A Japanese ryo-shinogi-yari, Edo period, with slender waisted four-sided blade, blade length 15.5cm, the deep central fuller detailed in red lacquer, the long tang with single hole piercing and signed to one face, mounted on a fine dark oak shaft, the upper grip sections of textured red lacquer with gilt copper alloy collar mounts and red lacquer-finished rattan binding, overall length 221.5cm (lacking hirumaki), the blade with black lacquered textured-finish saya. Provenance: the collection of the late Roald Knutsen (1933-2025); purchased Canterbury, August 1961, for £2. Note: illustrated in ‘Japanese Polearms’ by Roald M. Knutsen, The Holland Press, London: 1963, page 170, plate 34. Roald Knutsen identified the signature as Idzumo No Kami Fuji-Wara-No Yoshitake, third son of Kunitsugu III of Echizen, Horikawa school, Kyoto, and noted that this smith worked chiefly at Yedo around 1685-1705.