Tachi Sword with Hyogo Chain Mounting, Wood-Sorrel Design in Flat Inlay on Dense Gold Ground (blade unsigned)

One Sword, National Treasure since 1956

Tachi Sword with Hyogo Chain Mounting, Wood-Sorrel Design in Flat Inlay on Dense Gold Ground (沃懸地酢漿平文兵庫鎖太刀, Ikakeji Katabami Hyomon Hyogogusari Tachi), the blade unsigned, is a Kamakura-period craft object owned by Kasuga Taisha in Nara Prefecture, made an Important Cultural Property on 28 June 1956 and designated a National Treasure on that same day of 1956. The quantity is one sword and the designation number 00193.

Both steps fall on one date, the second such case here after the Tenjukoku embroidery.

It measures 104.8 centimetres overall, with a scabbard of 84.8 centimetres and a hilt of 21.2 centimetres. The address field in the Agency's database is blank, the tenth such case.

The Commentary Describes Only How It Differs

The commentary carries no account of the sword in itself.

It opens by saying that the sword is much the same as another National Treasure of similar name at the same shrine, and was probably made at the same time.

It continues that this mounting is longer overall, its chain somewhat finer, it carries no applied metal fittings, its wood-sorrel design is in flat inlay, and its hanging cord is of quail-grain leather.

Much the same, it says, and then lists only the differences. What the sword is cannot be known without knowing the other one.

At the Senjuji Nyorai hall, a single line set the building against the founder's hall. That record also described the hall itself.

Here the whole commentary is comparison. The property has no description of its own.

Five Differences Are Listed

The points of difference come in order.

First the overall length, greater here. Second the chain, described as somewhat finer.

Third, no applied metal fittings. Fourth, the wood-sorrel design on the scabbard is in flat inlay. Fifth, the hanging cord is of quail-grain leather.

The fourth appears in the title as well. This sword's name carries the term for flat inlay; the other's does not.

The presence of that one term separates the two. Flat inlay sets thin sheets of metal into lacquer to form a design.

With the Taisanji main halls, two properties of one name were told apart by depth and roofing. Here the difference of technique sits in the name itself.

The Blade Is Unsigned and the Name Comes from the Mounting

The end of the title states the blade's condition.

The blade is unsigned: it carries no maker's name.

Everything before that describes the mounting. The dense gold ground is lacquer thickly strewn with gold powder, the wood sorrel is the pattern, and the Hyogo chain is the chain by which the sword hangs.

The chrysanthemum waist sword took its name from the carving on a hilt, and its blade carried an attribution by tradition.

Here there is no attribution either, only the word unsigned. The name rests entirely on the mounting.

The field for form dwells on the mounting: the hilt is covered in white ray skin with a gilt silver rim and four pairs of bale-shaped rivets, and the scabbard is of gold ground with the wood-sorrel design in flat inlay, three pairs in three groups.

Seeing It

The sword belongs to Kasuga Taisha. The field for prefecture gives Nara and the address field is blank.

The fittings are listed closely: cap, rim, socket ornaments, hilt ornaments, larger and smaller washers, mouthpiece, hanger fittings, ferrule and chape, all of gilt silver.

Ornament is confined: apart from scrollwork on part of the hanger fittings and the scabbard's tail fitting, the surfaces are plain.

The chain and guard are silver. The fields for period, western year, maker, supplementary notes, inscriptions and provenance are all empty.

It is a shrine holding, not kept on permanent display. Exhibition plans can change, so check before travelling.