* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Nakagawa-Gō
中川江
Also known as: Nakagawa-Gō; attributed to Gō Yoshihiro
Description
A Meibutsu Recorded in the Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō
Nakagawa-Gō is an unsigned sword attributed to Gō Yoshihiro, a swordsmith of Etchū Province active in the Nanbokuchō period. Its original blade length is said to have been about 70.9 cm, but it was later reworked to remove its curvature by Tsuda Nagato-no-kami, leaving it at its present length of roughly 67.3 cm. The appraiser Honami Kōho judged it to be a work of Gō Yoshihiro. It is one of the meibutsu recorded in the Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō.
Provenance
The sword is said to have first belonged to Oda Nobutada, passing thereafter through members of the Nakagawa family — Nakagawa Shigemasa, Nakagawa Mitsushige (Sōhan), and Nakagawa Nagatane — and then through Matsudaira Mitsunaga and Matsudaira Mitsumichi, before reaching the fourth shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Mitsutomo, second lord of the Owari Tokugawa family. Researchers note, however, that more than one sword has been called "Nakagawa-Gō," so the fine detail of this provenance remains a subject of ongoing study.
Present Location
After passing through the Owari Tokugawa and shogunal families, the sword entered the collection of the Sano Art Museum in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, in the postwar period, where it remains today.
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