Sword and scabbard

The blade of this slung sword (‘tachi’) is by Gassan Sadakazu. The scabbard is of wood covered with iron sheet, inlaid with a decoration of dragons, phoenixes, ‘shishi’ (mythical lion-like creature) and ‘mon’ (family crests) in silver and gold flat inlay (‘hira-zogan’). The scabbard is more or less contemporary with the sword and is signed in a silver cartouche ‘Nihon Koku Kyoto Ju Komai Tsukuru’ (‘Made by Komai, resident of Kyoto, Japan’).

Although it has been mounted as a tachi, the blade is a ‘katana’ (a mounted sword that would have been thrust cutting edge uppermost through the sash worn with the kimono). The blade is signed ‘Naniwa ju, Gassan Unryushi Sadakazu hori do saku’ (‘Gassan Unryushi Sadakazu of Naniwa (Osaka) made and carved this’), with a seal with the character for ‘Sada’ inside. It is dated ‘Meiji ni hebi doshi hachi gatsu hi’ (‘Second year of Meiji, snake year [equivalent to 1869] a day in the eighth month’). On the outer face of the blade (‘omote’) is a splendid carving (‘horimono’) of a dragon chasing a flaming pearl; on the inner face (‘ura’) is a carving of a Buddhist-style sword (‘ken’) and the character for the Buddhist deity Marishiten.

The V&A was originally offered this sword in 1915 but declined because it felt the sword was too modern. Fortunately the Museum was then given the sword as a gift in 1971 and it now makes a valuable contribution to our study of late 19th-century Japanese art.