Antique tantō signed Ōmi no kuni jūnin Fujiwara Nagatoshi saku kore (近江國住人藤原永利作之), made in Keiō 4 (1868), the Earth Dragon (Boshin) year, on an auspicious day in the ninth month (慶應四戊辰年九月廿日). This blade was created once month before the transition to the Meiji era.
One interesting feature of this inscription is the use of “二二” in place of “四.” In Japanese culture, the number four is often avoided because its pronunciation, shi, is the same as 死, meaning “death.” To avert bad luck, it is sometimes written instead as “二二” (literally “two-two”).
Tamaru Nagatoshi (田丸永利), also called Fujiwara Nagatoshi, was a blacksmith in the area of Tamaru Castle, in the Omi Province. He is considered as a student of the Mino Senjuin school. He was a student of the famous shinshinto smith : Okachiyama Fujiwara Nagasada ( 美濃国御勝山麓住藤原永貞).
This authentic tanto, of substantial size (25,75cm nagasa, 2.85cm motohaba, 5.2mm kasane) present a really nice O-mokume hada, Gunome hamon with two spots of hitatsura. The hamon exhibit easily discernable ashi, and the mune is mitsumune.
Habaki is gold foiled one piece copper.
The sword is housed in shirasaya and come with a bag + NBTHK papers.
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