Before World War II, with the aim of studying the Kiya chigata. I borrowed from Mr. Kurokawa Fukusabro living in Õnaka eighteen scrolls which were said to be the Kiya Oshigata and also a pile of the Kiyas’ descendants archives from Mr. Kimura agoro in Kõbe. Although I made a promise to examine and tudy these reference materials, the disturbances during the war compelled me to discontinue my study of the subject. Because of . the very hard times caused by the air-raids in Tokyo, I had to take these important objects out of the city. Fortunately, a man living in Okutama in the outskirts of Tokyo kindly stored them in his warehouse. Therefore, they remained safe in perfect condition. Pight after the war, I could not keep them at home due to lack of room to study. They were therefore temporarily kept, together with other sword reference materials I had collected, in the Tokyo National Museum.
Now that I have been able to study these materials and to deepen my knowledge and understanding of this subject, I have written this text to introduce what I have been able to learn and also to ask you to provide me with any advice and comment you may have on any uncertainties due to the limited data I have obtained.
In the meantime, it was only recently that I learned that Mr. Honami Köhaku also had a set of the Kiya Oshigata scrolls. Thanks to him, I borrowed them and was able to specifically compare them with Mr. Kurokawa’s scrolls.
This comparison taught me a lot of important and meaningful things.