According to the seller who sold this to me, this is a Mini Tanto from the 19th century, 5.8 inch cutting edge in fine polish with the signature above the ridge line, very nice blade in beautifuly crafted aikuchi koshirae. For many Nihonto collectors, this mini knife is not considered the real Nihonto. For me, this is important as its a beautiful knife with Maki E. In addition, it is this mini Nihonto that got me started to explore into the world of Japanese swords.
koshirae has a samurai poem on it, under the poem is the name of the man who wrote the poem, called Koutoku. The blade has the signature of Kiku Ichimonji, living and working at the end of 19th century.
there is a nice link(http://www.kikuichimonji.co.jp/h.html) here about him, at the end of samurai era and carrying swords and he made commercial items, cooking knives and tools, but as you can see he made nice tanto also, so this is a rare example with a nice history and well documented.
The japanese man who translated it found it difficult as old type of writing style and poem, but it is something like : life is like a cherry tree, it blooms beautifuly and falls when it end. Also see http://www.kikuichimonji.com/
KIKUICHIMONJI
In the year 1208 the Emperor Gotoba gave permission to his swordsmith Norimune to stamp the blade of each sword with the imperial Chrysanthemum-crest. Norimune then engraved the number 1 below the crest. Thus the name Kikuichi-monji, Chrysanthemum One, was created.
In 1876, when samurai were banned from carrying swords, Kikuichi-monji added a horse’s bit mouthpiece(kutuwa) ” “ logo above its name and started manufacturing cooking knives, carpentry tools, gardening knives, and other related products in Kyoto. Using the superb sword-making technique passed down through generations, Kikuichi-monji pledges to produce high-quality cutlery.
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