NihontoWatchNihontoWatchA very interesting tanto from nambokucho to Oei era. Good activity/hataraki in the hamon is visible. A well forged hada and a lovely shape make for a desirable very early tanto. This sword is a beautiful tanto of gunome midare in itame with much ji-nie. This sword dates back to the 1300’s and has a very good history and is considered by many as a very desirable school to collect. This early tanto dating to the 1300’s is very healthy and robust. This is truly a wonderful koto era tanto from the Hirado Sa line of swordsmiths.The origin of Sa was that he lived in Chikuzen Oki bearch and was the son of Nissai.It was believed at one time that he was one of the 10 great students of Masamune but there is conflicting evidence suggesting this is not true. The Soshu-den style of his work was definitely at the top level of this.The well grained jigane is truly spectacular. This school continued until Nanbokucho periodand after that Sue Sa smiths such as Yasuyohoshi, Yukihiro and Yoshisada were active.This sword is said to be the Hirado-Sa school that was active around middle to late Nanbokucho period.It is a wide and thick tanto and the jigane is clear and refined in the Soshu-den style. The hamon and hada are well grained.There are over 30 swords that have passed NBTHK Juyo .The work is fine and healthy and may go to a higher level.HIRADO SA SchoolKUNIFUSA TEI-WA (t: O-SA): Came from CHIKUZEN. HIRADOZAEMONnoJO. Father of HAKATA KUNIMITSU. Brought SA style undulating GUNOME-NOTARE BA. Two character signature, look to CHIKUZEN made. HIRADOZAEMONnoJO KUNIFUSA SADAHIDE O-AN (f: SA SADAYOSHI): HIRADOZAEMON. Transferred from CHIKUZEN. Running HADA. NIE-DEKI NOTARE-MIDARE HA. His son, OISHI SADAHIDE to CHIKUGO. MORITSUGU O-EI: HIRADO. SHIRA-KERU "turbid" running ITAME has MASAME. KO-NIE DEKI SUGU ASAKI-NOTARE and O-MIDARE HA. MUNESHIGE O-EI: HIRADO. Running SHIRA-KE ITAME stands. KO-NIE SUGU ASAKI-NOTARE BA. BOSHI: KO-MARU KAERI is swept. SA EI-KYO: HIRADO smith lives in ISAHAYA. Worked between O-AN and EI-KYO. SUGU KO-NOTARE KO-GUNOME MIDARE HA. MORIYOSHI TEN-MON: ITAME. KO-NOTARE KO-MIDARE and NOTARE-GUNOME. MORITSUGU TAI-EI: KONGOBYOE. OZAKI JU. CHIKUZEN MORITSUGU School. Transferred to HIZEN. ________ IYESHIGE TEI-JI 1362 _________ _________ _________ ________ KOREYOSHI O-EI: To HIGO. KUNIKATSU CHIKAFUSA MORISADA - O-EI 1394 - _________ _________ _________ MITSUHISA O-NIN 1467 HIROYOSHI KUNISHIGE _______ ________ _______ - EI-KYO 1429 - IYEHIRO MORIFUSA IYEHISA - BUN-MEI 1469 - MEI-O 1492 _________ _________ ________ ________ _________ KUNICHIKA TADAYOSHI IYETSUGU KUNISUKE TSUNEKUNI EI-SHO 1504 TAI-EI 1521 - TEN-MON 1532 - ________ _________ TAKEYASU GEN-KI 1570 SHIZUMASA TEN-SHO 1573 ________ MUNESADA MATSUURA TEN-SHO 1573 ________ SUYEMORI SHIHOTAI BUN-MEI 1469 ________ MUNESUYE SHIHOTAI TEN-SHO 1573 Mei:MumeiDate:1300’s (koto)Nagasa:8-1/16 inchesWidth at the ha-machi:20.8 mmThickness at the mune-machi:5.0 mmConstruction:Hira kuriMune:IoriNakago:UbuKitae:Itame/mokumeHamon:MidareBoshi:MaruCondition:Good polish Kantei-Sho(鑑定書) – AppraisalNo 3009136tantō, unsigned: Hirado-Sa (平戸左)nagasa~ 20.5 cmAccording to the result of theshinsacommittee of our society, we judge this work as authentic and rank it asHozon Tōken.July 14, 2015[Foundation] Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, NBTHK (日本美術刀劍保存協會)
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Soshu-den · Hizen
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At Hirado in Hizen Province, a body of smiths carried the Sa (Samonji) line of Chikuzen northward and worked it on their own ground, and these are the makers the records group under the name Hirado Sa. The setsumei place their activity from the late Nanbokuchō into the early Muromachi period, with one tachi dated no earlier than Kenmu (1334) and no later than Meitoku (1394), and a tantō set around the Ōei era. The named hand at the head of the group is Shichirōsaburō Morihiro (盛広), transmitted as belonging to a branch of the Sa lineage and signing Hirado jū Morihiro saku; the meikan note that second and third generations worked under the same name. His son Moriyoshi (盛吉), recorded as the child of Morihiro, signs in two characters. Two further smiths appear in the corpus: Morisada (守貞), whose tachi carries a two-character mei, and Sadakiyo (貞清), whose tantō is signed Hirado Sa Sadakiyo. The shared manner reads as Soshu-den transplanted from the parent school. The kitae is itame, often drifting toward masame near the edge and at times opening into ō-itame with mokume; ji-nie forms throughout, chikei appears, and the ground frequently takes a whitish cast.
The temper rests on nie and ko-nie and runs through a vocabulary of shallow notare and ko-notare mixed with gunome, sometimes in a connected (tsure) manner, with ashi, deep nioi in places, and sunagashi worked vigorously; kinsuji, hotsure, and kuichigai-ba are noted on the more active blades. The bōshi varies but tends to midare-komi with a slightly pointed tip that turns back, and ranges to hakikake, a flame-like (kaen) form, and ko-maru. On the tantō by Moriyoshi the setsumei find aspects that recall Akikuni and Yukikuni of Chōshū, while elsewhere the work is read directly against the Sa line; recognition therefore rests on the Sa-school structure of itame with ji-nie carrying a nie-based notare-gunome. For kantei the standing point is this Sa-derived combination of a whitish ji-nie ground and a nie-laden, notare-tinged midareba with sunagashi, set against the group's Nanbokuchō-to-Muromachi dating; the long-signature tantō of Morihiro is singled out as extremely rare. One ō-suriage, mumei katana attributed den Hirado Sa carries a kinzōgan-mei reading Raikō (雷光) and a dedication of Meiji 14 (1881), recording its presentation by Yamaoka Tetsutarō to Koteda Yasusada, then Governor of Shiga Prefecture. The setsumei repeatedly treat these blades as reference material that fills gaps in the extant meikan record for the group, and the signed tachi and tantō in particular are valued as documentary evidence for a body of work whose signed examples are scarce. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sadahide貞秀 | 1368-1375 | 0 |
| Moriyuki盛行 | 1394-1428 | 0 |
| Moritsugu守次 | 1394-1428 | 0 |
| Moriyoshi盛吉 | 1444-1449 | 0 |
| Muneshige宗重 | 1394-1428 | 0 |
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