Blade:

Period: Heisei.

Mei: Hachidai ju Yoshitsugu Akamatsu Taro Kanetsugu Gassaku. It is dated on the reverse: Heisei 3 nen 12 gatsu kiti jitsu (December 1991).

Sugata: Shinogi-zukuri, tori-zori, iori-mune.

Overall length: 38.82 inches (986.00 mm)

Nagasa: 29.76 inches (756.00 cm) long.

Nakago: Ubu,9.06 inches (230.00 mm), kuri-jiri, one mekugi-ana. The yasurime are katte-sagari.

Kissaki: O-kissaki, 4.04 inches (102.72 mm). The boshi is gunome midare with ko-maru.

Moto-haba: 1.41 inches (36.00 mm). Moto-gasane: 0.29 inches (7.27 mm). Saki-haba: 1 .26 inches (32.10 mm). Saki-gasane: 0.23 inches (5.80 mm).

Sori: 0.78 inches (20.00 mm)

Hamon: Nie-deki gunome midare with thick nioi-kuchi. There are many sunagashi and small, weak kinsuji in the ha.

Hada: Ko-itame hada. Well grained, with ji-nie and small chikei.

Blade condition:

Very good polish with very minor surface scratches. As the photographs show, every detail of the workmanship can be seen. No flaws, ware, chips, hagirae or bends.

Mounts:

In shirasaya. Silver one-piece habaki.

Comments:

This blade is Gassaku, a joint work by Kanetsugu and his pupil, Yoshitsugu. Gassaku swords are quite rare. It is also gigantic.

Akamatsu Taro Kanetsugu,a Kyushu smith, was born in Showa 26 (1952/1953). He is the son of swordsmith Kimura Kaneshige, and the oldest of the three Akumatsutaro brothers, the other two being Kaneteru and Kaneyoshi. He was a student of Tanigawa Moriyoshi when he won the Nyusen and Doryokusyo prizes at NBTHK swordsmithing contests. He has since won the Nyusen prize nine times. He is well-known for making large patterned and extravagant works that have a close resemblence to famed works from the Nambokucho period, the Soshu/Bizen school or which are reproductions of Minamoto Kiyomaru.

Yoshitsugu is the pupil of Kanetsugu and is of the Tanigawa Moriyoshi. Yoshitsugu has won a Nyusen prize and Doryokusyo prize.

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