AS20499 Katana:Higo Koku Ju Akamatsu Taro Kanehiro Saku

Ordering number:AS20499
Katana in Koshirae.

Signature:Higo Koku Ju Akamatsu Taro Kanehiro Saku
Mizunoto-Hitsuji Nen 5 Gatsu Kitijitsu

(We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo saku, Jyo-jyo saku Jyo saku and regular saku)
This sword belongs to Jyo Jyo Saku ranking.
The blade was polished.
Habaki :Silver single habaki.
Blade length :75.8cm or 29.84 inches.
Sori :1.9 cm or 0.74 inches.
Mekugi :1
Width at the hamachi :3.3 cm or 1.29 inches.
Width at the Kissaki :2.47 cm or 0.97 inches.
Kasane :0.66 cm or 0.25 inches.
The weight of the sword:745 grams.
Era :Modern times (May 2003)
Shape :Wide and thic nice shape Katana with moderate Sori, longer Kissaki. Bohi on both sides.
Jigane :Ko-Itame and Mokume Hada mixed, well grained with jinie attach. The Jigane is in the best quality.
Hamon :Konie Deki, Choji Midare with long Ashi.

Special feature: Higo Kuni Ju Akamatsu Taro Kanehiro is born in Kumamoto in 1961, and today working at Kumamoto Yatsushiro province as a swordsmith. He has won a prize for 5 times for the high quality of his swords, so we can expect more great swords in the future. Especially his swords often have a Gunome-midare and a Choji-midare like this sword. Every swordsmith on their school uses the signature of Akamatsu Taro on the top of their name signature. They are very good at making “Kiyomaro-Utsushi”(copying the Hamon of the swords made by the great swordsmith Kiyomaro).
This school make Tamahagane by their own way,not using regular Tamahagane which was made by NBTHK.
So the Jigane is slightly different from general Tamahagane made of normal methods like Tatara(furnace).

Koshirae :Modern Koshirae.

From Aoi Art:This blade is masterpiece of Akamatsu Taro Kanehiro with Choji-midare.
It is thought that the reason for the good quality is that he uses homemade iron to make the Jigane he prefers.
It is different from other modern sword makers, and its quality is becoming better and better yearly. Probably it was made for those who use Iai-Do.
This is light in weight and well balanced.

Aoi Art estimation paper: whole Oshigata.