* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Ikakeji Katabami Hyōmon Hyōgogusari Tachi
沃懸地酢漿平文兵庫鎖太刀
Also known as: Ikakeji Katabami Hyōmon Hyōgogusari Tachi; the Kasuga hyōgogusari tachi with wood-sorrel crest
Description
A Hyōgogusari Tachi at Kasuga Taisha
Ikakeji Katabami Hyōmon Hyōgogusari Tachi is a Kamakura-period ceremonial tachi preserved at Kasuga Taisha in Nara. It was designated a National Treasure on 28 June 1956. The blade is unsigned, and the sword was evidently fashioned as a votive and ceremonial piece of craftsmanship rather than for combat use.
Dimensions and Mounting
The sword measures 104.8 cm in total length, with a scabbard of 84.8 cm and a hilt of 21.2 cm; a single example survives. The hilt is covered in white rayskin, its edges finished with gilt-silver binding and set with two pairs of barrel-shaped rivets. The full set of fittings comprises the pommel cap, edge binding, collar mounts, menuki ornaments, large and small seppa washers, mouth fitting, and foot fitting, each worked with fine metalcraft.
Scabbard Design
The scabbard is finished in kin-ikakeji, a lacquer ground densely dusted with gold powder, over which a wood-sorrel (katabami) crest motif is rendered three times in hyōmon, a technique in which thin sheets of gold and silver are cut into pattern shapes and inlaid into the lacquer surface. The suspension cord is made of quail-patterned leather.
A Paired Companion Piece
Kasuga Taisha also preserves a second, similarly named sword, the Ikakeji Katabami-mon Hyōgogusari Tachi, whose design closely resembles this one and which is thought to date from the same period. The pair is regarded as important material suggesting the two swords were dedicated together, and both are valued highly in the history of swordsmithing and decorative craft alike.
Legends & Stories
A second, similarly designed sword of the same name is also preserved at Kasuga Taisha, and scholars have suggested the pair may have been made and dedicated together. The design of a wood-sorrel crest in hyōmon over a gold ikakeji ground ranks among the most refined examples of Kamakura-period hyōgogusari tachi.
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