Every blade on this record of Yasuari is an , signed , three of them cutting the long Satsushu-ju Ippei Fujiwara Yasuari toward the with a thick chisel and dated Meiwa 3 (1766). Yasuari was born in Hoei 5 (1708) as the second son of Nakamura Kiyofusa, and because Ippei Yasuyo, the founder of the Satsuma Ippei line, had no biological heir, he was taken as adopted son in Kyoho 8 (1723) at the age of sixteen. When Yasuyo died at forty-nine in Kyoho 13 (1728), Yasuari succeeded to the headship of the line at twenty-one, and he led it until his own death at seventy in An'ei 6 (1777). The published sources note that he first signed Yasuji, that he undertook and daimei on his master's behalf, and that joint works between the two survive, so that telling his own hand from Yasuyo's is itself a matter of connoisseurship.
His characteristic hand inherits Yasuyo's manner closely. The body is broad in mihaba and thick in kasane, full in hiraniku and high in the shinogi, the stout, robust construction of the province. Over a tightly packed ko-itame he tempers a notare-based hand into which he sets gunome and somewhat pointed togariba, the nioi deep and the nie thick with ara-nie mixed and gathering unevenly. Through the ha run kinsuji and sunagashi, and in the upper half faint yubashiri-like effects drift into the shinogi-ji. On the fifteenth-session katana the boshi runs straight into a small ko-maru and the ura carries an imozuru, the long unbroken thread of nie-lines that is the celebrated Satsuma-no-imozuru of the province's schools. The deep-nioinotare carried in coarse nie, rather than any Bizen clove-flower, is the spine of his recognition.
The jigane beneath is the constant. It is a ko-itame, well compacted and at times tending toward a muji, plain-grain look, into which ji-nie forms thickly, mixed with rougher ji-nie and fine chikei, the steel taking a darkish cast. Over it the boshi runs straight, turning back in a small ko-maru or, on one piece, thick with nie in a yakizume-like manner, the point swept with hakikake. The nakago is ubu, finished with a kuri-jiri tip and higaki file marks, with a single mekugi-ana; the omote carries the long signature toward the mune and the ura a date inscription, the tang-finish itself among the features the published sources read as extremely close to Yasuyo.
The published sources read two faces within this small signed record. In his ordinary range the work is calmer: a wide suguha with a slight notare tendency in the upper half, narrowing below into a shallow notare-ba, the whole carrying unevenly distributed ara-nie over a ko-itame turning somewhat plain, a piece the judges read as an ordinary level of workmanship in both ji and ha that nonetheless "clearly exemplifies the characteristic style of Satsuma shinto" (「薩摩新刀の作風をよく示した」2). Against this stands his foremost manner, the notare mixed with gunome and togariba, deep in nioi and thick in nie, with kinsuji, sunagashi and drifting yubashiri, the ji dark and full of chikei. Of one such katana the published sources say it "approaches the level of his adoptive father Yasuyo, and stands among the foremost superior works within Yasuari's oeuvre" (「養父安代の作に迫るもので、同作中屈指の優品である」3); of another, that it is "extremely close to Yasuyo" (「安代に頗る近似している」4).
What sets him within his province is exactly the closeness the judges name and the small distance they then measure. He is read first against Yasuyo, whose broad thick sugata, dark ji-nieko-itame and nie-laden notare he shares so nearly that the published sources reach for the same line again and again. His individuality is located not in a different style but in a quieter handling of the same one. Compared to Yasuyo, the published sources find, the activity within the ha is calmer, and the nioiguchi shows in places a tendency to tighten, features through which "Yasuari's individuality can be discerned, and which may be regarded as his particular flavor" (「刃中の働きが穏やかで、且つ匂口が部分的にしまりごころを呈している」5). His own deep-nioinotare, his dark chikei-laden jigane and his swept hakikakeboshi are the grounded traits that place him, the second-generation custodian of the Ippei manner within the Satsuma tradition rather than a maker of a separate school.
