A truly remarkable masterpiece signed Kashu Fujiwara Ietada with one of the most interesting test cuts (7 body test sword)

A truly remarkable masterpiece signed Kashu Fujiwara Ietada with one of the most interesting test cuts. Also signed is Yotsudo Otoshi which was a 4 body test cut, along with futatsu dou which is a 2 body test cut, and finally Tsuri-dou which is a standing live execution performed on a living Felon. Therefor in total 7 bodies were cut with this piece. The test cut was performed by Matsunami Yago no suke Motoyoshi (Kao). Ietada was a well ranked kashu smith, kashu blades are under valued for what they are, many excellent works have come from there and this is a perfect example of what kashu work is capable of. Few swords in existence have been able to achieve this level of cuts The blade has an incredible amount of paperwork, new Tokubetsu ranked papers by the NBTHK, along with its very old Kicho papers. It also has Fujishiro’s kanteisho who was a national treasure polisher. The polish condition is incredible and I assume he polished this piece. The koshirae is subtle but of very high quality with 2 kamon in shakudo. The urushi is black with different textures, with a shibuichi kojiri. The fuchi/kashira is truly exceptional in shakudo and has several kamon. The tsuba is simple high quality shakudo. Everything is black, including the black lacquered manta ray skin. Credit to Markus Sesko’s book on Tameshigiri for the test cut image.