Hamabe Toshinori
浜部寿格 (Hamabe Toshinori)
Smith of the Hamabe school of Inaba (Inshū); he is known for signing on his blades the way he forged them, a fifteen-layer construction.
Profile
Toshinori belongs to the Hamabe, the family of smiths of Inaba, in present-day Tottori, whose manner is known as Inshū-Hamabe (因州浜部). Markus Sesko names him among the few smiths who write in the signature how they forged the blade: «真十五枚甲伏造 (shin jūgo-mai kōbuse tsukuru)», a kōbuse construction, in which the hard steel wraps around the softer core, made with fifteen layers. The same inscription appears on blades by Ōmura Kaboku and Suishinshi Masahide.
The sources consulted give neither his dates, nor his teacher, nor any designated blades of his, nor do they say where in the Hamabe family he stands.
Rankings
- Maegashira (West) in Tomita Kiyama’s ranking of shintō smiths (1935)