A katana | Signed Tenmangu ni oite rokujunichi kyoku seishin kitae Yukihira kore o tsukru (made by Yukihira and forged to the most extreme purity for sixty days in Tenmangu) | Edo period, dated Genroku go mizunoe-saru nigatsu saijobi (an auspicious day in February 1692)

Property from a Private Collector in Los Angeles

A katana 

Signed Tenmangu ni oite rokujunichi kyokuseishin kitae Yukihira kore o tsukru (made by Yukihira and forged to the most extreme purity for sixty days in Tenmangu)

Edo period, dated Genroku go mizunoe-saru nigatsu saijobi (an auspicious day in February 1692)

Sugata [configuration]: Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, deep sori, ko-kissaki

Kitae [forging pattern]: Ko-itame hada with ji-nie, almost nashiji-hada

Hamon [tempering pattern]: O-midare in nie with nioi-kuchi, some ashi, becoming more active towards the kissaki, sunagashi and kinsuji to the ha

Boshi [tip]: O-maru-boshi with nioi-kuchi

Horiomono [carvings]: Dokko-ken [single-blade vajra] to the omote, the ura with kanji and futatsu ko-hi

Nakago [tang]: one mekugi-ana, ha-agari-kurijiri, yoko yasurime,  signed Tenmangu ni oite rokujunichi kyoku seishin kitae Yukihira kore o tsukru (made by Yukihira and forged to the most extreme purity for sixty days in Tenmngu), and dated Genroku go mizunoe-saru nigatsu saijobi (an auspicious day in February 1692)

Habaki [collar]: Copper-gilt  

Koshirae [mount]: The ribbed black lacquer kizami saya sprinkled overall with aoigai, the fittings similarly decorated with peonies and foliage, the kozuka with field chrysanthemum (nogiku) and irises on a fine nanako ground, plain wood underside, the kogai with wind-buffeted peonies, the round iron tsuba pierced with two villagers and a minogame beside bamboo, under the bough of a large pine tree

In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard]

Nagasa [length from kissaki to machi]: 70 cm., 27½ in. 

Sori [curvature]: 2.1 cm., ¾ in. 

Saki-haba [width at the yokote]: 2 cm., ¾ in. 

Moto-haba [width at the machi]: 3 cm., 1¼ in. 

Accompanied by two certificates of registration: the first as Tokubetsu Kicho Token [Especially Precious Sword], no. 5506087, issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword], dated Showa 55 (1980); the second as Tokubetsu Hozon Token [Sword Especially Worthy of Preserving], no. 1015126, issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai [Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Art Sword], dated Reiwa 3 (2021).