Lot 68A
East Asia, Japan, Meiji Period, ca. second half of the 19th century CE. An elegant samurai's wakizashi, the short sword made to accompany the katana. It has a slightly curved, single-edged blade and a saya (scabbard) made of multiple segments of bone, probably bone from deer. The scabbard and handle are decorated with incised and colored decorations of various human figures and flowers. This traditional Japanese sword was both a weapon and a symbol of authority and social status. The wakizashi paired with the longer katana sword marked the wearer as a samurai. The shorter sword was seen as an auxiliary weapon, also used for fighting in close quarters. Wakizashi could also be worn by non-samurai if worn alone, and members of the merchant class (chonin) wore them because of the frequency of encountering bandits when traveling outside of Japan's cities. Size: 1.2" W x 20.45" H (3 cm x 51.9 cm)
Provenance: private Chicago, USA collection, acquired in the 1980s
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#132351
- Condition: Patina on bone surface. Small loss to lower part of handle, with a stable crack about an inch in length upward from the area of loss. Small loss at the bottom of the scabbard, which also have some small areas of separation at its join (roughly 1/3 of the way down its length). Blade has not been kept polished and has some corrosion on its surface, as shown.
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