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OverviewKanteiDesignationsProvenanceBlade FormsSignaturesLineageSchool
  1. Schools
  2. Sa
  3. Sue-Sa
  4. Yasuyoshi

Sa Yasuyoshi

安吉

Tokujū
Vol. 18, No. 67 · Tantō

Sa Yasuyoshi

安吉

45 ranked works

ProvinceChikuzenEraShohei (1346–1370)PeriodNanbokuchōSchoolSaTraditionSoshu-denGeneration2ndTeacherSaFujishiroJo-jo sakuToko Taikan900(top 10%)TypeSwordsmithCodeYAS586
6Jūyō Bunkazai
4Jūyō Bijutsuhin
2Gyobutsu
3Tokubetsu Jūyō30Jūyō Tōken

Overview

A dated Shohei 17 (1362) and signed Choshu ju Yasuyoshi (長州住安吉), today a Bijutsuhin, anchors nearly everything the published sources say about Yasuyoshi of . Its hand is identical to his customary signature, and on that identity rests the account repeated at the head of entry after entry: Yasuyoshi was the son of O- (大左), succeeded him as the second generation of the line, and later moved from to Nagato. His dated work runs from Shohei 17 into the Joji era. The name did not end with him, for descendants or pupils carried it in Nagato into the early period, the line the sources call Choshu- (長州左). Across half a century of designations the assigns him one constant character, stated in almost the words each time: his is the work in which, "within the family a temperament intermingles" (左一類の中にあって備前気質が混在する).

The signed record has a strict shape. Every signed Yasuyoshi is a wide, or in , thin in and shallow in , the full mid- stance; where O-'s stay small, his run large. The published sources state plainly that no authenticated signed exists, so his and survive as attributions. The itself is a large two-character signature cut with a somewhat thick chisel below the at the center of the . On occasion it is prefixed with the character , a form headed by the Hitotsuyanagi Yasuyoshi (一柳安吉), an Important Cultural Property. The record is just as exact about an absence: works signed Yasuyoshi (左安吉) and Choshu ju Yasuyoshi both survive, but "one does not see examples signed Chikushu ju Yasuyoshi" (筑州住安吉と銘したものを見ない).

His is an that flows and often stands, mixed with , with attached. Over it rises a whitish , a , or a near the edge, and the published sources name this flowing, standing forging with its whitish cast the viewing point of the smith. The is a shallow mixed with , and pointed elements, -dominant with . enter, fine runs through, and appear here and there. The runs or thrusts up in fashion, leans slightly toward the edge, and ends pointed with light and a rather long return. Set against his father the judgment is plain: the brilliance of and falls short of O-, one early entry stating without ceremony that "his skill as well does not reach his father" (技術も父に及ばない), and the , lacking O-'s sharpness, often falls into a leaning tendency. These qualities form the stated trap. -dominant with set in, his work "at first sight strays among pieces such as Kanemitsu" (一見兼光などの長船物に紛れる), and the standing only strengthens the impression.

Two registers complicate the portrait at its edges. A minority of his smallest , nearly O-'s own size with a slightly withered , keep close to the master: dust-fine thick , fine , at times a , a bright clear with and sweeping through, the pointed, a make the published sources call "truly mistakable for O-" (正に大左に見紛う). On the signed Yasuyoshi, the character is fluent and close to O-'s own hand while the two characters of Yasuyoshi show a somewhat naive chisel; whether such pieces prove the tradition that O- himself signed Yasuyoshi in his last years, or are instead Yasuyoshi's earliest work, the leaves open for future study. At the other edge stand the Nagato years. Blades read as the Choshu Yasuyoshi differ from his usual -dominant hand: and take strongly, the grows bold with mixing in, sweeps with entering, and the thrusts up to a point. Oei-dated work is judged plainly a successor generation, while the Eiwa-dated pieces stand unresolved between the founder's last years and a second generation, a question the published sources repeat as a subject for future research.

On unsigned blades of the type his own marks decide the attribution. Where the flowing, standing carries a whitish , where the temper turns -dominant in small patterns, and where the thrusting pointed softens into a lean, the work is likened to Yasuyoshi within the school, and several have been so appraised. The pointed is the -family inheritance he never gives up; the softness of the edge is his own. The recent entries single out "the deep carrying a soft feeling" (柔らか味を帯びた塩相の深い匂口) and the rich activity working inside the , finding in them a strength that remains his even where the brilliance does not match his father's.

