A fine Japanese hira-sankaku-yari, probably Edo period, with triangular-section head, head length 23.5cm, one face fullered and detailed in red lacquer, the long tang with single hole piercing and signed to one face, mounted on an oak shaft, the upper grip section finely lacquered and decorated with crushed mother-of-pearl, with copper and gilt rattan bindings and hirumaki terminal, overall length 213.5cm, the blade with black lacquer-finished saya. Provenance: the collection of the late Roald Knutsen (1933-2025); purchased from Gregory, Portobello Road, 4th March 1961, for £2. Note: Roald Knutsen identified the signature as Uda Sadataka and noted name not recorded but possibly the Uda school of Etchu province, which flourished throughout the 14th-16th centuries, although later smiths may have used the name.