Pablo Kuntz, founder of Unique Japan, showcases a rare and precious tachi signed by swordsmith Kagehide from the mid-Kamakura period, circa 1259. Kagehide is the younger brother of Mitsutada and helped found the successful Bizen-Osafune school that prospered for centuries in Bizen province. This sword has been sold and thus this video is for reference purposes only.
There are only eleven signed works of Kagehide known - the most famous being the jûyô- bunkazai (important cultural property) Kuronbogiri that was once owned by warlord Date Masamune in the late 1500s. This tachi is blessed with the classic, dignified shape of the great swords of the Kamakura period. The jihada stands out to the eye, with pools of itame and mokume encasing swirling chikei. A remarkable amount of hataraki featuring kinsuji, tobiyaki, sunagashi fill the ko-gunome and ko-chôji hamon that has been beautifully laden with streams of nie-crystals.
A magnificent set of late Edo period matching tachi-uchigatana-koshirae cloud-dragon fittings crafted by the Umetada school with a Yoshioka school shakudo and gold tsuba exemplifies that this was a tachi owned and cherished by wealthy and prominent members of the samurai elite.
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