Antique Japanese Katana Sword, Ubu Signed Jumyo and Black Roiro Koshirae - NBTHK Hozon
Signature (Mei): 壽命 Jumyō (transcribed 寿命 on the NBTHK paper) Swordsmith: Jumyō (Toshinaga) — Jumyō lineage of Mino / Owari School / Tradition: Jumyō School (Mino-den, Yamato origins) Period / Province: Shintō (新刀) period, Edo era — 17th century / Mino - Owari Province Certificate: NBTHK Hozon Tōken (保存刀剣) No. 3038123, issued 1 December 2025 — classified Shintō (新刀) Registration (Tōroku-shō): Tokyo No. 328666, dated 8 October 2024 Mounting: Full katana koshirae — black roiro-nuri saya, iron mokkō tsuba with landscape design, long dragon menuki Blade Length (Nagasa): 62.4 cm (2 shaku 0 sun 6 bu) Curvature (Sori): 1.0 cm — shallow, compact Kanbun-Shintō proportions Mekugi-ana: 2 Shape: Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, chū-kissaki Jihada: Tight, well-compacted ko-itame Hamon: Suguha-chō with soft undulation, bright and even nioiguchi Bōshi: Ko-maru with kaeri Habaki: Single-piece silver-coloured habaki with horizontal file finish (yoko-yasuri) This Katana is signed 壽命 (Jumyō) and carries NBTHK Hozon Tōken papers issued in December 2025, which classify the blade as Shintō — a work of the Edo-period Jumyō lineage, the Mino smiths whose name literally means "long life". Measuring 62.4 cm with a shallow 1.0 cm sori, it shows the compact, businesslike sugata that defined mid-17th-century sword making: a katana built for the tight quarters and fast draw of Edo-period city life rather than for the open battlefield. The blade is shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune and a well-proportioned chū-kissaki. The shinogi-ji stands crisp and bright, the ji quiet and dark under the polish, and the geometry is clean from machi to point — the blade retains healthy thickness with no loss of shape through the monouchi. The jihada is a tight, densely forged ko-itame, so finely compacted that the surface reads almost as muji in the middle third, exactly the disciplined steel one expects from a Shintō-period Mino-lineage workshop. The hamon is suguha-chō (straight-based temper line) running the full length of the ha with only a soft, restrained undulation — never showy, but even and confident from koshimoto to yokote. The nioiguchi is bright and consistent, tracing the edge in an unbroken band. At the point the bōshi turns in a rounded ko-maru with a clear kaeri, the yokote sharply defined. This is the workmanlike Mino-derived suguha that made Jumyō blades a practical favourite among Edo-period samurai — the school's reputation was built on cutting ability, and the blades were nicknamed ishikiri ("stone cutter") for it. The nakago is ubu (unshortened), carrying a deep, dry black patina with the warm ochre tones that only come from centuries inside a tsuka. Two mekugi-ana record a remounting during its working life. Below them, the two-character mei 壽命 is cut in the classical kyūjitai form — the NBTHK transcribes it in modern script as 寿命, standard practice on their papers — and remains crisp and fully legible. Koshirae Details The sword comes in a complete katana koshirae in sober Edo taste. The saya is finished in glossy black roiro urushi, unbroken and undecorated across its full length, fitted with a black sageo tied at the kurikata. It is the kind of mounting a working samurai actually wore — restraint at the surface, quality in the fittings. The tsuba is a substantial iron plate in mokkō-gata (four-lobed form) with a raised rim and a rich, granular forged surface. The omote carries a low-relief landscape scene: a seated figure with a long pole among reeds and grasses at the water's edge, with foliage rendered in fine chisel work in the upper corner. The ura continues the scene more quietly — rolling hills in soft relief beneath a small raised disc reading as the moon. Both kozuka-hitsu and kōgai-hitsu are cut and open. The tsuka is wrapped in black ito in hineri-maki over white same (ray skin) of excellent nodule quality, the diamonds crisp and evenly spaced. Beneath the wrap sits a long dragon menuki in a light-coloured metal, its head, coiled body and tail emerging through three successive openings in the ito — a deeply modelled piece whose high points are worn smooth from generations of handling. The fuchi is a plain yamagane-toned band, and the blade is fitted with a single-piece silver-coloured habaki with a horizontal file finish. One practical note for the next owner: the blade seats firmly and securely in the saya and is in no danger of slipping out, but it does not sink fully home with an audible click — the habaki and koiguchi dimensions do not match perfectly, so the habaki meets the mouth of the saya slightly before full seating. A saya-shi can adjust the koiguchi in a straightforward job should the new owner wish to. Swordsmith Background Jumyō (壽命 / 寿命, also read Toshinaga) is one of the most quietly successful names in Japanese sword history — and one of the very few whose commercial appeal came from the meaning of the characters themselves. Jumyō means "lifespan", "longevity". In a warrior culture where a sword was the standard gift at weddings, promotions, adoptions and coming-of-age ceremonies, a blade signed "long life" was the perfect present, and Jumyō works were sought out and presented within daimyō households precisely for that reason. The Shintō-period line was founded by a smith born in Seki, Mino Province, in Tenshō 8 (1580), whose civil name is recorded as Kondō Sukezaemon. He relocated to the castle town of Kiyosu in Owari during the Keichō era (1596–1615) and received the title Tango no Kami in Kan'ei 2 (1625). Under the patronage of the Owari Tokugawa, the Jumyō workshop prospered across roughly five generations through the Edo period, later working in Nagoya, while related branches continued in Mino at Shimizu. Later generations used kami titles — Mino no Kami, Hitachi no Kami, Ueno no Kami Jumyō among them — but the workshop also produced a large body of blades signed simply with the two characters 壽命, as here. Reputation aside, these were swords meant to be used: the school's cutting record earned its blades the nickname ishikiri, "stone cutter", and the name remained in production until the closing years of the Edo period. School History: The Jumyō Line and Mino-den The Jumyō school traces its origins to Yamato Province (modern Nara), the oldest of the five great traditions, and moved into Mino Province during the Kamakura period. That migration is the story of Mino-den in miniature: Yamato smiths carrying their tight, upright forging discipline into a new province, where it met Sōshū influence and produced something sharper, faster and far more practical. Mino-den became the most productive of the Gokaden. Its swords are known for hard, tight ko-itame steel and hamon built on a straight base — often with togari-ba, pointed peaks pushing out of an otherwise controlled temper line. Where Bizen sold beauty, Mino sold performance, and by the Sengoku period the province was arming the men who decided Japan's future: Saitō and Akechi in Mino itself, Oda Nobunaga next door in Owari, and the Tokugawa a short ride east. Mino's central position between Kyoto and the Kantō made it the natural supplier for every campaign that crossed the country. Where most Muromachi schools faded after unification, Mino adapted. Smiths followed their patrons to the new castle towns, and the Jumyō name in particular moved with the Tokugawa into Owari, where it enjoyed steady daimyō patronage for the better part of two centuries — an unbroken working lineage from the Kamakura period to the end of the Edo era, spanning more than five hundred years. This katana sits squarely in the strongest part of that history: a signed, NBTHK-authenticated Shintō work by the Jumyō line, in tight Mino steel, wearing a full Edo koshirae with a landscape tsuba and a dragon menuki — a complete, honest samurai sword carrying a name its original owner would have received as a wish for a long life.