Skip to main content
The Walters Art Museum

Online Collection

Explore the Art Collection keyboard_arrow_down close
  • Explore By...
  • Category
  • Date
  • Medium
  • Creator
  • Places
  • Museum Locations
The Walters Art Museum walters-logo-white
  • Calendar
  • Art
  • Shop
  • Give Now
  • Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours
    • Directions & Parking
    • Food, Drink, & Shop
    • Free Admission
    • Tours
    • Accessibility
    • Visitor Promise
  • Experience
    • Virtual Museum
    • Exhibitions & Installations
    • Programs & Events
    • Collections
    • Buildings
    • Baltimore
  • Support
    • Support the Walters
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Institutional Funders
    • Evening at the Walters
    • Volunteers
  • About
    • Mission & Vision
    • Leadership
    • Strategic Plan
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Research
    • Policies
Image for Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5)
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5)
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5)
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios
Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5) Thumbnail
Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5) Thumbnail
Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5) Thumbnail
Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5) Thumbnail
Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5) Thumbnail
Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5) Thumbnail

Short sword (wakizashi) with a large silver snake coiled around pine bark saya (includes 51.1269.1-51.1269.5)

Ichiryû Tomotoshi (Japanese, 1831-1889) (Artist)
Nukagawa Yasunori (Japanese, active ca. 1800) (Artist)
Yasutsugu (Japanese) (Artist)
Ca.1800 (Edo-Meiji)
Steel, silver, gold, copper alloy (sentoku), wood, lacquer

Wood saya worked with pine bark and large silver snake coiling arond it. Mountings of silver with gold detail; Tsuba with dragon clutching a jewel. Gold habaki. Kozuka handle of sentoku with lizard and orchids. Very heavy blade with the double-edged sword of the fierce Buddhist deity Fudo Myo-o, a dragon coiled around it, is engraved on the blade. Inscribed "Yasutsugu (Third Generation) Made in Tokyo, around 1665.

Inscription

[Signature] Kikokusai Nakagawa Yasunori; [Transcription] Yasutsugu motte Namban tetsu oite Bushu tsukuru kore; [Translation] Yasutsugu made this in Bushu province, using Namban (Western) steel; [Transcription] Oe Masakuni, zoku yo sei shi, Kami (no) katana (no) tame shi, goto, Hitotsuyanagi Tomotoshi; [Translation] See remarks

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Conservation

Date Description Narrative
12/13/1990 Treatment cleaned
Share
  • social-item
  • social-item
  • social-item

Geographies

Mito in Hitachi province (Place of Origin) Japan, Tokyo (Place of Origin)

Edo (Place of Origin)

Measurements

Overall: 26 9/16 in. (67.5 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

51.1269

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator

Related Objects

Image for Tsuka with Dragon, Clouds, and Waves

Tsuka with Dragon, Clouds, and Waves

Ichiryû Tomotoshi (Japanese, 1831-1889)
1831-1889 (late Edo-Meiji)
view details
Image for Tsuba with Dragon Holding a Jewel

Tsuba with Dragon Holding a Jewel

Ichiryû Tomotoshi (Japanese, 1831-1889)
19th century (Edo-Meiji)
view details
Image for Kozuka with Lizard and Orchids

Kozuka with Lizard and Orchids

Ichiryû Tomotoshi (Japanese, 1831-1889)
18th-19th century (Edo)
view details

Hours

  • Wednesday—Sunday: 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
  • Thursday: 1–8 p.m.
  • Monday—Tuesday: Closed

Location

600 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD
21201

Phone

410-547-9000

  • Visit
  • Experience
  • What's On
  • About
  • Shop
  • Support The Walters
copyright

The Walters Art Museum

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
  • Copyright Info
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • twitter
modal close
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios