Rare Tsunesaburo 60th Anniversary Hotetsune Kanna (3 planes, complete with original documents))

A complete, unused set of three commemorative 70mm kanna, forged circa 2007 for the 60th anniversary of Tsunesaburo's founding. Tsunesaburo chose the Hotetsune pattern for the occasion because it was the first plane the founding smith ever named. These are special off-catalog forgings of Hotetsune in three different steels.

The point of the set, in Tsunesaburo's own words from the enclosed letter, is to "experience the difference between the steels and their cutting feel":

• Aogami Super (Blue Paper Super) - Hitachi's top special steel. The all-rounder: holds an edge through hardwoods and softwoods alike.
• K120 Swedish steel (Assab) - easy to sharpen, light in the cut, and leaves a top-class luster. The softwood specialist.
  
• YSS special powder steel - carbon-steel sharpness with high-speed-steel toughness, suitable for hard and engineered materials that punish ordinary blades.

Each blade is hand engraved on the back, and each pairs its steel with a different soft backing iron and finish. The set reads as three distinct planes from the same hand.

Included are the original commemorative letter from Tsunesaburo describing each steel, plus the anniversary posters. Sets like this essentially never surface complete, and this one is unlikely to be available in the US again.