A Japanese horseman’s yari, Edo period, with almost square-section steel head, head length 9cm, mounted on a hardwood shaft with moulded ribbed upper grip section, finished in black lacquer with copper and woven bindings, overall length 269cm (lacking hirumaki terminal), with textured red lacquer-finished rectangular saya. Provenance: the collection of the late Roald Knutsen (1933-2025); ex H. Russell Robinson Collection 1958, purchased for £3. Note: illustrated in ‘Japanese Polearms’ by Roald M. Knutsen, The Holland Press, London: 1963, page 168 plate 33. We have been unable to remove the head from the shaft to confirm the tang is signed, but Roald Knutsen identified the signature as Yamamoto Tada-Aki, not recorded but probably mid-19th century.