NYUSATSU-KANTEI-TO OF THE 41ST ANNUAL CONVENTION
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
No.5
Wakizashi
It is very rare to see Higashiyama Yoshihira in kantei and there are few smiths that are given ‘Dozen’. Therefore only a few persons were successful in kantei for this sword. His real name is Umetada Denzaburo and it had been believed that he was a student of Umetada Myoju and died in the 8th year of the Kan-ei Era at 74. Today, this theory is doubtful since there are his extant works with the date of the Kan-ei and Enpo Eras. It is speculated that he learnt sword forging from Shigeyoshi who is an adopted son of Umetada Myoju. It is said that he used smith names of ‘Oe Yoshitake’, ‘Higashiyama Sosetsu’ and Oe Takamitsu’ in his last years though his extant work with Oe Takamitsu has not been confirmed yet. Yoshihira tempers unique o-gunome-midare in oblique pattern that the Hon-ami family called it ‘Kata-yahazu-midare’ then this midare is a decisive factor to attribute to Yoshihira. In addition, Yoshihira tempers wide and deep boshi with long kaeri as shown in this blade. This boshi has very long kaeri so that votes were dispersed to the Uda school, Fuyuhiro, Kaga, the Sue-soshu, Sue-bizen, Sue-seki and Shimada schools. Also there were a certain number of votes for Oya Kunisada, 2nd and 3rd Yasutsugu. Yoshihira signs in the semi – stylized style of writing Chinese characters and yasuri-mei starts from the lower part of the nakago in katte-sagari at obtuse angle. Two swords by Yoshihira have ever been designated as Juyo Token. |
Home | Previous Kantei Sword |
©2001 Ricecracker.com. All rights reserved.