Katana in Shirasaya(NBTHK Hozon Paper)

Signature: Bizen koku ju Osafune Sukesada saku.
Ganki ? nen 8 gatsu-hi

The blade was polished .
Blade length : 65.5 cm or 25.78 inches.
Sori : 2.2 cm or 0.86 inches.
Mekugi: 1
Width at the hamachi : 3.03 cm or 1.19 inches.
Wide at the Kissaki : 2.19 cm or 0.86 inches.
Kasane : 0.70 cm or 0.27 inches.
Era : Late Muromachi period. about Ganki era.(about 1570)
Shape : Rather wide Katana with deep Sori and Ubu-Nakago.
Jitetsu : Itame hada and Mokume hada are mixed. And Utsuri appear.
Hamon : Koniedeki Suguha. There are Ashi in Ha.
Boshi is Yakizume style.

Special feature : In the Muromachi period, Harima, Mimasaka and Bizen province
had been prospered under the protection of the Akamatsu family.
Above all, Bizen province has turned out a great many talented swordsmiths.
Supplying the demand of the Age of Provincial Wars in Japan, a large
number of swords were made there in the late Muromachi period.
Sukesada has become a synonym for the Osafune School though the
founder was Mitsutada. It is regrettable that a deluge devastated the
School in Osafune districts in Tensho era. Such is the way of the world
that even the Osafune School, that prosperity and power had been unparalleled,
perished in this way in the deluge. Old swords are all that is left to tell
how once the swordsmiths lived.

This blade’s Sori is deep, and it is typical Bizen blade shape in late Muromachi period.
It is good that Nakago is Ubu.

NBTHK Hozon Paper
Aoi Art estimation paper : whole Oshigata.