Ikkansai
A line of Tokyo smiths whose first masters signed Ikkansai; its central figure, Kasama Shigetsugu, taught at Kurihara Akihide's centre, and the Yoshihara descend from his school.
Style and characteristics
The published sources do not describe a style of the line's own. What defines it is the transmission of the name: according to the genealogy published by the Japanese Sword Index, the first five masters of the main branch carried Ikkansai in their signature, and the students that Kasama Shigetsugu trained at Kurihara Akihide's centre took the character read tsugu.
History
The Japanese Sword Index genealogy puts Shigetoshi at the head of the line; he is followed by Masatoshi, who also signed Masafusa, and then Kasama Shigetsugu, the central figure, who also signed Masateru. According to the same source, Kasama was head of the teachers at Kurihara Akihide's Nihontō Tanren Denshūjo in 1934 and 1935.
From Kasama come the main branches: Toshihiro (also Yasuhiro), Sakai Shigemasa, who signed Ikkansai Shigemasa, Tsukamoto Okimasa, Akitomo and the first of the Yoshihara, Kuniie, among others, in addition to the students he had at the Denshūjo. With them the line reaches the next generation.
The genealogy gives the smiths' names, but almost no dates, and the published reference sources do not for now allow the lives of its masters to be told.
Smiths of the school
- Kasama Ikkansai Shigetsugu 笠間一貫斎繁継
- Miyaguchi Yasuhiro 靖広
- Yoshihara Yoshindo 吉原義人