A Super, Original, Antique Edo Period, Most Rare Samurai Kubikiri 'Head Cutter' With Fine Original Edo Period Koshirae Including a Minogame, a Hairy-Tailed Turtle,Tsuba. Katakiriba-zukuri and Flat Mune Blade

Superbly mounted in traditional samurai tanto form but once drawn from the saya the tanto blade reveals its cutting edge to be on the inside, specifically for the removal of a head from behind, while holding the fallen samurai's head up by the hair, grasped in the left hand.

The term "kubikiri" is traditionally translated as "head cutter". This style of tanto may have been carried by attendants to high ranking samurai whose job was to remove the heads of dead enemies as "trophies of battle". While this usage was real in ancient times, in later eras it would have been largely a ceremonial sword, used possibly as a badge of rank.

Katakiriba-zukuri form with a flat mune, and the cutting edge is on the inside curvature (extreme uchi-sori), and there is no kissaki with a single ana. The hamon is notare based on suguha with nioi, One blade side is fully polished , flat sided, the other the cutting edge polished and the wide hada blackened and chisseled with horimono of splashing waves. The saya has polished black buffalo horn fittings, and its kurigata, with kozuka or kogai pocket.

The iron tsuba of maru-gata form with single hitsu ana and carved with a takebori of a minogame hairy tailed turtle. Not a real species, it is a mythological or symbolic turtle found in Japanese art, folklore, and proverbs. The "Hairy" Tail is actually a thick growth of long seaweed and algae that trails behind an ancient turtle's shell,
Legends say these turtles live for 1,000 to 10,000 years, and the long algae tail grows as a sign of this immense age.Famous Tales: A Minogame famously appears in the classic Japanese folklore legend of Urashima Tarō, where a fisherman saves a turtle and is rewarded with a trip to an underwater palace.

The blade collar is a copper habaki, the black saya of finest black urushi lacquer of contrasting ishime and polished, sacred aoi plants, the tsuka is covered in samegawa giant rayskin, beneath takebori shakudo menuki of shishi {lion dogs}, and in their turn, beneath black silk tsukaito binding.

The blade is in excellent condition with minor wear. The mounts are in very good condition with some wear, minuscule lacquer nicks to the original Edo saya.

Code: 26357