NH-0023 Rank 42
Hizen Bitchū Daijō Fujiwara Masanaga
肥前國備中大掾藤原正永
Shintō blade from Hizen, Enpō era, with an ubu tang, kuro-ishime-nuri koshirae, shirasaya and tsunagi. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon plus an older Kōshu Tokubetsu Kichō Tōken paper.
Silhouette of the blade to scale, aligned at the machi
Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
Description
Signed 肥前國備中大掾藤原正永, this shintō blade from Hizen belongs to the Enpō era, from 1673 onwards. Bitchū Daijō Masanaga was the eldest son of the second Kawachi no Kami Masahiro; known in civil life as Denbei, he first signed “Hironaga”. He went up to the capital with his father in 1665 and received the title of Bitchū Daijō. In 1699 he inherited the headship of the Masahiro house of Hizen and in 1701 petitioned for a change of title, but died in 1704 at the age of sixty before the matter was settled, so he never signed “Masahiro”. Works bearing his own signature are not plentiful, since he spent most of his career producing daisaku-daimei for the second Masahiro. The blade measures 71.0 cm nagasa with 1.97 cm sori and a good taper from motohaba (33.3 mm) to sakihaba (26.5 mm at the monouchi), with an elongated point; it weighs 858 g bare and 1,132 g mounted. The hada is a tight ko-itame with fine, dense ji-nie and small chikei, the refined Hizen ji-gane, while the suguha is luminous, with fine sunagashi, kinsuji, inazuma and gunome ashi; the bōshi is straight with a round turnback. The tang is ubu, with two mekugi-ana.
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon, plus an older Kōshu Tokubetsu Kichō Tōken paper
- Third generation of the Masahiro house of Hizen, whose own-signature works are uncommon
- Ubu tang
- Large koshirae with kuro-ishime-nuri saya, tight throughout and with a firm tsuba, plus a silver-plated sentoku habaki
- Shirasaya and tsunagi included
- The original seller regards it as a strong candidate for Jūyō Tōken at a future shinsa: one of his midare-temper works is so designated today, but none in suguha
Points to bear in mind
- The signature carries no date
- The tang has two mekugi-ana
- The fittings are unpapered and the mounting is not dated
Score breakdown
64.4/100
The score shares out 100 points: Signature and date 18 · Tang 22 · Mounting 18 · Declared condition 20 · Blade 8 · Shirasaya 4 · Price 10. It is computed from the record, not from an opinion. The mounting starts from what is known of its period, adds what vouches for it (its own NBTHK paper, a signed fitting, a crest) and subtracts what has been restored (saya, ito, same, habaki or sageo).
- Signature and date 10 of 18 Signed, with no engraved date
- Tang 20 of 22 Tang intact according to the seller at origin, with 2 mekugi-ana
- Mounting 1 of 18 Mounting described piece by piece by the seller at origin
- Declared condition 17 of 20 Sound condition according to the seller at origin
- Blade 8 of 8 71 cm: within the usable range
- Shirasaya 4 of 4 With a storage shirasaya
- Price 4.4 of 10 Rank 78 of 139 by price, from the most affordable to the dearest