Hello everybody,
I'm new to the NMB (though not new to the Nihonto).
As You can see on the picture below (poor quality, but I think You'll get the point) there's a small blade displaying all over a very remarkable but exceptional kitae. Obviously two steels of different carbon content are assembled and welded together. In addition there’s an itame-nagare hada. I was told the kitae resembles to western Wootz steel. However, it’s a Muromachi blade with a Hozon-paper attributing the dirk to Sue-Mino (although I dare to doubt the Mino origin...). Because of the small size, alteration and repeated polishing it seems obvious there’s no core steel.
Can anybody help me with some information about such a kitae and/or similar examples?
Florian B.
