UK
Sword Register 79
Type: Hizen-to (Shinto)
Nagasa:
75.4 cm
Moto-haba: 3.2 cm
Saki-haba: 2.0 cm
Sugata: A comparatively slender shinogi-zukuri with tori-zori and iori-mune,
with fumbari and a small chu-kissaki. Futatsu-bi on both sides located in the
shinogi-ji.
Jihada: A fine ko-mokume (konuka-hada) with ji-nie and chikei
Hamon: Nie-deki but with some nioi, wide gunome- choji-midare based on
notare-midare. Many ashi and ko-ashi, yo, sunagaeshi and kinsuji mainly in or
near the habouchi. Boshi is suguha and ko-maru with kaeri.
Nakago: Ubu with one mekugi-ana, sujikai yasurime, yamagata-jiri, there is a
possibility of about 1cm machi-okuri, signed on the sashi-ura HIZEN KUNI
KAWACHI DAIJO FUJIWARA MASAHIRO.
The sugata of this sword is rather
distinctive and unlike that normally associated with the Hizen province swords
of the early shinto period. Mostly, such swords seem to be quite wide in the
mihaba with little tapering and the kissaki is often described as
“elongated” or “thrusting” chu-kissaki. This sword, however, is quite
long, narrow and slender, having a graceful elegance together with a rather
small chu-kissaki. I consider that this difference demonstrates a tachi sugata
rather than the more usual katana-sugata of the time.
Further, the hamon is also rather
uncharacteristic. Although it includes some gunome and choji, this is based on a
wide notare-midare that comes close to the shinogi in places. It is
overwhelmingly nie dominated with many of the hataraki associated with nie, such
as sunagaeshi, kinsuji, yo etc. In my personal opinion, these features represent
strong influence from Soshu-den.
It is the beautiful, compact jihada,
embellished with nie and chikei that should help us to Hizen-to (where it is
known as konuka-hada) but I confess that I would not be easily able to attribute
it to this school in a kantei session.
We appear, therefore, to have a
Soshu-den tachi that was made in Hizen province by the shodai (first generation)
Masahiro who was born in 1607 in the Hizen capital of Saga. His given name was
Sadenjiro and later he was known as Yashichibei. His father, also a swordsmith
was Yoshinobu, the son-in-law of shodai Tadayoshi. Shodai Masahiro was
Tadayoshi’s grandson (on his mother’s side of the family) as well as his
pupil. Additionally he was adopted by Tadayoshi as his son. In the complicated
relationships that existed in this group of swordsmiths, he was both the son and
grandson of Tadayoshi (it is thought that the adoption was made to provide
Tadayoshi with an heir, although this was rendered unnecessary by the birth of a
natural heir, who was later to become Omi Daijo Tadahiro).
The name Masanaga is said to have been the first swordsmith’s name of Masahiro. This name was certainly used by subsequent generations before they took over the lineage and the Masahiro name, but there seems to be only one example attributed to shodai Masahiro, and there is even some doubt about this.
In 1623, when the young Masahiro was
16 years old and was studying sword making under both his father, Yoshinobu, and
his grandfather Tadayoshi, he made a tachi (maybe assisted by his teachers)
which was presented to the clan leader, Lord Nabeshima. The Lord was obviously
very impressed with the young swordsmith’s work, which was a Soshu style
tachi. He said, “This is very well made.
It is exactly like a Soshu Masahiro blade. It would be better to use the
Masahiro signature from this point onward”. And so in 11th
month of Kanei 2nd year (1625) he is said to have changed his
signature to Masahiro. At this time he was also given a rice stipend as part of
the on-going patronage of the Hashimoto family of swordsmiths by the powerful
Nabeshima daimyo of Hizen province. It seems that the Soshu style tachi
represents Masahiro’s best workmanship.
There are confusing circumstances
surrounding the award and use of the Kawachi Daijo title. Some sources and the
weight of opinion, say that the title was awarded by the Nabeshima daimyo in
1628, but there are no examples of it being used until 1641 or 1644. Before this
time, Masahiro’s mei read Hizen Kuni
Saga ju Masahiro. It is possible that for some reason the Han authorities
prevented the use of the title by one of their retained smiths, or more
probably, it was actually awarded at the later date. As may be seen in the
current example, when using the “Kawachi Daijo” title, the characters for
“Fujiwara” are also included in the mei. Also the characters become smaller
than those of previous signatures and a broader chisel is employed for the
mei-kiri. He followed the custom of most Hizen smiths by signing long swords on
the sashi-ura, so called tachi-mei.
Hizen
Kuni Kawachi Daijo Fujiwara Masahiro
(Oshigata
reduced to 68% of original)
The swordsmiths of Hizen were known
for co-operating with each other because of their close family ties and in the
early Shinto period, it appears that shodai Masahiro was pivotal in the
prosperity of both the Hashimoto family and the Nabeshima Han’s prosperous
sword business. After shodai Tadayoshi was awarded the Musashi Daijo title in
1624, he changed his name to Tadahiro (the shodai Tadahiro) but did not enjoy
good health until his death in 1632. During this later part of his life, it is
understood that Masahiro substituted for him in the production of a number of
swords, both dai-mei and dai-saku. At the same time, he was very involved in the
education and teaching of the nidai
Tadahiro who was too young to effectively take over and inherit the school on
the death of shodai Tadahiro. It would seem that nidai Masahiro (son of shodai)
performed a similar function between nidai Tadahiro and the sandai Tadayoshi (Mutsu
no Kami). Masahiro was, therefore, not only a highly skilled swordsmith, but
important in the overall context of Hizen-to.
Horimono, even hi, on Masahiro blades
are quite rare and it is thought that most were done by the horimono-shi
Munenaga who also carved for Tadayoshi on occasions and had been a pupil of
Umetada Myoju in Kyoto with shodai Tadayoshi.
The Masahiro lineage carried on to the
11th generation who died in Meiji 35th year (1902). Shodai
Masahiro died at the age of 59 on Kanbun 5th year (1665) 2nd
month, 5th day. Fujishiro rates him as Jo-saku and wazamono. This
sword was given Tokubetsu Hozon status by the N.B.T.H.K.
Clive
Sinclaire
Bexley,
January 2007
References:
Shinto Jiten, Fujishiro
Art and the Sword, Vol 14, JSS US
Hizen Tadayoshi, Robertshaw
Hizen Hekki, Eguchi
Shinto Taikan, Iemura