For the collector he is a comparatively rare name, his own extant works few even within the Satsuma school, since his period of working alongside Yasuyo was short and much of his early labor went into daisaku and daimei for his master. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record on this account runs entirely through the Juyo tier, where four of his works are held, all ubu, signed katana dated to Meiwa 3. The published sources call the finest of them a superior piece comparable to his adoptive father, the highest praise the school's own commentary affords a second-generation hand. The blades carry no recorded daimyo provenance, descending instead through private collections in Japan and abroad. Most designated blades, including those in private hands, are held rather than traded, and a signed Yasuari of his foremost manner comes to market only rarely and with patience, a document of how the Ippei line carried its founder's Soshu-den into a second generation.
Kantei
A nie-laden Soshu-leaning notare over a dark, thick ji-nie ko-itame, the Satsuma Ippei manner inherited from Yasuyo; told from the master by a calmer ha-activity and a nioiguchi that locally tightens.
Yasuari, who signed the long mei Satsushu-ju Ippei Fujiwara Yasuari, was the second son of Nakamura Kiyofusa, adopted in 1723 as heir to Ippei Yasuyo, the founder of the Satsuma Ippei line, whom he succeeded at the headship in 1728. His hand inherits Yasuyo's manner closely: a broad, thick-kasanesugata over a tightly-packed ko-itame whose ji-nie forms thickly and runs dark, the hamon a nie-laden notare with deep nioi, ara-nie, chikei, kinsuji and sunagashi, the long imozuru of Satsuma running into a straight, rounded boshi. The published sources read his particular flavor in a calmer activity within the ha and a nioiguchi that tightens in places, the trait by which he is told apart from his master.
Diagnostic discriminators
のたれnotare4
100% of his works
地沸ji-nie3
75% of his works
いもづるimozuru1
25% of his works
匂深nioi-fukashi2
deep nioi with thickly-adhering ko-nie; in his foremost pieces the ji and ha approach Yasuyo, while the published sources find the activity calmer and the nioiguchi tightening in places, his own flavor
Observation by phase
The standard Satsuma shinto manner
In his ordinary range the kitae is a ko-itame, mixed and well compacted, tending somewhat toward a muji (plain-grain) look, with ara-nie scattered here and there; over it he tempers a wide suguha with a slight notare tendency, narrowing in the lower half into a shallow notare-ba, the whole carrying unevenly distributed ara-nie. The boshi runs straight into a small ko-maru, and on the ura the long imozuru of Satsuma enters. The published sources read this as an ordinary level of workmanship in both ji and ha that clearly exemplifies the characteristic style of Satsuma shinto.
Sugata 姿
重ね厚kasane atsu1
Jigane 地鉄
小板目ko-itame2荒沸ara-nie1
Hamon 刃文
広直刃hiro-suguha2のたれnotare1荒沸ara-nie1
Bōshi 帽子
小丸ko-maru1いもづるimozuru1
His foremost works, approaching Yasuyo
In his finest pieces the construction is broad in width, thick in kasane and full in hiraniku, with a high shinogi; the forging is a tightly-packed ko-itame into which ji-nie forms thickly, mixed with rougher ji-nie and fine chikei, the steel taking a darkish cast. Over it lies a notare base mixed with gunome and somewhat pointed elements, nie-ashi entering, the nioi deep and the nie thick with ara-nie; kinsuji and sunagashi play through, and in the upper half faint yubashiri-like effects drift into the shinogi-ji. The boshi is straight with a rounded turnback, the tip showing hakikake. The published sources call such a work an outstanding piece by the smith, comparable to and approaching the level of Yasuyo himself.
The published sources read Yasuari's manner as a close inheritance of Yasuyo, sharing the broad thick sugata, the dark ji-nie ko-itame and the nie-laden notare, and they locate his individuality in a calmer ha-activity and a nioiguchi that locally tightens.1
Born the second son of Nakamura Kiyofusa and taken as adopted heir because Yasuyo had no biological child, Yasuari first signed Yasuji and undertook daisaku and daimei for his master, so that distinguishing his own hand from Yasuyo's is itself a matter of connoisseurship.4
Historical importance
Where Yasuari stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.