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This is the last sword I bought from Darcy.
The sword has passed Hozon and Tokubetsu Hozen.
This Go has a wide hamon like the Meibutsu Tomita-e Yoshihiro, and also, has a bo-hi that ends early from the kissaki same as the Inaba Go.
It is laden with lots of very bright slivery nie and combined with Go's unique nioi-guchi, they appear like stars in the milky way.
Go Yoshihiro swords are very rare and considered by the sword dealers in Japan as mysterious. There is an old saying, "You never see a ghost or a Go".
From the olden time of Toyo Hideyoshi, he has been revered as one of the 3 Great Smiths of Japan (Nihon Sansaku).
He was said to have died at the age of 30 and he is considered as a peer in skill to his teacher, Masamune.
No signed example remains and his swords are mainly kept in important sword collections since Edo period.
This sword was recently polished by Mr. Andrew Ickeringill, Touken-togishi.com.
Andrew's comment:
"This is a very interesting example of his work, in some ways it’s quite different to the previous one I worked on, but they both share unmistakable similarities, particularly within the nioi-guchi and the finer areas of grain structure.
There’s an incredible amount of depth to the hamon, with layers of contrasting nie blanketed across the entire yakiba. Along the boundary of the hamon the nie is larger and has a mottled appearance, almost like lava flow, but on the inside of the yakiba there is fine ko-nie and nioi hataraki, which floats its way along the blade like cloud formations. This isn’t the kind of hamon that jumps up and slaps you in the face, there’s a subtlety to the nie which takes some time to absorb, but once it sets in, it reveals a vast array of delicate hataraki.
The jigane is quite diverse, with a variety of different textures and shades. Some areas show a uniform nashiji-like hada with evenly dispersed ji-nie and fine chikei, while other areas have a larger grain structure mixed with dark patches of steel containing more clustered ji-nie. There are many yubashiri, which appear in all different shapes and sizes, some emanating from the hamon like nebula, and others appearing from nowhere like floating orbs.
The boshi isn’t ichimai (which isn't unusual), it’s more like a kaen-style, with streaks of hakikake running from the yokote through to a short kaeri.
I wasn’t able to capture everything I wanted to in these pics, I tried my best, but in most places the nie extends from the hasaki all the way to the shinogi in one form or another, and it’s impossible to get it all in."
Price : NOT FOR SALE