{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "canonicalUrl": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/objects/hidemune-blade/",
  "recordUrl": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/objects/hidemune-blade/record.json",
  "accession": "NA 2026.015",
  "title": "Hidemune Blade, Heisei 8",
  "japaneseTitle": "関住秀宗作 · 平成八年",
  "classification": {
    "category": "nihonto",
    "form": "wakizashi",
    "presentation": [
      "bare"
    ]
  },
  "period": "Heisei 8 · November 1996 · dated on the nakago",
  "summary": "A bare 31.2 cm blade signed 関住秀宗作 and dated Heisei 8 (1996), sold as an incomplete lot with a split lacquered scabbard made for a longer sword. The signature and date are crisp and fully legible.",
  "attribution": {
    "label": "Seki jū Hidemune saku · signed and dated",
    "japanese": "関住秀宗作 · 平成八年十一月日",
    "qualifier": "Signature and date are legible and mutually consistent; a dated modern blade, recorded as read rather than attributed"
  },
  "highlights": [
    {
      "label": "Nagasa",
      "value": "31.2 cm"
    },
    {
      "label": "Mei",
      "value": "関住秀宗作 · dated Heisei 8"
    },
    {
      "label": "Condition",
      "value": "Bright polish · incomplete lot"
    }
  ],
  "revisedOn": "2026-08-20",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-20",
      "note": "Catalogue record established from the ended listing and its 18 gallery photographs; the signature and date are fully legible and are recorded as read."
    }
  ],
  "hero": {
    "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/01.jpg",
    "alt": "Bare blade laid beside a long dark lacquered scabbard with gold cord"
  },
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Object record",
      "facts": [
        {
          "label": "Item",
          "value": "Bare blade (残欠) with a separate lacquered saya"
        },
        {
          "label": "Mei",
          "value": "関住秀宗作 · Seki jū Hidemune saku"
        },
        {
          "label": "Date",
          "value": "平成八年十一月日 · Heisei 8, eleventh month — November 1996"
        },
        {
          "label": "Nagasa",
          "value": "31.2 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Sori",
          "value": "0.3 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Width",
          "value": "Motohaba 3.3 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Kasane",
          "value": "Motogasane 0.7 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Mekugi-ana",
          "value": "One · both nakago faces photographed"
        },
        {
          "label": "Fittings",
          "value": "None · no tsuka, tsuba, seppa or habaki in the lot"
        }
      ],
      "notes": [
        {
          "lead": "The one legible signature.",
          "body": "Where the other blades in this group carry inscriptions that are worn, partial, or disputed, this one is unambiguous: five crisply cut characters on one face reading 関住秀宗作, and a full date on the other reading 平成八年十一月日. Both match the transcription given in the source description. The tang is bright, unpatinated steel with fresh file marks, which is consistent with the date it carries."
        },
        {
          "lead": "What the date settles.",
          "body": "A blade dated to 1996 is a modern work by a living-era Seki smith. That removes the question that hangs over most signed blades bought at this level — there is no meaningful market in forging the signature of a recent provincial smith — and it also sets expectations: this is a shinsakutō, not an antique, whatever the lot's condition wording implies."
        },
        {
          "lead": "Scope of the lot.",
          "body": "The source describes the lot as zanketsu — an incomplete remnant. It comprises the bare blade and a scabbard only. The saya is materially longer than the blade and is split open along the mouth; nothing establishes that the two belonged together, and this archive does not treat them as a matched mounting."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Condition record",
      "facts": [
        {
          "label": "Photographs",
          "value": "Eighteen archival photographs · no video"
        },
        {
          "label": "Documents",
          "value": "No registration card, NBTHK/NTHK paper, or other certificate shown"
        },
        {
          "label": "Saya",
          "value": "Split at the koiguchi; brass band with suspension ring, verdigris present"
        }
      ],
      "notes": [
        {
          "lead": "Visible record.",
          "body": "The blade photographs bright and clean along its whole length, with a broad hazy hardened area following the edge and a distinct pattern in the point. The polish reads as considerably better than the “old polish” wording suggests, with fine surface scratching rather than clouding or rust. The scabbard is the damaged component: the lacquer has split away along the mouth exposing the wood core and a pale lining, and the brass band has gone green. Nothing here classifies a defect."
