PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN A FINE ITO-MAKI-TACHI in kin-nashiji saya (faded in places) with all metal mounts in shakudo with leafy branches carved in Karafusa style (ishi-zuki missing). Complete with sageo tied tachio-musubi. All ito on both the tsuka and saya are a light green colour. The large menuki are of gold dragons. The shinogi-zukuri blade is tori-zori with a wide mi-haba and a chu-kissaki. The koto blade has a wide suguha hamon which has a gentle midare and is in nioi. The boshi has a short kaeri. There appears to be a faint bo-usturi but condition prevents absolute certainty. On the omote there is a finely cut, but ato-bori, horimono of a dragon chasing the tama whilst on the ura there are several widely spaced bonji. The nakago is o-suriage and kiri with two mekugi-ana. There are yoko-yasuri and a degree of machi-okuri. The nakago is mumei. Accompanying the sword is a collapsible tachi-kake that has been finely lacquered in the past but now has some discolouration and fading. All parts are contained in a large plain wooden storage or transport box that also contains the previous owner's sword cleaning kit in a small cardboard box (uichiko, abura and kami); Nagasa: 71.0 cm; Moto-haba: 3.1 cm; Saki-haba: 1.9 cm Provenance From the descendant family of Major-General Francis Piggott (1910-1996), by tradition presented to him by his friend Yoshitomo Tokugawa, grandson of Yoshinobu, the 15th and last Tokugawa Shogun.