Measuring 38 1/2 inches overall, with a 27 1/8 inch blade, showing a fine hamon that starts out wavy near the silver plated copper habaki before stabilizing to a straight hamon running just a fraction of an inch away from the edge, with superb metal grain running the entire length of the blade. The tsuba is iron construction, four-lobed, the top decorated with a gold highlighted engraving of a small stream, and the underside a sculpted scene of an old man standing beneath a flowering tree, the flowers and the man's robe accented in gold, and the man's head rendered in engraved silver. The motif of the man beneath the tree is repeated on the kashira in darkened copper with gold accents, and the fuchi showing a wrap-around scene of two men in a temple, configured as the kashira. The grip is wrapped in purple cord, and the menuki are floral arrangements in copper, silver and gold. The saya is finished in black lacquer with white bead accents, a carved 3-symbol marking on the face above a pair of crossed silver eagle feathers, a green cord, and brown horn fittings. A deep, near-black color is showing on the tang, with a 2-symbol signature on the right side and a copper liner added to the mekugi-ana. A consignor-supplied translation identifies this as "suki mune", and attribute the manufactured to a date range of 1180 A.D. to 1220. This timeframe would see the end of the Heian Period with the Genpai War c.1180-1185 and the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate. Many of the swords originally produced in this configuration would be shortened in later years as trends in fighting arms called for polearms for open-field combat and shorter blades like the katana and wakizashi for close-in/house fighting; this example shows none of the symptoms of shortening.

Very fine overall. A few minor dings and spots are present on the fine polished blade, with a few tiny chips on the edge and some dents on the habaki. The tsuba shows a fine, deep aged patina, with a few tears in the rayskin and stains on the wrap. The saya is very good, with some dings and scuffs. An excellent example of the fine art of the Japanese sword.