Sengoku Seki was an industry: smiths organized under their tutelary Kasuga shrine, arming the war bands of central Japan. Magoroku Kanemoto’s sanbonsugi and the finest Kanesada work prove quality survived inside mass production.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchMasatoshi was a Mino tosho from around the Tenbun era of the late Muromachi period. His residence was not in Seki, where Kanemoto, Kanesada, and Kanetsune were located, but in Sakakura (Note 1) to the southeast, facing the Tosando and the Kiso River. His artisan name also used the character Masa instead of Kane, and furthermore, the character for Masa bears a striking resemblance to the Masa of Ise Muramasa, making the interaction with Muramasa clear (Note 2). In fact, the nioi-deki gunome-midare hamon is Muramasa-like, and although he is referred to as Sakakura Seki, he stands apart from the Seki kaji, lending weight to the evaluation (Note 3) that he was a "craftsman who developed a step ahead of the Sue-Seki schools." This katana originally had a dimension exceeding 2 shaku 5 sun, and despite being suriage, the mihaba and kasane are sufficient, the sori is high, and it is fashioned with a chukissaki, maintaining a relaxed sugata even now. Bohi are carved on the omote and ura to adjust the weight, and the feel in the hand is exquisite. The jitetsu, which mixes itame with masame, is well-wrought, with thick chikei entering and the hada standing out, while small grains of jinie shine as if flowing along the hadame, and Seki-utsuri appears. The gunome-midare hamon alternates high and low with intonation, mixing pointed ha, yahazu-style ha, and hako-like ha, the habuchi is distinctly clear with pure white konie, and the hasakai features kinsen and sunagashi, while the hiraji is covered with yubashiri and tobiyaki; the hachū is cold, clear, and bright, and the quality of the sharpness is evident. The boshi is midare-komi with a shallow kaeri. On the nakago, the shino-giji has shallow katte-sagari yasurime and the hiraji has sujikai yasurime, showing the individuality of Masatoshi, and the mei characters, headed by a Masa character of exactly the same form as Muramasa, are also vivid. The deki also shows one style of Muramasa. It is accompanied by a koshirae with a shu-inro-kizami-saya adorned with karashishi kanagu made by Yokoya Hidetsugu (Note 4). Note 1... Present-day Sakakura, Sakahogi-mura, Kamo-gun, Gifu Prefecture. Sakakura was a strategic transportation hub facing the Kiso River and the Nakasando. Note 2... In "Muromachi-ki Mino Tosho no Kenkyu," it states that from Sakakura to Ise Kuwana, "if one goes down by riverboat, it is a distance that took less than a day even in the Muromachi period," and "it would be more unnatural to assume there was no interaction." Note 3... The entry for Masatoshi's father Masayoshi in the Fujishiro edition of "Nihon Toko Jiten." Note 4... Adopted son of Yokoya Eisei. Mid-Edo period. Resident of Honjo Yokoami-cho.
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Mino-den · Mino · around 1504-1521
Tōken Taikan top 49%
1 piece on the market now
Where Masatoshi 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.
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Mino-den · Mino
1 piece on the market now
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Masatoshi正利 | 1504-1521 | 1 |
| Masatoshi正俊 | 1487-1489 | 1 |
Mino in the Muromachi period
Sengoku Seki was an industry: smiths organized under their tutelary Kasuga shrine, arming the war bands of central Japan. Magoroku Kanemoto’s sanbonsugi and the finest Kanesada work prove quality survived inside mass production.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
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