UK Sword Register
No. 37
Type
Shinshinto Katana
Nagasa
67.2cm
Moto-haba
3.0cm
Saki-haba
2.1cm
Sugata
Shinogi-Zukuri with Koshi-zori and iori-mune. Slightly extended chu-Kissaki
Hamon
Ko-nie and nioi. A flambouyant choji-midare with some
gunome. Many ashi and some yo. A long sugu yakidashi extends 6.8cm from
the ha-machi. The boshi is quite wide in the kissaki and is suguha with
a ko-maru finish and small kaeri.
Jihada
Muji-hada
Nakago
Ubu with one mekugi-ana. Yasurime are kiri and the jiri
is ha-agari kurijiri. The sword is signed in a semi-cursive style,
on the omote: BISHU OSAFUNE SUKEYUKI SAKU, and dated on the ura:
TEMPO HACHINEN NIGATSU NICHI (1837).
The sword has a very attractive and flamboyant choji-midare hamon which has many variations in height and convincingly reminds one of Ichimonji swords were it not for the long and straight yakidashi at the base of the sword and the muji-hada. Ashi in nioi are a feature of the hamon, those of the choji descending at angles whilst the gunome ashi are more usually vertical and at right angles to the edge of the blade. However both the hamon and the noticeable koshi-zori do indicate Bizen workmanship, whilst the muji-hada and the relatively heavy weight of the blade, are clear indications that the sword is of the shinshinto period.
The Yokoyama school of Bizen province was relocated from Osafune after the great floods of 1590 destroyed the famous sword making village. However, they seem to have still considered Osafune to be their spiritual home as they continued to include the name in many of their inscriptions on swords throughout the shinto and shinshinto times. It was also a tradition that their names began with the character SUKE, after the many Sukesada swordsmiths of sue-koto times, from whom they traced their ancestry. Many of their sword's hamon tried to imitate the old choji-midare style of the Ichimonji school, but their style was far closer to that of Kawachi (no) Kami Kunisuke of Osaka.
The swordsmith Sukeyuki, is a very rare artist of the Yokoyama Bizen school in the shinshinto period and a pupil of the shodai Sukenaga. In fact he is so rare that he is unlisted in most references including Hawleys. This may mean that he died at an early age or that he was not a full-time swordsmith, as there are very few examples of his work existing today. Judging from this example, he was a highly skilled and his hamon seems to be far more natural and interesting than the often rather stiff and stilted hamon seen in many of the Yokoyama Bizen schools swords of the shinshinto period. His method of carving the inscription is very individualistic in this sword, being an attractive semi-cursive style seldom seen and which I would consider appears to be confidently and skilfully carved.
Any further information on Sukeyuki would be much appreciated.
Clive Sinclaire, Bexley, Kent, September 1998
|
Browsers are free to download items for personal use only on their own computer. Permission to reuse any material in any other form or venue must be obtained in writing or through confirmed e-mail from the representatives of the To-Ken Society of Great Britain. |