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                                                      inlaid inscriptions. On  one  side is, Mitsu-  172  Katana blade
                                                      tada, followed by the  kad of Kótoku.   Yosôzaemon no Jo Sukesada
                                                      "Mitsutada"  is the name of the Kamakura-  (fl. loth century)
                                                      period master swordsmith of Osafune in  steel
                                                      Bizen Province (part of present-day Oka-  blade length  64.3 (25^4)
                                                      yama Prefecture) who originally forged  the  Muromachi period, 1534
                                                      tachi. The  name Kotoku and the  kad be-
                                                      long to Hon'ami Kotoku (active late     Sword Museum, Tokyo
                                                      sixteenth-early  seventeenth  century), the  In the Muromachi period the Bizen smith-
                                                      great sword connoisseur  in the  service of  ery was the  largest sword-making commu-
                                                      Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), who  nity in Japan; it became  especially active
                                                      treated  the blade. The  other  side of the  after  1500, and the  name  Sukesada  figured
                                                      tang is inscribed,  Owned by Ikoma, Sanuki  prominently. More than ten  Bizen sword
                                                      no kami, referring to Ikoma Kazumasa,  makers called themselves by that  name,
                                                      daimyo of a domain in Sanuki Province  but the key figure was the  man who forged
                                                      (present-day Tokushima Prefecture).  The  this sword, Yosôzaemon no J5 Sukesada.
                                                      blade has thus come  to be known as Ikoma  In this period tachi were not made;  instead
                                                      Mitsutada.                          many katana of about  63 centimeters  (c.
                                                          A characteristic Osafune blade, it ex-  243/4 inches), worn thrust  through  the
                                                      emplifies the bold, broad-bodied form pop-  sash with the  edge up, were produced.  A
                                                      ular in the mid-Kamakura period. The sur-  specialty  of Sukesada  swordsmiths' work
                                                      face texture of the  metal is a fine  itame  was a temper  line with irregular pointed
                                                      (woodgrain), faintly clouded.  As described  curves (gunome  midare)  mixed with  Fuji-
                                                      in the  rich Japanese vocabulary of sword-  like mountain  shapes. Such  a pattern  can
                                                      related language, the  temper  line is a  be seen in this fine, somewhat longer-
                                                      combination  of irregular  "clove"  shapes  than-average example with an  itame
                                                      (chdji  midare) and  small pointed curves  (woodgrain) surface texture. On one  side
                                                      (gunome).                      HY   of the  blade the  shuji  for Fudô Myôô is en-
                                                                                          graved, and on the  other  side is the  shuji
                                                                                          for Marishiten,  a guardian  goddess  of  the
                                                                                          warrior. The  tang is inscribed,  Osafune
                                                                                           Yosôzaemon  no  Jd Sukesada of  Bizen prov-
                                                                                           ince. An  auspicious day in the second
                                                                                           month of  the  third year ofTenmon  [1534]. HY
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