Echizen Shigetaka
越前重高 (Echizen Shigetaka)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Line of Echizen Seki swordsmiths in Echizen province, active from the early 17th century to the end of the Edo period.
Profile
Echizen Shigetaka (越前重高) is a line of swordsmiths in Echizen that worked throughout the Edo period; by tradition it ran to eleven generations. It belongs to the Echizen Seki smiths who came from Mino, and its founder is held to have been a descendant or pupil of Kanenori (兼則). The first two, father and son, held the title Harima Daijō (播磨大掾) and signed Echizen jū Harima Daijō Fujiwara Shigetaka (越前住播磨大掾藤原重高); later generations did without it. Few works by the first survive, and most known blades are by the second, active around the Kan'ei era (1624–1644). The first cut the characters of the signature broad; the second drew shige (重) and taka (高) tall and narrow. The hada is a prominent itame or ko-itame with ji-nie; the hamon ranges from suguha with notare to gunome midare, and in the second generation comes close to that of Yasutsugu (康継). Some blades state in the signature that they were made with nanbantetsu (南蛮鉄), imported steel. The Nezu Museum in Tokyo holds a signed wakizashi from the line with a horimono of kurikara (倶利伽羅).
Swords available
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Harima Daijō Fujiwara no Shigetaka
Shintō katana from Echizen signed by Harima Daijō Fujiwara no Shigetaka, with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers, shirasaya and a complete koshirae with a pierced iron tsuba. Katana signed by Harima Daijō Fujiwara no Shigetaka, a shintō-period smith working in Echizen. According to the original seller, he was a student or descendant of Kanenori of Seki in Mino and was active in the early Edo period, between the Kan'ei and Kanbun eras. The blade has a nagasa of 71.3 cm and a sori of 1.3 cm, with a motohaba of 3.07 cm, a sakihaba of 1.98 cm and a weight of 713 g without mounts. The original seller describes it as sound and free of rust; the photographs show no flaws, although they do not allow the hamon to be studied in detail. The tang, with a single mekugi-ana and continuous file marks, appears intact in the photographs and bears the signature 越前住播磨大掾藤原重高 (Echizen-jū Harima Daijō Fujiwara Shigetaka) on the omote. The blade is kept in a shirasaya and comes with a complete koshirae: tsuka with black ito over pale same and fuchi-kashira with gilt chrysanthemums, a pierced mokkō iron tsuba with gold-inlaid bamboo, and a black lacquered saya. The mounts are documented only by the photographs: the seller neither describes nor dates them. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken papers dated 25 February Reiwa 3 (2021).
61.5/100
€14,670
