A Japanese horseman’s yari spearhead, Edo period, with fine four-faced swollen-form tip, head length 9.5cm, the tang with single hole piercing and interestingly signed in red lacquer below the fitting hole, overall length 29cm, mounted on a long slender oak shaft, the upper grip section with corrugated black lacquer finish, copper and rattan bindings and iron horn-form hirumaki terminal, overall length 248cm. Provenance: the collection of the late Roald Knutsen (1933-2025). Note: the head illustrated in ‘Japanese Polearms’ by Roald M. Knutsen, The Holland Press, London: 1963, page 168 plate 33. Roald Knutsen noted late 17th/early 18th century.