Echizen Yasutsugu

Profile

The first Yasutsugu, earlier called Shimosaka Ichisaemon (下坂市左衛門), was born at Shimosaka near Nagahama in Ōmi. Early in the Keichō era he moved to Echizen to serve Yūki Hideyasu, a son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Later summoned to Edo, he received from Ieyasu the character yasu (康) for his name and leave to engrave the hollyhock crest, aoi-mon (葵紋), on the tang, which is why he is also known as Aoi Shimosaka (葵下坂). He worked in alternate years in Echizen and in Edo. He is regarded as the first smith to use imported nanban-tetsu (南蛮鉄), which he often names in his signature. His hada is itame, his hamon a notare with gunome and sunagashi. After the fall of Osaka in 1615 he restored famous blades damaged by fire and made copies of them, with a marked Sōshū influence, Sadamune above all. Much of the carving on his blades is by the Kinai (記内) family of Echizen. He died in 1621; a wakizashi of his is kept at the Atsuta Jingū (熱田神宮) shrine.