Aoe Moritsugu
青江守次 (Aoe Moritsugu)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Name borne by several generations of smiths of the Aoe school in Bitchū, active from the late Heian period to the mid-14th century.
Profile
Moritsugu (守次) is a name handed down over several generations in the Aoe school of Bitchū, from the late Heian period into the Nanbokuchō period. By school tradition the first of the name was a son of Yasutsugu, regarded as the founder, and belongs to Ko-Aoe, the early Aoe; Sadatsugu and Tsunetsugu are counted among his successors. Later smiths of the name worked in the Chū-Aoe phase, from the end of Kamakura to the early Nanbokuchō years. The latest is documented by a tachi in the Tokyo National Museum signed Bitchū no kuni jū Moritsugu saku (備中国住守次作) and dated Enbun 2 (1357): a wide blade with an extended kissaki, fine hada and a suguha hamon. Typical of the school are sumi-hada (澄肌), dark patches in clear steel, and a suguha with small midare that tend to slant. The so-called Hannya no tachi (般若太刀), which the Uesugi family kept among its selected swords, also bears the signature Moritsugu.
Swords available
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Moritsugu
Kotō katana signed Bishū Nakaji jū Moritsugu saku, Ko-Aoe school of Bitchū, NBTHK Jūyō Tōken (16th session), with shirasaya bearing a sayagaki by Hon'ami Kōson and koshirae. Katana signed "Bishū Nakaji jū Moritsugu saku", which the original seller attributes to the Ko-Aoe school of Bitchū province and places in the late Kamakura period. The blade measures 71.0 cm nagasa with 2.7 cm sori and a deep curve; the original seller describes a ko-itame with ji-nie and visible utsuri, and a nie-based ko-gunome-midare hamon with a soft nioikuchi, kinsuji and sunagashi, which the hamon photographs show. The tang is suriage, as the certificate itself records, with three mekugi-ana and the long signature preserved in tachi-mei near the tip; the photographs confirm this. The blade was designated Jūyō Tōken by the NBTHK at the 16th session (1967), and the origami with its number is legible in the photographs, together with the zufu page. It comes with a shirasaya bearing a sayagaki by Hon'ami Kōson dated 1954 and a koshirae with black lacquered saya, openwork iron tsuba with chrysanthemum and flowing water, shibuichi fuchi, horn kashira and dragon menuki, which the seller describes without dating. Gold-covered double habaki.
37.4/100
€46,470
