Hasebe Kunishige
長谷部国重 (Hasebe Kunishige)
A Kyoto smith of the Nanbokuchō period, founder of the Hasebe school; he worked in the Sōshū manner, with thin blades and a hamon that tends to hitatsura.
Profile
Hasebe Kunishige is one of the Kyoto figures of the Nanbokuchō period and the founder of the Hasebe school; one tradition gives him an origin in Yamato. Tradition counts him among Masamune's «ten pupils». His manner is the Sōshū-den of his time: wide, thin blades with little curvature and a large kissaki, and a hitatsura hamon, with the temper spread over the whole blade. His best-known work is the Heshikiri Hasebe, the only piece of the school in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō.
Monograph
Hasebe Kunishige (長谷部国重)
Who he was, what is known and what is tradition, told with the level of evidence of each fact.
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Notable works
- Heshikiri Hasebe: a shortened, unsigned katana, attributed by the Hon'ami with a gold inlay; it belonged to the Kuroda house and is a national treasure, Fukuoka City Museum.