A Sukesada & Yasunaga Daishô (祐定 ・ 康永)

A brilliant daishô formed of two Bizen Osafune blades, each carrying a niji-mei (two-character signature). The longer sword is by Sukesada (祐定) and the companion wakizashi is by Yasunaga (康永) – both products of the great Osafune lineage that dominated sword production through the Muromachi period.

The Sukesada katana was forged to meet the relentless demand of a turbulent age. It is gloriously curved so it could be wielded in one hand (katate-uchi), with a jihada of itame mixed with prominent mokume, and a calm yet deadly suguha hamon worked with ko-midare and sunagashi. A bô-hi groove lightens the blade – a practical concession to the realities of combat. The Yasunaga wakizashi descends from an even more illustrious hand: Yasunaga is traditionally regarded as the son of Yasumitsu (康光), one of the representative masters of the Ôei-Bizen period. His jigane shows a flowing itame that at times resembles ayasugi, accompanied by light utsuri, while the hamon carries abundant activity within a bright nioiguchi. Yasunaga is ranked Chûjô-saku (an above-average smith) and Wazamono for the sharpness of his work – a six-hundred-year-old blade that can still bite.

The two swords are housed in a unified daishô koshirae appropriate to formal samurai attire: white samegawa, black silk hilts and beaming glossy-black scabbards. The shakudô fittings carry a powerful dragon theme intended to lend spiritual protection to the blades, and the tsuba is signed by Kurokawa Shigehisa. This is a daishô of veteran swords – two warriors of the Muromachi period, now in honourable retirement yet always on the ready if ever called upon.