Fujishiro rates him Jo-jo , and the record is unusually legible: forty-five designated works are on record, thirty-six of them signed against seven unsigned. Six blades are Important Cultural Properties, headed by the Hitotsuyanagi Yasuyoshi; four are Bijutsuhin, among them the dated Shohei 17 ; and thirty-three stand in the and tiers, one praised as "the very finest within this smith's work" (同工作中の白眉). Fourteen blades carry recorded provenance: examples passed in the Ikeda and Inshu Ikeda houses, the Tosa Yamauchi and the Maeda, one certified in the ownership of Tokugawa Iesato, and another treasured by Motoda Nagazane, the Confucian scholar of Kumamoto. Of recorded whereabouts today, blades rest in the Tokugawa Art Museum, the Fukuoka City Museum, the Tokyo National Museum and the Sano Art Museum. The Important Cultural Properties are patrimony and will remain where they are; much of the rest is held by institutions or in long private keeping, and a signed Yasuyoshi coming into open hands is an uncommon event, appearing only rarely and rewarding patience.

Kantei

Bizen temperament within the Sa school: nioi-dominant ko-notare with gunome over a flowing, standing itame with shirake or bo-utsuri, tsukiage pointed boshi gentler than O-Sa's (+ a rare O-Sa-like register on the smallest tanto + the late Nagato move and the Choshu-Sa succession question)

Yasuyoshi, son of O-Sa and successor to the second generation of the Samonji line, later moved from Chikuzen to Nagato: the tanto dated Shohei 17 (1362) and signed 'Choshu ju Yasuyoshi' proves it, its hand identical to his usual mei. Signed works are wide, sunnobi tanto and ko-wakizashi only, with no authenticated signed tachi. Against his father his ji is less brilliant, with shirake-utsuri or bo-utsuri standing; the hamon is a nioi-dominant ko-notare mixed with gunome over ko-nie; and the tsukiage pointed boshi lacks O-Sa's sharpness. The judges' constant phrase is the Bizen temperament mixed into the Sa family, a manner at first sight mistakable for Osafune Kanemitsu.

Diagnostic discriminators

stated outright, not inferred: 'a make built on nioi with ko-nie set in', and 'being a nioi-dominant work' is listed among the points dividing him from O-Sa; nioi-gachi appears on none of O-Sa's 86 papers, and is the very quality that turns his work toward Bizen

shirake-utsuri on 38%, bo-utsuri on 25% and sugu-utsuri on 15% of his papers, every utsuri class absent from O-Sa's corpus; the standing utsuri is what makes the blade look Bizen at first sight, and the shirake class is precisely what Osafune Kanemitsu's own papers do not show

the pointed boshi (75%) is the Sa-family tell he keeps; his own form thrusts up, leans toward the edge and returns with light hakikake, and the judges add that it lacks O-Sa's sharpness, often falling into a leaning tendency

the two-character mei sits below the mekugi-ana at the nakago center, on 25 of 40 papers; signed pieces are sometimes prefixed 'Sa'; tachi and naginata are all osuriage mumei attributions; dated work runs Shohei 17 (1362) and Joji

Observation by phase

The Yasuyoshi register: Bizen temperament within the Sa family (the defining manner)

the signed oeuvre: wide, sunnobi tanto and ko-wakizashi on ubu nakago with a large, thick-chiseled two-character mei (sunnobi wording on 36/40, ubu 31/40, niji-mei 25/40); the katana are all osuriage mumei attributions

Where O-Sa's tanto stay small, Yasuyoshi's run wide, thin in kasane and sunnobi with shallow sori, the full Nanbokucho stance. The itame flows, often standing, with ji-nie; a whitish shirake-utsuri, a bo-utsuri or a sugu-utsuri stands, and the ji falls short of his father's brilliance. The hamon is a shallow ko-notare mixed with gunome, ko-gunome and pointed teeth, nioi-dominant with ko-nie, ashi entering, fine sunagashi and here and there kinsuji. The boshi runs midare-komi or thrusts up to a point, often leaning toward the edge and finishing with light hakikake, without O-Sa's force. On the osuriage mumei katana the same temper and the thrusting pointed boshi carry the attribution.

