UK Sword Register.
No.
75
Type: Shinto wakizashi
Nagasa: 47.1 cm
Moto-haba: 3.0 cm
Saki-haba: 2.5 cm
Sugata:
Broad shinogi-zukuri, tori-zori, iori-mune, large chu-kissak1.
Jihada:
A fine and compact ko-mokume with abundant ji-nie, some coarse nie.
Hamon:
O-midare, nie-deki, with occasional gunome and choji like inclusions,
ko-ashi some sunagaeshi, inazuma and kinsuji. Suguha boshi with ko-maru and
short kaeri.
Nakago:
Ubu
with one mekugi-ana, ha-agari kuri-jiri, sujikai yasurime. Signed on the omote:
ICHI, HISHU DEWA (no) KAMI YUKIHIRO and MOTTE
It is unfortunate that the nakago is
rather heavily corroded, degrading the mei in places (and making oshigata
drawing very difficult). However, the mei is clear enough to be readable and it
is the signature of the shodai Hizen Yukihiro. Although not exactly rare, this
swordsmith usually wrote HIZEN rather than the HISHU as in this case and there
are a good number of his swords that include the phrase “Orande Kitae Saku”,
indicating Dutch forging. (It is said that “Orande Kitae”, unlike “Nambam
Tetsu” is derived from the forging methods applied to the making of guns by
the Dutch at Nagasaki. A certain Shiro Tanenaga and Hisatsugu both adapted this
technique to make swords, passing the knowledge on to Yukihiro. The veracity of
this has been questioned and it has been suggested that the inclusion of Orande
Kitae in inscriptions might simply be to make the swords more marketable, i.e.
for purely financial gain.)
Born in 1617 with the given name of
Kurobei, Yukihiro was part of was part of the extended family of the first
generation Tadayoshi, being his grandson. His father was Yoshiro and the shodai
Masahiro was his elder brother. As it is known that there was close
collaboration between these family members, it is not surprising that it is
considered that Yukihiro’s workmanship closely resembles that of Masahiro.
Yukihiro received the title Dewa Daijo
in the 5th year of Shoho (1648) and was promoted to Dewa (no) Kami in
the 3rd year of Kambun (1663). He was 33 years of age at this time.
It was in the 3rd year of Keian (1650) that he went to study under
the so-called “Orande smiths” previously mentioned Tanenaga and Hisatsugu,
in Nagasaki, which was part of Hizen province. We may presume, therefore, that
Orande Kitae inscriptions were made after this date.
Ichi,
Hishu Dewa (no) Kami Yukihiro
O
Motte Orande Kitae Saku
As with the sword under discussion,
the character ICHI is often to be found in the mei of Yukihiro. It is believed
that, together with the nidai Tadakuni, Yukihiro travelled up to Edo to learn
the techniques of the old Ichimonji school as practiced by Shirobei Noriyoshi of
the Ishido school. It is, therefore, the ICHI from ICHIMONJI that he inscribed
on his nakago after this study visit. Sometimes the 3 characters, ICHI MON and
JI are inscribed in full. Yukihiro then became the retained swordsmith of
Nabeshima Sakyo and moved to the Nagase area of Saga City, the provincial
capital.
It seems that Yukihiro was quite
widely travelled for that day, Eguchi states that he even made swords in
Hiroshima in Aki province. Eguchi believes this was due to a relationship with
Norifusa who was originally from Saga, but had become the fief smith of the
castle town of Hiroshima.
Yukihiro died in the 3rd
year of the Tenna period (1683) at the age of 66. This sword was made,
therefore, in the 20 years between 1663 (when he received the Dewa (no) Kami
title, and his death in 1683. Six further generations succeeded him and the
lineage ended on the death of the 7th generation in 1892.
Fujishiro rates the shodai Yukihiro as
Josaku and this sword was awarded Tokubetsu Hozon at the January 06 NBTHK
shinsa.
Clive
Sinclaire
Bexley,
April 06