Blade - Sword and Dragon

Description This iconography of a dragon wrapped around a sword represents Kôbô Daishi's sword. Kôbô Daishi (also known as Kûkai; 774-834) was a Buddhist priest who studied in China and founded the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan. It is said he used a sword that had a rain dragon wrapped around it to bring rain at the end of a drought. The signature on the back is a forgery of an earlier artist's signature. This is part of a mounted set.

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

Inscriptions [Signature] Forged: 後藤光乗; [Translation] Gotô Kôjô (kao)

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters