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BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205) An Important Ko-Dachi Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century image 1
BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205) An Important Ko-Dachi Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century image 2
BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205) An Important Ko-Dachi Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century image 3
BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205) An Important Ko-Dachi Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century image 4
BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205) An Important Ko-Dachi Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century image 5
Property from a Private Collection, Seattle
Lot 142

BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205)
An Important Ko-Dachi
Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century

Amended
26 October 2022, 10:00 EDT
New York

US$30,000 - US$40,000

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BUNGO YUKIHIRA (ACTIVE CIRCA 1200-1205)

An Important Ko-Dachi
Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 14th century
Sugata (configuration): honzukuri, iorimune, kogissaki, koshizori
Kitae (forging pattern): ko-itame mixed with komokume
Hamon (tempering pattern): komidare within suguha of konie with kinsuji
Bōshi (tip): komaru, notare komi
Horimono (carving): kurikara on the ura side
Nakago (tang): slightly suriage and slightly machi-okuri with one hole, signed on the tachi omote Bungo no kuni Yukihira saku
Habaki (collar): two-piece, gilt-copper
In a shirasaya (wood storage scabbard) with inscription detailing the blade and with an evaluation
Nagasa (length from tip to beginning of tang): 22in (56cm)
Motohaba (width at start of tempered edge): 1in (2.6cm)
Sakihaba (width before tip): 5/8in (1.6cm)

With a Yūshū Saku Kantei certificate # 000171 issued by the Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai (Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Sword), dated October 8, 2011
With a Kantei certificate # 1147 issued by the Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai (Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Sword), dated May 16, 2004
With an origami (attestation) by Hon'ami Mitsutada confirming the authenticity of this sword and citing an evaluation of 1000 gold pieces, dated 3rd day of the 5th month of 1721 and signed Hon'ami with a kaō

Footnotes

Provenance
Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578), by repute, and thence by descent
The Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Tokyo, sold Christie's, New York, Important Swords from the Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Part II, 29 March 2005, lot 5 (sold after sale)

Exhibited
The Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Tokyo, "Kaikan sanshūnen kinen tokubetsu ten, meimon kinkō Gotō-ke ishizue" (Exhibition Commemorating the Third Anniversary of the Museum's Opening, Important Works from Famous Metalworkers of the Goto Family), September 1997
Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Tokyo, "Tokubetsu ten, kotō meisaku ten, tōsōgu meihin ten" (Special Exhibition of Masterpieces of Early Swords and Sword Fittings), September 1999

Published
Nihontō Shibata, ed. Meitō kanshō in Tōwa 3, no. 277, 2006.3.1, p.7.
______________. Tokubetsu ten, Kotō meisaku ten, Tōsōgu meihin ten (Special Exhibition of Masterpieces of Early Swords and Sword Fittings), exh. cat., (Tokyo: Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, 1999), no.14.

Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, ed. "Kaikan sanshūnen kinen tokubetsu ten, meimon kinkō Gotō-ke ishizue" (Exhibition Commemorating the Third Anniversary of the Museum's Opening, Important Works from Famous Metalworkers of the Goto Family), exh. cat., (Tokyo: Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, 1997), no. 26.

There is little biographical information on the swordsmith Yukihira. Only one dated sword by him is known to exist, a tachi dated 1205 in the collection of Tōji temple in Kyoto. It is recorded in the kanchiin-bon, the temple's fourteenth-century archive. Yukihira's swords are slender and elegant, with a gentle curve in classical Heian-period court taste. The steel bears a soft white sheen and the hamon features a great number of hataraki (crystalline formations) in a bright nioguchi. It is thought that Yukihira produced swords for Emperor Go-Toba (1180-1239).

The origami describing this sword was written by Hon'ami Mitsutada, a respected polisher and sword connoisseur who compiled the Kyohō meibutsuchō (Genealogy of Famous Things of the Kyohō Era) in 1719 at the behest of Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751), the eighth Tokugawa shogun.

In Tōken bijutsu 579, Dr. Honma Junji states that Yukihira was connected to a swordsmith monk named Sō Sadahide (Teishū). He goes on to say that Yukihira's unique horimono such as the kurikara seen on this sword, and chrysanthemum florets, are among the earliest examples he had ever seen.

Saleroom notices

Please note the dating of this lot should read Kamakura period (1185-1333), early 13th century

Additional information

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