Ōsaka shintō
大坂新刀 (Ōsaka shintō)
The swords of the merchants’ city: the finest jigane and the showiest hamon of the Edo period, from Sukehiro and Shinkai.
Style and characteristics
A very tight ko-itame jigane, with almost no visible grain, and hamon that begin in suguha by the habaki (the Ōsaka yakidashi) and open out towards the point: Sukehiro’s wave-like tōran-ba, Shinkai’s deep-nie notare, the chōji of Tadatsuna and Kunisuke. Blades of moderate sori and medium kissaki.
History
It was founded in the early seventeenth century by Izumi no Kami Kunisada and Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke, pupils of Horikawa Kunihiro who settled in Ōsaka. In the second half of the century, with Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro, Inoue Shinkai and Ikkanshi Tadatsuna, the school reached its height, paid for by the wealth of the merchants. At the end of the Edo period smiths such as Ozaki Suketaka revived Sukehiro’s style.
Smiths of the school
- Awataguchi Ōmi no Kami Tadatsuna 粟田口近江守忠綱
- Awataguchi Tadatsuna 粟田口忠綱
- Echigo no Kami Kanesada 越後守包貞
- Echigo no Kami Kanesada 越後守包貞
- Higo no Kami Kuniyasu 肥後守国康
- Higo no Kami Kuniyasu 肥後守国康
- Ikkanshi Tadatsuna 一竿子忠綱
- Inoue Shinkai 井上真改
- Ise no Kami Kuniteru 伊勢守国輝
- Iwami no Kami Kunisuke 石見守国助
- Izumi no Kami Kunisada 和泉守国貞
- Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke 河内守国助
- Settsu no Kami Tadayuki 摂津守忠行
- Soboro Sukehiro ソボロ助広
- Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro 津田越前守助広
- Tsuda Ōmi no Kami Sukenao 津田近江守助直