A Japanese hira sankaku-yari, probably 16th century, with three-sided pyramid-shaped head, head length 10.5cm, each side with single fuller and picked out with red lacquer detailing, the tang with single hole piercing and signed to one face, mounted on an oak shaft of faced round form, the upper grip sections finished in simulated fishskin with copper collar and wire bindings and cast bronze hirumaki terminal, overall length 238.5cm. Provenance: the collection of the late Roald Knutsen (1933-2025). Note: illustrated in ‘Japanese Polearms’ by Roald M. Knutsen, The Holland Press, London: 1963, page 168, plate 33. Roald Knutsen noted that the signature was indistinct but his attempted decipher was Michinobu Kagehisa, probably 16th century.