{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "canonicalUrl": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/objects/mumei-wakizashi-study-05/",
  "recordUrl": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/objects/mumei-wakizashi-study-05/record.json",
  "accession": "NA 2026.010",
  "title": "Mumei Wakizashi Study V",
  "japaneseTitle": "無銘脇差 · 拵",
  "classification": {
    "category": "nihonto",
    "form": "wakizashi",
    "presentation": [
      "koshirae"
    ]
  },
  "period": "Period unrecorded · not established",
  "summary": "An unsigned 30.5 cm hira-zukuri wakizashi in a red-and-black marbled lacquer koshirae with ochre wrap, a plain round iron tsuba and a slender brass implement; out of polish and unpapered.",
  "attribution": {
    "label": "Mumei · unattributed",
    "japanese": "無銘",
    "qualifier": "Unsigned; no attribution is proposed and no appraisal paper accompanies the blade"
  },
  "highlights": [
    {
      "label": "Nagasa",
      "value": "30.5 cm"
    },
    {
      "label": "Sori",
      "value": "0.4 cm"
    },
    {
      "label": "Condition",
      "value": "Out of polish · unpapered"
    }
  ],
  "revisedOn": "2026-08-20",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-20",
      "note": "Catalogue record established from the ended listing and its 17 gallery photographs."
    }
  ],
  "hero": {
    "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/01.jpg",
    "alt": "Hira-zukuri wakizashi drawn beside its red-and-black marbled lacquer saya"
  },
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Object record",
      "facts": [
        {
          "label": "Item",
          "value": "Wakizashi (脇差) in marbled-lacquer koshirae"
        },
        {
          "label": "Mei",
          "value": "None · 無銘"
        },
        {
          "label": "Nagasa",
          "value": "30.5 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Sori",
          "value": "0.4 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Width",
          "value": "Motohaba 2.2 cm · sakihaba 1.6 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Kasane",
          "value": "Motogasane 0.3 cm · sakigasane 0.3 cm"
        },
        {
          "label": "Construction",
          "value": "Hira-zukuri · no shinogi or yokote in the photographs"
        },
        {
          "label": "Mekugi-ana",
          "value": "One · both nakago faces photographed"
        },
        {
          "label": "Period",
          "value": "Unrecorded · no appraisal paper supplied"
        }
      ],
      "notes": [
        {
          "lead": "Attribution boundary.",
          "body": "The blade is unsigned and carries no paper. Nothing in this archive proposes a smith, school, or period. At 30.5 cm it sits just over the conventional wakizashi threshold, so the form designation follows the measurement rather than any judgement about intent."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Condition record",
      "facts": [
        {
          "label": "Photographs",
          "value": "Seventeen archival photographs · no video"
        },
        {
          "label": "Documents",
          "value": "No registration card, NBTHK/NTHK paper, or other certificate shown"
        }
      ],
      "notes": [
        {
          "lead": "Visible record.",
          "body": "The upper half of each face photographs dark and mottled while a broad bright band follows the edge. Whether that band is a hamon or the residue of an old cosmetic polish is not settled here. The tang is uniformly rust-brown. Nothing in this record classifies a defect."
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "plates": [
    {
      "number": "IV.1",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Koshirae & Ensemble",
      "title": "Ensemble, drawn",
      "japanese": "拵・全体",
      "caption": "The blade laid beside its mounting. The saya is lacquered in a marbled red-over-black figure that reads as deep red where the light catches it; a pale sageo with a green stripe is tied in a decorative knot at the kurikata. The tsuka is wrapped in ochre ito over same and closed with a dark horn kashira.",
      "alt": "Blade drawn and laid beside its marbled lacquer saya and mounted tsuka",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/01.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "IV.2",
      "group": "IV",
      "groupTitle": "Koshirae & Ensemble",
      "title": "Koshirae & sageo",
      "japanese": "拵・全体",
      "caption": "The mounting alone, showing the full length of the saya, the tied sageo with its frayed ends, and the small round tsuba seated against the fuchi. The lacquer surface carries fine scuffing along its upper face.",
      "alt": "Complete koshirae with the sageo knot and tsuka in view",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/02.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.1",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Full sugata · first face",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "Full length on the first face. Nagasa 30.5 cm with only 0.4 cm sori and a thin 0.3 cm kasane (measurements per the source description). The blade is hira-zukuri: no shinogi line and no yokote appear anywhere along it.",
      "alt": "Full blade, first photographed face, tip at upper left",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/03.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.2",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Full sugata · second face",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "Full length on the second face, showing the same flat section and a dark clouded band occupying the upper half of the blade against a bright edge.",
      "alt": "Full blade, second photographed face, tip at upper right",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/04.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.3",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Nakago · first face",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "The tang with one mekugi-ana. The surface is uniform rust-brown with no inscription, and the file marks are lost under the corrosion. A pale collar sits ahead of the habaki at the machi.",
