69,4cm, sori 2,0cm, motohaba 3,1 cm, shobu zukuri, itame hada with ji-nie, gunome midare hamon with sunagashi and kinsuji, ubu nakago, 1 mekugi ana, unsigned, old, but still good polish. Shinshinto, around 1800.

Koshirae: Handachi-Katana-mounts. Saya has very nice greenish-blue aogai-laquer with family crest(mon) in gold laquer. Iron tsuba with a large gilt rain-dragon, same-tsuka bound with black silk. Fuchikashira, koiguchi, kashiwaba and kojiri are matching, menuki shishi in shakudo.

This sword was made appr. 200 years ago during late Edo period. Mounts and blade represent the fashion of the early Muromachi period(Oei). At that time the Handachi type mounts developed as a kind of transition type between the standard tachi and the more modern Katana type koshirae. It could be worn either as a tachi with the help of silk cords or simply stuck into the sash like a katana. Later this type established itself simply as a tasteful and more expensive variant of the Katana koshirae. Remakes of the Nambokucho and Oei style  koshirae became particularly fashionable during the Shinshinto period. The old blades with their shobu-zukuri or nagamaki-naoshi sugata became fashionable again and were copied as well.

64,1cm, sori 1,8cm, width at hamachi 3,02 cm, thickness 0,66cm, sakihaba 1,95cm, thickness 0,43cm, shinogi zukuri, ubu nakago, 1 mekugi ana, mumei, attributed to: "SUKESADA" (Bizen Osafune, Ten-sho, 1573) by Juho Token Kenkyukai paper, itame hada with ji-nie, wide gunome midare hamon with sunagashi and kinsuji, ubu nakago, 1 mekugi ana, unsigned, good polish. Bizen province, Muromachi, ca. 1570. In shirasaya.

Koshirae: Good Katana-mounts. Saya black with alternating bands of roiro and ishime lacquer, iron tsuba with landscape in low relief, remains of gold zogan, same-tsuka with blue-green silk binding. Fuchikashira are shakudo mit gold decoration, menuki are cicadas in shakudo and gold. 18/19Jh.

This late Koto sword has the classical shape of Bizen school blades with its short and wide nakago and the typical koshi-zori.

69,1cm, sori 1,5cm, motohaba 3,03 cm, kasane: 6,2mm,  sakihaba 2,35cm, sakikasane 5,4mm, shinogi zukuri with bo-hi, itame-masame hada with abundant nie, hamon: suguha and toran-ba, unshortened nakago-jiri, minor machi-okuri, 3 mekugi ana, signed: "KIKU"  " ECHIZEN (NO) KAMI MINAMOTO RAI NOBUYOSHI",  with NBTHK Hozon- paper, good polish, Kanbun/Genroku, around 1680, Osaka, in shirasaya.

Koshirae: Buke-zukuri -katana-mounts in the style of the Momoyama-period, red and gold lacquered saya,  circular iron tsuba with gold edge, tsuka with same and bound withwhite silk. Matching sageo. Gilt shakudo menuki,  fuchi-kashira are shakudo with insects and plants in gold. All from Edo-period.

The smiths of the Takai family are considered to be Yamashiro-Mishina-school, though they developed their own style which reminds us of Shinkai and Sukehiro. Known are 5 generations of Takai Nobuyoshi, shodai(I), nidai(II) und Nobuyoshi III, who made this blade. It is not exactly known wether he is the 3rd son of the shodai or one of his younger brothers. After him came generations IV und V. Rai Nobuyoshi was by far the best of the Takai-family. He was active from about 1655 to 1703. Signatures and workmanship show the appr. dates. On earlier works before 1670 the 16-petal chrysanthemum was chiseled in, while later it was engraved. The name "Rai" was not added before 1673. From 1688 frequently an "Ichi" was added under the kiku mon. Most swords, the earlier works in particular, were made with suguha, while a lot of later blades show the beautiful Toran Midare Hamon in the style of Sukehiro. Though he was active for 50 years, his best works date between 1670 and 1700. Ratings: Jo-saku (Fujishiro), 4Mio. Yen (Toko Taikan), O-Wazamono (KK) In 1797  Tokugawa sword-teser Yamada Asaemon published a list of the sharpest swords, called Keiho Kenjaku. Rai Nobuyoshi was one of 22 smiths who were awarded the rank  "O-Wazamono" (extreme sharpness).

68,1cm, sori 1,5cm, width at hamachi 3,11 cm, 0,70cm thick, sakihaba 2,47cm, 0,56cm thick, shinogi zukuri, bo-hi, ubu nakago, 2 mekugi ana, mumei, attributed to: "SUWO MORIHIDE"  by NBTHK Keicho paper, itame hada, gunome midare hamon, strong and elegant blade in very good polish. Suwo(Boshu)- province, end of Edo, around 1865.

Koshirae: perfectly restored buke zukuri mounting. Saya black roiro lacquer, iron mokko katchushi-tsuba with fan-shaped hitsu, 16./17.cent., same-tsuka with white silk ito. Fuchikashira are shakudo with flowers in a landscape, menuki are long eared rabbits in shakudo, 19th cent.

This blade from the late Edo- period (bakumatsu)is without faults and in very good polish. It is attributed to Senryushi Morihide, who was a student of Seiryuken Moritoshi. This smth in turn had studied under Chounsai Tsunatoshi, a renowned shinshinto-smith of the Suishinshi Masahide -school.  is  The gunome-midare hamon is typical for the works of Moritoshi and Morihide. The smiths of the Moritoshi-school worked mainly in Suwo-province(Moritoshi, Morihisa, Morihide, Morikazu). Morihide also worked in the neighbouring Nagato-province.