This is the first of two excellent naginatanaoshi wakizashi from the Shimada school. This piece has been attributed to den Sunshu Shimada Yoshisuke. The shodai Yoshisuke worked in Suruga and was the founder of the Shimada school. This sword is papered to a later generation circa Tenbun (天文) 1532-1555. I believe that time period would indicate the yondai (fourth generation). This piece exhibits an excellent quality hamon in the Soshu tradition, with bright ko-nie, kinsuji and sunagashi. The jihada is a crisp itame with ji-nie and chikei. There is a bo-hi on one side and both bo-hi and futatsuji-hi on the reverse. This Yoshisuke naginatanaoshi wakizashi is in perfect polish with a high-quality gold foil habaki fitted to the naginata-hi.

Nagasa: 15 3/8″ / 39cm
Moto-haba: 1 1/4″ / 3.1cm
Kasane: 6mm