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "plates": [
    {
      "number": "IV.1",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Lot Contents",
      "title": "Lot as received",
      "japanese": "残欠・全体",
      "caption": "The two components together. The scabbard is dark red-brown lacquer with a gold braided cord and tassels tied near one end and a brass band at the other; it is plainly longer than the 31.2 cm blade laid beneath it.",
      "alt": "The bare blade laid below a long dark lacquered scabbard with gold cord",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/01.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "IV.2",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Lot Contents",
      "title": "Lot · second arrangement",
      "japanese": "残欠・全体",
      "caption": "The same two pieces rearranged, with the brass band and its suspension ring at the near end. The disparity in length between blade and scabbard is clearer in this framing.",
      "alt": "Blade and scabbard arranged with the scabbard's ring end nearest the camera",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/02.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "IV.3",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Lot Contents",
      "title": "Lot · third arrangement",
      "japanese": "残欠・全体",
      "caption": "A third view. The lacquer surface of the scabbard is largely sound over its length, with the damage concentrated at the mouth end.",
      "alt": "Blade and scabbard, third arrangement",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/03.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "IV.4",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Lot Contents",
      "title": "Saya · split mouth",
      "japanese": "残欠・全体",
      "caption": "The damaged end. The lacquer and one wall of the scabbard have split away along the mouth, exposing the wood core and a pale lining; the brass band alongside carries a suspension ring and has gone green with verdigris.",
      "alt": "The mouth of the scabbard split open beside a brass band with a ring",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/17.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "IV.5",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Lot Contents",
      "title": "Saya · band & label",
      "japanese": "残欠・全体",
      "caption": "The same end from the other side, where a torn paper label remains stuck to the lacquer below the band. The split runs some distance back from the mouth along the seam.",
      "alt": "The same split end from the other side, with a paper label remnant",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/18.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.1",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Full sugata · mei face",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "Full length on the signature face. Nagasa 31.2 cm with only 0.3 cm sori and a 3.3 cm motohaba (measurements per the source description) — markedly broad for the length, with a generous point section. The tang runs nearly half the blade's length and is bright rather than patinated.",
      "alt": "The full blade, signature face, tip at upper left and tang at lower right",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/04.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.2",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Full sugata · date face",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "Full length on the reverse, which carries the date. The hardened area shows as a broad lighter band following the edge for the whole length of the blade.",
      "alt": "The full blade, date face, tip at upper right and tang at lower left",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/05.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.3",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Nakago · mei",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "The signature at close range: five characters cut cleanly and deeply into bright steel, reading 関住秀宗作 — Seki jū Hidemune saku. The strokes are sharp-edged with no corrosion softening them, and the file marks of the tang run visibly beneath and around them.",
      "alt": "Close view of the tang showing five crisply cut characters",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/06.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.4",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Nakago · date",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "The date on the reverse: 平成八年十一月日 — a day in the eleventh month of Heisei 8, November 1996. It is cut in the same hand and to the same depth as the signature, and the two agree.",
      "alt": "Close view of the reverse tang showing the cut date",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/07.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.5",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Machi & tang surface",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "The transition from blade to tang. The step at the machi is crisp and the tang surface carries even, deliberate file marks — the finish of a tang that has never been remounted or reworked.",
      "alt": "The transition from polished blade to bright filed tang",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/14.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.6",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Ji & ha · forward half",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The forward half. A broad hazy band follows the edge against a darker ground above the ridge; the surface is clean, with only fine handling scratches.",
      "alt": "The forward half of the blade, bright, with the hardened band along the edge",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/08.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.7",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Ji & ha · toward the point",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "Toward the point. The ridge catches the light as a continuous bright line and the hardened band widens slightly as the blade narrows.",
      "alt": "The blade toward the point with a bright ridge line",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/09.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.8",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Ji & ha · mid-blade",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "Mid-blade at close range, where the geometry reads clearly: a flat ground surface below the ridge and a narrower bevel above it.",
      "alt": "Mid-blade at close range showing the ridge and flat",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/10.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.9",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Ji & ha · surface detail",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "Surface detail. Light scratching crosses the flat at a shallow angle; there is no clouding, staining, or rust anywhere in this frame.",
      "alt": "Blade surface with light scratching across the flat",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/12.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.10",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Point region · broadside",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The point region broadside. The hardened area sweeps up into the tip and the pattern within it becomes visible against the darker ground.",
      "alt": "The point region broadside with the hardened pattern visible",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/11.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.11",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Approaching the point",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The stretch immediately below the point, where the ridge runs on toward the tip and the hardened band holds its width.",
      "alt": "The upper blade approaching the point",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/13.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.12",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Kissaki",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The best record of the point: a generous fukura, a clearly defined boundary running up into the tip, and a bright pattern within the point itself that turns back toward the back edge. The tip is undamaged.",
      "alt": "The point at close range with a bright hardened pattern turning at the tip",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/16.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.13",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Point, near-edge-on",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "A near-edge-on record showing the section running out to the tip and the straightness of the back edge along the forward half.",
      "alt": "Near-edge-on view of the blade running out to the point",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-015/15.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    }
  ],
  "rights": {
    "catalogue": "© 2026 whiskey.works",
    "photographs": "Courtesy of GN-1-Japan, used with permission. No downstream reproduction permission is granted."
  }
}