Hōjōji Masateru
法城寺越前守橘正照 (Hōjōji Echizen no Kami Tachibana Masateru)
Swordsmith of the Edo branch of the Hōjōji school in Musashi, active in the second half of the 17th century.
Profile
Masateru worked in Edo, Musashi province, in the branch of the Hōjōji (法城寺) school established there by Hōjōji Masahiro (法城寺正弘); reference works place him around 1681, in the Tenna era. He trained under Masahiro and went on to study in Kyoto with the second-generation Iga no Kami Kinmichi (伊賀守金道). His title of Echizen no Kami (越前守) was honorary; he did not work in Echizen. He signed Hōjōji Echizen no Kami Tachibana Masateru or Echizen no Kami Hōjōji Tachibana Masateru, often adding a chrysanthemum crest, kikumon (菊紋), on the tang, a privilege usually explained by his time with Kinmichi. His hamon is in nie, ranging from suguha or notare to gunome midare, with a wide nioiguchi and ashi, kinsuji and sunagashi, in the manner of the school and close to the work of Kotetsu (虎徹). Tradition holds that late in life he moved to Akita, in Dewa.
Swords available
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Hōjōji Echizen no Kami Tachibana Masateru
Shintō-period katana signed by Hōjōji Masateru with a kiku-mon, ubu tang, uchigatana koshirae with black lacquered saya and a declared Tokubetsu Hozon paper. Katana signed by Hōjōji Echizen no Kami Tachibana Masateru, a smith of the Hōjōji school of Musashi in the Shintō period. According to the original seller, he studied under Hōjōji Masahiro and the second-generation Iga no Kami Kinmichi, and later settled in Akita. The blade has a nagasa of 70.5 cm and a sori of 2.4 cm; it is honzukuri with an iori-mune, wide and robust, with an ō-kissaki. The seller describes a ko-itame with mokume, well forged and tight, with dense ji-nie and chikei; a hiro-suguha hamon undulating into notare with gunome, deep nioi and ko-nie, with ashi, yō, kinsuji, inazuma and sunagashi; and a hakikake bōshi in tsukiage. The photographs show an ubu nakago with a single mekugi-ana and, on the omote, the kiku-mon above the signature 法城寺越前守橘正照 (Hōjōji Echizen no Kami Tachibana Masateru); the ura carries no date. It comes with an uchigatana koshirae with a black roiro lacquered saya, a tsuka wrapped in black ito and a pierced iron tsuba with a torii and pine design, and, according to the seller, a shirasaya. The seller declares an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper.
57.3/100
€20,110