Sugata 姿
Jigane 地鉄
Hamon 刃文
Bōshi 帽子

The O-Sa-like register: the smallest tanto, read as early work or even the master's own hand (rare)

less firmly establishedtanto of nearly O-Sa size, fukura slightly withered, some with the mei prefixed 'Sa' (Sa Yasuyoshi)

A minority of his smallest tanto keep close to the master: dust-fine thick ji-nie, fine chikei, at times a nie-utsuri, the nioiguchi bright with kinsuji and sunagashi sweeping through, the boshi pointed, a make the judges call practically mistakable for O-Sa. On the Tokubetsu Juyo Sa Yasuyoshi tanto the character 'Sa' is close to O-Sa's own fluent hand while 'Yasuyoshi' is somewhat naive in the chiseling, and the papers leave open whether such pieces prove the tradition that O-Sa himself signed Yasuyoshi in his last years, or are Yasuyoshi's earliest work.

Sugata 姿
Jigane 地鉄
Hamon 刃文
Bōshi 帽子

The Nagato years and the Choshu-Sa question (late; the generational boundary left open)

less firmly establishedthe Shohei 17 (1362) tanto signed Choshu ju Yasuyoshi (Juyo Bijutsuhin, in this corpus) and the blades the NBTHK reads as the Nanbokucho Choshu Yasuyoshi

Nearly every paper states that Yasuyoshi moved from Chikuzen to Nagato, affirmed because the hand of the Shohei 17 Choshu ju Yasuyoshi tanto is identical to his usual mei; descendants or pupils then carried the name in Nagato into early Muromachi, the line called Choshu-Sa. The blades read as the Nanbokucho Choshu Yasuyoshi differ somewhat from the founder's nioi-dominant hand: the ji and ha take nie strongly in a shallow notare with gunome, kuichigai-ba, yubashiri and hotsure mix in, sunagashi sweeps and kinsuji enter, and the boshi thrusts up to a point with hakikake. Ooei-dated work is judged plainly a successor generation; the Eiwa-dated pieces stand unresolved between the founder's last years and a second generation.

Jigane 地鉄
Hamon 刃文
Bōshi 帽子
Scholarship

The Eiwa question is left open in the papers: Eiwa-dated Choshu Yasuyoshi work is either the founder's late production or a second generation, a stated subject for further study; Ooei-dated work is plainly a successor.

On the Sa Yasuyoshi pieces the 'Sa' is close to O-Sa's fluent hand while 'Yasuyoshi' is somewhat naive in the chiseling: either proof of the tradition that O-Sa signed Yasuyoshi late in life, or Yasuyoshi's earliest hand, a question the NBTHK leaves to future research.

An absence the papers record: no work signed 'Chikushu ju Yasuyoshi' is seen, though both Sa Yasuyoshi and Choshu ju Yasuyoshi survive.

His dates run Shohei 17 (1362) and Joji; the papers cite both eras for his surviving dated work.

Designations

Kokuhō—
Jūyō Bunkazai6
Jūyō Bijutsuhin4
Gyobutsu2
Tokubetsu Jūyō3
Jūyō Tōken30

Elite Standing

0.67 across 45 designated works

Top 4% among smiths

Provenance

15 documented provenances across certified works by Yasuyoshi

Provenance Standing

8 works held in elite collections across 15 documented provenances

Top 8% among smiths

Raw score: 2.71 / 10

Blade Forms

Distribution across 45 ranked works

Signatures

Signature types across 45 ranked works

Currently Available

Lineage

TeacherSa
Yasuyoshi
Students (6)
  1. 1.Sadayoshi貞吉23designated
  2. 2.Yasuyoshi安吉1 for sale3designated
  3. 3.Akikuni顯國2designated
  4. 4.Nobushige信重
  5. 5.Yasuyoshi安吉1designated
  6. 6.Yukiaki行觀2designated

Sa School

Other artisans of the Sa school

  1. 1.Sa左75designated
  2. 2.Kunihiro國弘51designated
  3. 3.Yoshisada吉貞48designated
  4. 4.Hiroyasu弘安24designated
  5. 5.Hiroyuki弘行33designated
  6. 6.Yukihiro行弘11designated
  7. 7.Sadayoshi貞吉23designated
  8. 8.Yoshihiro吉弘4designated
  9. 9.Sadayuki定行1 for sale3designated
  10. 10.Yukisue行末1designated
  11. 11.Sadaaki貞秋1designated
  12. 12.Sadakuni貞國1designated