無銘(下坂) - Mumei (Shimosaka) - 3-689
¥159,500
Tracked across 76 dealers worldwide · price history · sold archive
Edo
Specifications
34.56 cm
0.27 cm
2.97 cm
2.6 cm
About the maker
Shimosaka下坂
The Shimosaka school of Echizen Province was a collective enterprise in which several smiths forged blades under the shared trademark "Shimosaka." In the earliest phase, the first-generation Yasutsugu is thought to have served as the group's central figure. Signatures occur in multiple forms -- "Echizen no Kuni Shimosaka," "Higo Daijō Shimosaka," and "Higo Daijō Fujiwara Shimosaka" -- and among those bearing the Higo Daijō title, at least three contemporaneous smiths are identified: Yasutsugu, Sadakuni, and Kanenori. The NBTHK has noted that the chisel movement and brush-like intent in their characters are alike or of the same tendency, and their workmanship styles share common features, making it difficult at present to assign individual Shimosaka signatures to specific hands on a definitive basis. The school's characteristic mode is a forging of *itame-hada* mixed with *mokume*, flowing overall with a tendency toward standing grain (*hada-dachi*), producing conspicuous *shirake*-like effects. *Ji-nie* and *chikei* are present, and the steel sometimes shows an admixture of somewhat blackish *kane*. The *hamon* typically takes the form of a narrow *suguha* or *chū-suguha* with a tightening *nioiguchi* and *ko-nie*; fine *sunagashi* are applied, and the nioiguchi tends toward a *shizumi* (subdued) quality. Where *midare* elements appear, they manifest as shallow *notare* mixed with *gunome*, with *ko-ashi* entering and *hotsure* and *kinsuji* enlivening the *habuchi*. A further hallmark of the school is the relief carving (*ukibori*) of "true" *kurikara* and other subjects executed within *hi* on both sides -- work displaying the distinctive traits of *Kinai-bori* (Echizen Kinai-style carving), rendered with powerful chisel finishing. The Shimosaka school's works span katana, wakizashi, tantō, and naginata, and are consistently recognized as superior pieces within the early *shintō* tradition. Their blades are valued both as accomplished examples of Echizen craftsmanship and as important reference material for understanding the formative period of the Shimosaka group before individual identities fully crystallized.
