. IT WAS PERFORMED BY "GOTO SHINTARO", ONLY EIGHT MONTHS, AFTER THE BLADE WAS MADE. THE PRACTICE OF PERFORMING "LIVE TAMESHIGIRI" WAS BANNED ONLY A FEW YEARS AFTER THIS TEST, IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE "MEIJI RESTORATION". THE RARE COMBINATION OF THESE ATTRIBUTES, MAKES THIS A TRULY UNIQUE (ONE OF A KIND), AND EXTREMELY COLLECTABLE BLADE. IT IS RATED AS "TOKUBETSU HOZON", BY THE "N.B.T.H.K.".

MUNEHIRO - SOKAN, WAS ONE OF THE FOREMOST SWORD SMITHS, AND ONE OF THE TOP FIVE (5) HORIMONO MASTERS OF THE SHIN-SHINTO (1801 ~ 1867), AND EARLY MEIJI  PERIOD. HE WAS BORN IN OKUSHU SHIRAKAWA (AREA), ABU (VILLAGE) NEAR SUMIGAWA. HE, MOVED TO EDO (TOKYO) AT AN EARLY AGE, AND BEGAN STUDYING THE ARTS OF BLADE MAKING IN THE SCHOOL OF THE FAMOUS "KOYAMA MUNETSUGU" (ONE OF THE "FOREMOST FIVE" OF THE SHIN-SHINTO PERIOD). HE RAPIDLY BECAME ONE OF MUNETSUGU'S FINEST STUDENTS, HIS EARLY WORKS MIRROR THOSE OF HIS SENSEI (TEACHER), AND ARE NORMALLY DONE IN THE BIZEN STYLE, WITH GONOME HAMONS. HIS "HADA" (BLADE GRAIN) IS NORMALLY KO-MOKUME (SMALL BURL WOOD), MIXED WITH ITAME (NORMAL WOOD GRAIN). HE BEGAN TO CARVE HORIMONO AS AN AVOCATION. HIS SKILL LEVELS RAPIDLY PROGRESSED (FANTASTIC DETAILED), AND HE BECAME ONE OF THE PERIODS FOREMOST HORIMONO MASTERS. NEARLY ALL THE WORKS OF HIS SENSEI (TEACHER)  MUNETSUGU THAT HAVE HORIMONO ARE THE WORK OF MUNEHIRO - SOKAN. IT IS SAID THAT MUNETSUGU WOULD ALLOW NO ONE ELSE TO ENGRAVE HIS MASTERPIECES. SOKAN, ENGRAVED: HI & BO-HI (GROOVES), KEN SWORDS (BUDDHIST DOUBLE EDGED BLADES), "FUDO'S" (THE DEITY OF WARRIORS) ROPE, "GOMABASHI" (DOUBLE CHOP STICK GROOVES, W / A DRAGONS CLAW, "BONJI" (SANSCRIPT KANJI, PRAYERS), AND A FEW COMPLETE "DRAGONS" (KURIKARA), WE KNOW OF ONLY THREE 3 IN ADDITION TO THE ONE ON OUR BLADE. HIS HORIMONO IS FASTIDIOUS, AND EXHIBITS THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF SKILL.

FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS CAREER, HE RESIDED IN FUKAGAWA HAKOZAKI AREA OF EDO. HIS WORKS CONTINUED INTO THE MEIJI PERIOD FOR NEARLY FIFTEEN (15) ADDITIONAL YEARS. AFTER 1870, WHEN THE CARRYING OF SWORDS WAS FORBIDDEN, AND THE SAMURAI WERE DISBANDED. THE HORIMONO DEMAND SLOWED CONSIDERABLY. HE THEN PURSUED A LIVELIHOOD IN THE FIELD OF ART, WERE THE DEMAND FOR HIGHLY SKILLED ENGRAVERS REMAINED CONSTANT. HE WAS OF COURSE, ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO DO HORIMONO, ON A BLADE. MUNEHIRO - SOKAN PASSED AWAY IN MEIJI THE 16th. YEAR (1883).
 

 

  

 

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