MINATOGAWA SHRINE SWORDS

[katanako]

A friend of mine and I collect some really nice gendaitos. He has 2 of the nicest Minatogawa Jinja (Shrine) swords in existence. One looks like it was made, presented, and kept in a closet and never saw the light of day! Two of them have the Kikusui emblem on the habaki; mine is in civilian mounts and doesn't have the emblem on the habaki. However, all 3 have the Kikusui mon on the tang.

 

The makers were Masataka, Masanaga (Masakiyo), and Masanao. Two years ago, we went to Kobe together and visited the Minatogawa Shrine and bought talismen which we affixed to our swords.

 

I just can't remember the last time I've seen one of these for sale. They are rare in perfect/mint condition.

 

HENRY

[Jamie]

I am curious why they are only partially drawn.

[stephan_hiller]

Hi, do you also have pictures of the mei? Would like to see the Masanaga (Masakiyo) signature.

 

Thanks,

 

Stephan

[SwordGuyJoe]

Very nice!

[cabowen]

The likelyhood that they will stay in nice condition will increase greatly if they were put into shirasaya and had tsunagi made for the koshirae....

[katanako]

The swords are partially drawn because my buddy and I placed them on his bed, and I only wanted to show the habaki and tsuka. Here is the mei.

Thank you.

 

HENRY

[Surfson]

Hi Henry. I have one that has the kikusui on both the nakago and the habaki. It is made by Masatada. I don't have pics to post right now, but found a couple of others made by this smith and here are some links:

http://www.jp-sword.com/files/blade/masatada.html

http://www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swo ... _by_ma.htm

This maker's swords are very fine and very rare since he died prematurely.

I bought it along with a collection and don't really collect gendai swords (although I have ended up with several very fine ones), so I might be willing to part with it. I see them go in the $7500 range and up, and this one is in excellent condition. Cheers, Bob

[katanako]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the enticing offer! But one Masatada is enough for me. I used to have a secret stash and I thought I was clever...keeping $$$$ hidden. But my wife knew all about it. One day, I went crawling to her, saying that I needed a sword fix...and she said, "Why are you crawling to me? You have $$$$ in your gun box in the garage!!! Sheesh...use that!!!"

 

Oh yes...I remember the pics from that web site. Alfred Tan, right? I was salivating over that one, then it was sold.

 

You won't have any problems unloading your Masatada and I hope you find it a nice home.

 

HENRY