The hanging scroll of wakizashi, or a short Japanese sword, put on the wall of the alcove in Ikkyoan in NISHIOGI.
Wakizashi is a short sword carried together with a long one by a samurai as a reserve; it is used as a weapon, if the long one breaks and becomes useless.
This wakizashi, which has no curve and is 49.1cm long, was made by the founder of the Yoshii sword-making school called Kagenori in 1364; his workshop was in Bizen-no-kuni Yoshii (currently Akaiwa City, Okayama Prefecture).
They say the Yoshii school’s wakizashi is characterized by an irregular pattern on the blade; it looks like the teeth of a saw.
脇指
一欅庵の床の間に飾られた脇指の掛け軸。
脇指とは、腰に差す小さな日本刀で、本指が破損などで使えないときに使用される予備の武器のこと。
この大振りの平脇指（反りがなく、長さ49.1cm）は、貞治三年（1364）、備前国吉井（現在の岡山県赤磐市）に居住していた吉井派の祖・景則（かげのり）の作。
吉井派の脇指の特徴は、片落ちの互（ぐ）の目乱れの刃文（はもん）にあるという。すなわち、刀身の模様が、いわばノコギリの歯のような形になっていることである。
