Yumeji Katana (T10 Steel with Genuine Hamon)

The yumeji, literally "path of dreams", is a poetic term for the journey the spirit takes during the night's sleep. In Heian-period tales, separated lovers would meet along the yumeji before waking at dawn. The painter Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934) took this name for his dreamlike production of bijinga (portraits of beautiful women). The Yumeji Katana captures this dreamlike quality.

The T10 steel blade (60-62 HRC hardness, nagasa of roughly 70 cm) bears a genuine wavy hamon which, under certain diffuse light, seems as fluid as the movement of a dream. The differential hardening leaves the organic line of the hardness front visible.

The mounting adopts a dreamlike palette: lavender-grey ito over light samegawa, a light alloy tsuba with an elongated cloud motif (the cloud of dreams), a saya lacquered in smoky blue with antique-pink undertones, and a light grey sageo. Patinated silver habaki.

A replica for lovers of Taisho-era art (Yumeji's era), a decorative piece for bedrooms or artists' studios, or a gift for dream-journal keepers and lovers of dreamlike literature (Junichirō Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata). A katana with the quality of a fleeting memory.