      "alt": "Close view of the tang with one mekugi-ana and no inscription",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/05.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.4",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Nakago · second face & jiri",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "The reverse of the tang, again unsigned, ending in a blunt rounded jiri set at a slight angle. The single mekugi-ana is punched cleanly and shows no elongation.",
      "alt": "Close view of the reverse tang face and its rounded end",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/06.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.5",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Sugata & Nakago",
      "title": "Machi, habaki & collar",
      "japanese": "姿・茎",
      "caption": "The machi from the mune side: a copper habaki with a pale collar of horn or bone seated behind it, and the step where the polished blade gives way to the tang.",
      "alt": "The machi area seen from the back edge with the habaki in place",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/07.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.6",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Surface · above the habaki",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "Immediately above the habaki. The bright band along the edge meets a dark grey upper half in a soft, uneven boundary; small dark specks are scattered through the transition.",
      "alt": "Blade surface above the habaki with a bright edge band and dark upper half",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/11.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.7",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Surface · lower mid-blade",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "Lower mid-blade. Grey clouding covers most of the width, with fine scratching running lengthwise and a faint reddish speck near the edge.",
      "alt": "Mid-blade surface with grey clouding and fine scratching",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/12.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.8",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Surface · mid-blade",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "Mid-blade. The darkening deepens toward the mune and a shallow nick interrupts the back edge; the mark is recorded as visible without any classification.",
      "alt": "Mid-blade surface, darker toward the back edge",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/13.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.9",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Surface · full width",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "A full-width record with the copper habaki at the frame edge, carrying mune, body and edge in one view. The bright band holds roughly the lower third of the width along this stretch.",
      "alt": "Wide view of the blade near the habaki with the bright edge band",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/15.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.10",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Surface · below the point",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The stretch below the point, where the dark upper band narrows as the blade tapers and the bright edge widens proportionally.",
      "alt": "Blade surface approaching the point",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/16.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.11",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Point · first face",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The point on the first face. With no yokote the hardened area, if it is one, runs uninterrupted into the tip; the fukura is full and the outline undamaged.",
      "alt": "Point section, first face, with a full curved edge profile",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/14.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "II.12",
      "group": "II",
      "groupTitle": "Ji & Ha",
      "title": "Point · second face",
      "japanese": "地刃",
      "caption": "The point on the second face, carrying reddish rust marks across the darker upper area. The tip itself is intact.",
      "alt": "Point section, second face, with rust marks near the tip",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/17.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "III.1",
      "group": "III",
      "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings",
      "title": "Brass implement",
      "japanese": "拵金具",
      "caption": "A slender brass implement photographed alone, flat in section and drawn to a fine tip. The form is consistent with the hosaki end of a kōgai, but its decorated body is not shown and the source description does not name it.",
      "alt": "Slender brass implement tapering to a fine point",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/08.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "III.2",
      "group": "III",
      "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings",
      "title": "Tsuba, seppa & tsuka",
      "japanese": "拵金具",
      "caption": "The dismounted fittings: a plain round iron tsuba with an oval kozuka-hitsu and a narrow kōgai-hitsu flanking the nakago-ana, two brass seppa of different sizes, and the tsuka wrapped in ochre ito over pale same with dark horn fuchi and kashira. Small copper-toned menuki sit under the wrap.",
      "alt": "Iron tsuba, two brass seppa and the wrapped tsuka laid out together",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/09.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    },
    {
      "number": "III.3",
      "group": "III",
      "groupTitle": "Koshirae Fittings",
      "title": "Fittings · reverse",
      "japanese": "拵金具",
      "caption": "The same group from the other side. The tsuba's surface is pitted and unornamented apart from its outline; the tsuka shows its mekugi-ana open and the ito knot drawn through the kashira.",
      "alt": "The same fittings from the reverse, showing the tsuka mekugi-ana",
      "image": "https://zufu.whiskey.works/media/na-2026-010/10.jpg",
      "redacted": false
    }
  ],
  "rights": {
    "catalogue": "© 2026 whiskey.works",
    "photographs": "Courtesy of GN-1-Japan, used with permission. No downstream reproduction permission is granted."
  }
}