Jussi Ekholm

Thanks for posting the item. It does look to be a nice sword. I would think it could be much older than Shintō Hizen by just looking at the 2 overall shape pics. Of course the shinsa team has seen it in hand and they know much more than me. I remember few mumei swords that I looked some time ago in dealer inventory, and to me they looked like nice wide Nanbokuchō ō-suriage blades but had been attributed to Hizen Tadayoshi.

Thank you for these updates Brett. It is a joy to see so healthy and growing collecting group.

Great news Lex 😊

I am currently on train so I cannot write too long post. However as the sword seems to be 49 cm in current form and would seem to have long portion of the mei intact, I would guess it would have been under 60 cm blade originally.

I would see it as 来倫国 Rai Tomokuni

Sorry I didn't think that the picture would get compressed by the forum, here is a picture of the mei and added number 6.

This might be a bit off what everyone else is thinking but I think they could be added inventory numbering for the sword. I feel it could be 八三 - as in 83. As I personally love naginata, while it is very rare, some of the Muromachi naginata have "inventory numbers" carved on to them. Often these were made for bit more utilitarian weapons, and sometimes they were made quite crudely. Here is one example in naginata by Mino Kanenori where 六 - 6 has been added on to the nakago. (picture is not too good but unfortunately at the moment I don't have time to go through my books to take pictures of few different examples)

I feel the 珎州 that Piers posted would seem most resembling the last picture, however I have never seen that before, so my guess might be on 筑州住国重 (Chikushū jū Kunishige). In my personal feeling there seems to be different feeling between the first 2 and lower 3 kanji. Your sword seems to have very unusual blade construction as one side seems to be flat (hira) and another side ridged (shinogi), at least that is what I am seeing from the pictures.

I do think it can often be confusing when lot of different status levels are thrown in for the swords. I do understand it is the easy way in differentiating perceived quality levels and for seasoned collectors it is fairly easy to grasp. However I do think it can be difficult for new enthusiasts, sometimes I think the appreciation status level can be overriding the actual item. In my personal opinion Iwato Ichimonji is a minor branch of Ichimonji school. I do feel the only smith of true importance is Yoshiie. I do have recorded signed items from 5 other Iwato Ichimonji smiths but it is very minor school. The two items by Yoshiie are quite nice. 83,5 cm tachi that is held by Yoshikawa Local History Museum (tachi is Jūyō Bijutsuhin) and a 61,5 cm naginata that is in the collection of Ōyamazumi jinja (naginata is Jūyō Bunkazai). Both are also dated around 1330 and feature Iwato in their signature. I have seen the naginata several times when visiting the shrine and while as naginata lover I do agree it is amazing item and has huge historical importance, I have to say in just pure quality aspect I am not too sold on the item. I just remember always liking other naginata at the shrine a lot more than this particular one. In the beginning I would just recommend looking into different time periods and seeing various items in general. Like how will Osaka-Shintō blades look like, what would be the Kotō Yamato schools like, how Bizen area was churning out various swords throughout history. How different can tantō be next to one another, how short and long can some katana be, how were Japanese polearms. Looking into smiths and schools that might be interesting, rather than going for status level like Jūyō etc. I do think any event with swords will be great for looking at different things. I attended few of the early Utrecht shows and I liked the athmosphere and met so many friends around Europe in there. I think for me the social aspect might have been more important than the swords.

The Iwato Ichimonji has passed through several dealers after passing the Jūyō shinsa. 2021 - https://web.archive.org/web/20210612111517/https://katananokura.jp/SHOP/2105-K02.html (without koshirae) 2025 - https://web.archive.org/web/20250322181409/https://www.samurai-nippon.net/SHOP/V-2114.html 2025 - https://www.toukentakarado.com/item-tk017-juyo-den-iwato-ichimonji 2026 - https://www.aoijapan.com/katana：mumeiunsigned-den-iwato-ichimonji-65th-juyo-token/

There will be lots to see around various parts of Japan at any given time. I think trying to get most accurate info 1-2 months before trip would be my recommendation. I planned my June trip way ahead of that schedule but when I was planning I didnt know the exact items that I would see at many locations. But now when the exhibitions are ongoing or getting closer to start date many places will put out list of items on display to their website. For me this is very important and I have been able to cut some places out and add some more interesting ones in. Here are for example some interesting things you could see in Nagoya & Kyoto in about 3 weeks. (Unfortunately I will skip Nagoya this year) Nagoya Tōken World will have koshirae special exhibition (their permanent exhibition is most likely largest in the world) https://www.meihaku.jp/event-koshiraeten/ Tokugawa Art Museum will have special NHK exhibition Hideyoshi & Hidenaga https://toyotomi2026.jp/ Atsuta Jingū will have their tachi on display rotation https://www.atsutajingu.or.jp/houmotukan_kusanagi/schedule/index02.html Kyoto Kyoto National Museum will have Kitano Tenjin special exhibition https://www.kyohaku.go.jp/jp/exhibitions/special/2026_kitano/ Kitano Tenmangu will have special exhibition https://kitanotenmangu.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/◎sp_exhA401_fr.pdf Honno-ji will have Yamato swords special exhibition https://nihontonobi.jimdosite.com/ As you wrote the timing on exhibitions can be crucial. I know I will miss few amazing ones as I cannot fit everything I want to my schedule as it is just impossible. There can be some very short exhibitions popping up too. For example this summer there is one amazing event bit over 1 week in length popping up in Nara. I just couldn't fit it in as that time I am in other part of country. There are lots of museums and places in Japan that have very interesting swords. I have few places I check when searching information and Brett has been doing amazing job adding things to NMB event calendar.

Which areas in Japan you will be visiting and around what time?

I remember chatting with Markus about this maybe few years ago when it was displayed first time? I can't say about the legitimacy of the item, I just accept it as genuine piece as Tokugawa Art Museum seems to accept it. Now what is interesting about this item that it is maybe not intended as a weapon in my eyes. Markus would be the best one to write his view but I think there could have been some perhaps ritualistic purpose for these extremely wide wakizashi that few shrines have. The historical Masamune (NBTHK demoted it to Tomomitsu) that currently resides at Yasukuni Jinja is another example of these, and there should be few more such wakizashi if I remember correctly. This is of course my personal view but I cannot see any actual advantage in usability when the short swords are extremely wide.

Thank you for the update Piers And of course the pictures of the naginata too I should be able to see that one next month. It might be crazy but seeing that one is more exciting to me than many of the National Treasures... It seems their Kanemitsu tachi with very long signature is on display too, will be great to see that one too.

Michael wrote a great post on how prices have fluctuated. Unfortunately I don't collect in this price level so I cannot give any actual advice. Also as my personal collecting interests are way outside the norm I would not dare to give advice other than on general level. There are for example people specializing in Sa school and can give advice on how the sword would compared to other similarish works by the school. There are many different approaches and layers in this hobby. In overall I feel the change in price is within reasonable range. New polish is an expensive addon, I have never had anything polished so I cannot give a good estimate on it, others will know much better. Likewise the koshirae is high quality addon as was mentioned above. It is fairly reasonable package for the right buyer in my eyes. Aoi Art in general is in my opinion quite reasonably priced. They have huge volume of items passing through them, sometimes you can find good deals, sometimes the item might seem expensive.