A Beautiful Koto Wakazashi, In Superb Edo Fittings and Tsuba With a Masamune Signed Blade

A delightful sword, bearing the signature Masamune, associated by legend as the finest samurai sword maker in all history.

More photographs will be added later.

However, we believe its fair to say this beauty is unlikely to have been made by 'the' Masamune, otherwise it would be absolutely priceless, which naturally, it isn't.

Yet, is it not a wonderful thing to say one owns a Masamune wakazashi, without any of the incredible expense and heaviest of burdens, of having to pay an insurance premium, of around £500,000 a year, for the priveledge of owning an original.

The complete Kyoho Meibutsu Cho (including the two addendum books) list 61 authenticated Masamune being in existence in the 1700s. Surely some unauthenticated swords by him exist/existed, but it can only be hopeful conjecture. It is now believed less than 20 of his masterworks are likely to still exist.

The USA has two (potentially). One in the Truman Library, presented to President Truman by Gen. Walter Krueger, who was in turn gifted the sword by a Japanese noble (likely to gain favor). The Truman Masamune is possibly the "Mori Masamune" wakizashi, just by looking at the dimensions and photographs. The other (if it still exists) is the legendary Honjo Masamune, which was voluntarily surrendered from a private collection to the Japanese police by a member of the Tokugawa family (who chose to give them up instead of register them). It was then handed off to US occupation forces by the Japanese police and it's whereabouts are unknown currently.

Another exists in Austria, which was gifted to Albrecht von Roretz as part of a lot of swords for working to establish modern hospitals in Japan during the late 1800s.

These are the only recorded Masamune to leave Japan, and none were battlefield trophies.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/photograph-records/64-131

https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/36521-truman-library-sword/

Code: 26342