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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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