A Superb Nagamaki Naoshi 'Uno Kubi Zukuri' Bladed 500 Year Old Koto Era Samurai Sword Signed Kanesada Saku of Seki Dated 1521, Last Used and Surrendered In 1945

A truly exceptional, superb and ancient, Nagamaki Naoshi 'uno kubi zukuri' shaped samurai sword, made around 500 years ago, and last used and mounted for a Japanese officer serving his Emperor in the Pacific campaign in WW2. This sword was made in the Japanese reign of Eishou 永正 (1504 - 1521)

One of the best ancient 'ancestral family bladed' shingunto katana of its type we have seen in years. With a signed blade, the signature, Seki Kanesada Saku.

Kanesada of Seki made this and dated 1521.

This wonderful sword was surrendered to a British officer and kept as a souvenir since 1945. An absolute gem of a blade.

The Unokubi Zukuri blade style is known as the 'cormorant's neck' blade form, that is patterned after the shape of the ancient Nagamaki, the powerful long-handled sword, popular between the 12th and 14th centuries.

Notable for the strongly relieved shinogi-ji and o-kissaki, the Unokubi-Zukuri provides excellent balance in a strong cutting blade. The mune (back) of the blade is also different from the more usual form in that it starts out like most blades, but after a third of the way down, the mune thins out rapidly into a long thin false edge. It has two hi from the habaki on one side and a wide single hi on the other. Silver foiled habaki. It has its original, antique, Edo period saya, decorated in cinnabar colour lacquer with buffalo horn kurigata, beneath a combat leather cover, typical for the World War 2 period.

Typical 1934 pattern tsuka and tsuba but deeply bespoke curved to follow the very deep and beautiful curvature of the blade. The saya has a hole at the base for the blade to be mounted with sageo loop.
The type of conflicts that this sword would very likely have seen service in would have been the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Initially, Tokugawa Ieyasu's Eastern Army had 75,000 men, while the Western Army numbered 120,000. Ieyasu had also sneaked in a supply of arquebuses. Knowing that the Tokugawa forces were heading towards Osaka, Ishida decided to abandon his positions and marched to Sekigahara. Even though the Western army had tremendous tactical advantages, Ieyasu had already been in contact with many of the daimyo in the Western Army for months, promising them land and leniency after the battle should they switch sides.

The battle started when Fukushima Masanori, the leader of the Tokugawa advance guard, charged north from the Eastern Army's left flank along the Fuji River against the Western Army's right centre. The ground was still muddy from the previous day's rain, so the conflict there devolved into something more primal. Ieyasu then ordered attacks from his right and his centre against the Western Army’s left in order to support Fukushima's attack.

This left Mori Terumoto's Western Army's centre unscathed, so Ishida ordered this unit under the command of Shimazu Yoshihiro to reinforce his right flank. Shimazu refused as daimyo of the day only listened to respected commanders, which Ishida was not.

Recent scholarship by Professor Yoshiji Yamasaki of Toho University has indicated that the Mori faction had reached a secret agreement with the Tokugawa two weeks earlier, pledging neutrality at the decisive battle in exchange for a guarantee of territorial preservation, and was a strategic decision on Mori Terumoto's part that later backfired.

Fukushima's attack was slowly gaining ground, but this came at the cost of exposing their flank to attack from across the Fuji River by Otani Yoshitsugu, who took advantage of this opportunity. Just past Otani's forces were those of Kobayakawa Hideaki on Mount Matsuo.

Kobayakawa was one of the daimyo who had been courted by Tokugawa. Even though he had agreed to defect to the Tokugawa side, in the actual battle he was hesitant and remained neutral. As the battle grew more intense, Ieyasu finally ordered his arquebuses to fire at Kobayakawa's position on Mount Matsuo to force a choice. At that point Kobayakawa joined the battle as a member of the Eastern Army. His forces charged Otani's position, which did not end well for Kobayakawa. Otani's forces had dry gunpowder, so they opened fire on the turncoats, making the charge of 16,000 men mostly ineffective. However, he was already engaging forces under the command of Todo Takatora, Kyogoku Takatsugu, and Oda Yuraku when Kobayakawa charged. At this point, the buffer Otani established was outnumbered. Seeing this, Western Army generals Wakisaka Yasuharu, Ogawa Suketada, Akaza Naoyasu, and Kutsuki Mototsuna switched sides, turning the tide of battle.

A 25.5 inch long blade tsuba to tip.

Code: 25920