[ Feature ]
Form : The blade features a ridge-forged construction with a hut-roofed ridge, a broad body, thick layers, a slight curvature, and a protruding centre point.
Nakago : The tang is rounded, with file marks cut into it, a cut tip, and three holes for mekugi, one of which is filled.
Jigane : The jigane (base metal) has a well-kneaded board-grain texture, with jibane (fine grain) and chikei (fine lines) present.
Hamon : The hamon is a waist-opening gunome-midare pattern, incorporating ashi and ha elements, with small nie, fine sunagurashi, and tobi-yaki.
Boushi : The boshi is slightly frayed, returning to a small maru shape.

[ Highlight ] The broad body and thick, robust construction, combined with the refined forging technique of the board grain and the well-executed style of the waist opening with its irregular interlocking pattern, suggest a late Edo period work, circa the Bunkyū era. Although unmarked and polished, it has been appraised as “Takada” by the Japan Art Sword Preservation Association and as “Bizen no Suke Munetsugu” by the Kurashiki Museum of Swords. The former refers to a school of Bungo swordsmiths dating back to the Muromachi period, skilled in the late Bizen style. Records from the Bakumatsu era (Takada Mura Shi by Kutaragi Ichirō, 1920) indicate they procured Sekishū Dewa steel from Osaka for special commissions. The latter denotes a swordsmith employed by the Shirakawa Matsudaira family of Ōshū, descended from the Kato Tsunetoshi lineage, and a master of the Bizen tradition representing Musashi Province during the Shin-Shin-tō period. In either case, the quality of the jigane is exceptionally fine, and it is readily apparent that this is a work meticulously forged by a master craftsman of the late Edo period.

[ Conditions ] In excellent condition. Polished, with a new shirasaya white scabbard and new tsunagi.