Echizen Yasutsugu

Profile

Shimosaka Ichinojō (下坂市之丞) was the eldest son of the first Echizen Yasutsugu and took up the name when his father died in 1621, the year of his earliest dated work. The Matsudaira house of Fukui in Echizen raised his stipend and allowed him to travel between Echizen and Edo, where he lived in a residence in Kanda Konya-chō (神田紺屋町). Around 1636–1637 he became a nyūdō under the Buddhist name Kōetsu (康悦), and he died in 1646. He left fewer blades than his father and worked very much in his manner; like him, he made utsushi of famous swords, among them the Sadamune blades known as Ataki and Shishi. He signed in the school's way, with the Tokugawa hollyhock crest (aoi) on the tang, and some of his blades state that they were made with nanban-tetsu (南蛮鉄), imported iron. After his death his son Uma no Suke and his younger brother Shirōemon contested the succession, and the house split into an Edo branch and an Echizen branch.