Blade length 51.3cm, thickness at the base 6mm, width 2.6cm
This is a wakizashi blade what is shortened from a long katana blade. The signature in the tang was kept by folding work. The blade is very good quality with fine steel and bright hamon.
Steel is fine. It has a small wood grain layer pattern.
Hamon is made of small particles. It is bright and even all through the blade. Utsuri also appears. We wonder if the utsuri could come up more clearly by proper maintenance.
The appearance of this blade shows the good quality blade of Osafune school in 15-16th century.
Polishing work is very proper in the shaping work. It must be done by skillful hand. On the other hand, the condition of the blade surface is bad. It is shiny. It might be good hadori style polishing in the past. But, some one has polished the blade surface with a modern polishing cream or something like that. The good polishing has been horribly destroyed. We would like to have the blade re-polished, but we are afraid the proper shape could be easily destroyed by poor polishers.
Tang
The signature "Bishu Osafune Tadamitsu" is turned to the other side by the shortening work. The work is very proper.
There are many generations of Tadamitsu. And we don't know which generation this is. This chisel work is different from any of the famous Tadamitsu you can find on books. So, some people say this is fake. We don't know the truth, how many master smiths and workers were in Tadamitsu linage back then.
