* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Sode no Yuki
袖ノ雪
Also known as: Tachi signed Bizen-no-kuni ... Sukezugu, with gold-inlay name Sode no Yuki
Description
Overview
Sode no Yuki is a tachi said to have been made at the end of the Kamakura period, and its name derives from its excellent cutting ability. It was registered as Juyo Token by the NBTHK on 2 March 1979 and is held by the Chido Museum in Tsuruoka, Yamagata. Several swords share this name; this entry refers to the tachi by Sukezugu.
Provenance
According to the history written in gold characters on its black-lacquer scabbard, on the night before the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Sakai Tadatsugu raided Tobinosu Fort, where Okudaira Kihachiro Nobumitsu, a retainer, killed its defender Takeda Nobuzane (Kawakubo Nobuzane) and took this sword from his waist along with his head. Its later history is unclear, but it is said to have been owned in the late Edo to Meiji period by Suga Sanehide, a senior retainer of Shonai Domain, and was presented to the Sakai family at the 300th memorial of Sakai Tadatsugu in 1895.
An Exhibition Anecdote
At the 1985 exhibition "The Four Guardians of the Tokugawa" held jointly by the Chido Museum and the Sano Art Museum, it was displayed beside the National Treasure tachi by Sanemitsu and Nobufusa. The alarm sounded at 1 a.m. on the opening night and again the next night; after the Sakai family held a memorial service for Nobuzane, it reportedly stopped, according to Sano Art Museum director Watanabe Taeko.
Legends & Stories
A tachi said to have been taken from Takeda Nobuzane in the night raid on Tobinosu Fort before Nagashino.