This Japanese short sword (‘wakizashi’) is signed ‘Mishina (or Sanpin) Izumi Fujiwara Rai Kinmichi’ - ‘Fujiwara Rai Kinmichi, of Mishina in Izumi province’ (modern-day Osaka Prefecture) and ‘Nihon Kaji sosho + Kiku mon’ - ‘Master Smith of Japan + chrysanthemum crest’. The blade is broad and flat with a fine-grained structure to the steel. The tempered edge (‘hamon’) is straight (‘suguha’) and wide. The collar (‘habaki’) has a stylised carving of a dragon in clouds.

The style of the signature on the tang or ‘nakago’ - the part of the blade that goes into the handle - is extremely graceful, but tends to lack some of the strength of the signature of the first-generation Rai Kinmichi. There were four recognised smiths who signed with these characters, but it was the third-generation Rai Kinmichi who used precisely this style of signature and he worked during the Empo period (1673-1681). The inscription on what would be regarded as the outside of the blade (the ‘ura’) appears to have been added later by a different hand.

The wakizashi was the shorter of the two swords (know together as ‘daisho’) worn by the samurai at all times. It was suited to fighting at close quarters, especially in towns.