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Signed Koto Tanto
9 inch Nagasa (23 cm) wwith new silver habaki and shirasaya
Thickness at munemachi is 4mm
Width at munemachi is 23mm
Mitsumune
Bo-hi
Signed "...Shige"
This is an outstanding tanto. It is signed, but many remounts over the years have left part of the signature unreadable. The last character remaining is "Shige". It was recently polished and had new shirasaya and solid silver habaki made for it. The mokume hada jumps off this blade and is almost 3 dimensional. It is highlighted by intense nioi which covers most of the blade. Many types of activities adorn this piece, in fact just about every activity is present.
There are a couple of small openings because of polishing and age. Temper is weak at the hamachi, but this is acceptable on such an old blade.
The signature needs further study on this piece, it should be sent to Japan for attribution. There has been much speculation as to who the maker of this blade is. Some say Norishige. The destinct hada, kissaki, mitsumune, hamon and nioi guchi point to Norishige, but the nakago doesn't resemble his work. There is speculation that there was a Nidai Norishige, but that is not confirmed. This is a very special blade that was obviously made by a master swordsmith. I expect a very good attribution.
SOLD!strong>
