鮫皮研出鞘大小拵 Blade and Mounting for a Long Sword (Katana)

Various artists/makers

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 380

This is the long sword (katana) of a pair of swords (daishō) once in the collection of the Tokugawa shogun's family. It features a scabbard with polished and lacquered, exquisitely fine-textured ray skin, and hilts that are wrapped with delicately braided cords. The gold hilt ornaments (menuki) and knife handle (kozuka), mounted to the reverse of the scabbard, are works by the fifth-generation Gotō artist, Tokujō (後藤徳乗, 1550–1631). Tokujō's descendant, the fifteenth Gotō generation Mitsuyoshi (後藤光美, 1788–1834), made the sword guard. Its terraced concave shape is rare, and displays the finest form of nanako, a surface finish with small dots.

鮫皮研出鞘大小拵 Blade and Mounting for a Long Sword (<i>Katana</i>), Blade inscribed by Muramasa (Japanese, active 16th century), Steel, wood, lacquer, ray skin (<i>same</i>), thread, copper-gold alloy (<i>shakudō</i>), gold, Japanese

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Front

鮫皮研出鞘大小拵 Blade and Mounting for a Long Sword (<i>Katana</i>), Blade inscribed by Muramasa (Japanese, active 16th century), Steel, wood, lacquer, ray skin (<i>same</i>), thread, copper-gold alloy (<i>shakudō</i>), gold, Japanese
鮫皮研出鞘大小拵 Blade and Mounting for a Long Sword (<i>Katana</i>), Blade inscribed by Muramasa (Japanese, active 16th century), Steel, wood, lacquer, ray skin (<i>same</i>), thread, copper-gold alloy (<i>shakudō</i>), gold, Japanese

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