Blade and Mounting for a Sword (Katana)

blade, 17th century; mounting, 19th century

Not on view

A katana is a sword with a curved blade longer than 60 cm fitted with an uchigatana-style mounting and worn in a waist sash with the cutting edge facing up.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Blade and Mounting for a Sword (Katana)
Date: blade, 17th century; mounting, 19th century
Geography: Ishikawa Prefecture
Culture: Japanese
Medium: Steel, wood, lacquer, ray skin (samé ), thread, copper-gold alloy (shakudō), copper, gold,
Dimensions: L. 37 7/16 in. (95.1 cm); L. of blade 32 15/16 in. (87.3 cm); L. of cutting edge 26 7/8 in. (68.3 cm); D. of curvature 3/4 in. (1.9 cm)
Classification: Swords
Credit Line: Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935
Object Number: 36.25.1725a–d
Curatorial Department: Arms and Armor

Audio

4418. Blade and Mounting for a Sword (Katana)

0:00

We're sorry, the transcript for this audio track is not available at this time. Please email info@metmuseum.org to request a transcript for this track.

More Artwork

In the same medium

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

Blade and Mounting for a Short Sword (Wakizashi)

Japanese

blade, late 18th–early 19th century; mounting, 19th century

Blades and Mountings for a Pair of Swords (Daishō)

Japanese

19th century

Sword Guard (Tsuba), Omori Hidenaga Japanese, Copper-gold alloy (shakudō), gold, copper, silver, Japanese — Sword Guard (Tsuba)
Omori Hidenaga
18th century

Sword Guard (Tsuba), Iron, copper, Japanese — Sword Guard (Tsuba)
Japanese
late 14th century

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.