Kantei
Composite on a black background: a tantō seen from both sides and from the back, two large views of the point, the tang with its signature and the wooden scabbard.

Shimotsuke and Edo · late Edo period

Hosokawa Masayoshi (細川正義)

A family of swordsmiths from Shimotsuke and its Masayoshi, from the school of Suishinshi Masahide

Hosokawa (細川) is a family of swordsmiths from Shimotsuke, present-day Tochigi, active in the first half of the 19th century and until the end of the Edo period. Its best-known name, Hosokawa Masayoshi (細川正義), came from the school of Suishinshi Masahide according to the Japanese Wikipedia, worked in Edo and signed as a retainer of a lord of Mimasaka. His blades, in the Bizen manner, have a clustered chōji that the NBTHK gives as his hallmark.

Photo: dealer in Japan

1842
Dated blade
At least 6
Family names
More than 20 blades
Tochigi properties
Maegashira
Rank in the 1933 list
On this page
  1. Quick profile
  2. In short

Quick profile

Name
Hosokawa Masayoshi; with him in the family sign Masamori (正守), Masahira (正平), Yoshinori (義規), Masanori (正規) and Morihide (守秀) HD
Kanji and reading
細川正義 (Hosokawa Masayoshi); signature 作陽幕下士細川正義 (Sakuyō bakka-shi Hosokawa Masayoshi) HD
Period
Shinshintō, late Edo period: a katana by Masayoshi of 1842, one by Masahira of 1840 HD
Province
Shimotsuke (下野, Shimotsuke), present-day Tochigi: Masahira and Yoshinori sign 野州住 (Yashū-jū), “resident in Shimotsuke”. Masayoshi worked in Edo, according to Tomita Kiyama’s list. HD
School
That of Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀), according to the Japanese Wikipedia, which names him among his students with Taikei Naotane AT
Title
Masayoshi and Masamori sign 作陽幕下士 (Sakuyō bakka-shi), and Masamori, on a tachi, 主馬佐 (Shume no suke). Sakuyō is the literary name of the province of Mimasaka: the signature declares them retainers of a lord of Mimasaka. HD
Generations
The signatures give at least six names in the family, and Masanori’s says “son of Yoshinori”. The sources consulted do not fix the dates of each one or how many signed Masayoshi. HD
Rank
Maegashira of the western side in Tomita Kiyama’s list of shintō swordsmiths (1933) AT
Documented fact and tradition
Documented: a katana by Masayoshi of 1842 that the NBTHK studied in its Sword Journal, and more than twenty blades of the family designated by Tochigi prefecture. From tradition: his life, his dates and his genealogy are not recorded in the sources consulted. HD

In short

Suishinshi Masahide studied the old forging methods and was, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, an exceptional master: from his school came Taikei Naotane and Hosokawa Masayoshi. The NBTHK recognises his work by a very tight, clustered chōji, with heads that open out like a fan in different directions and legs that cross, and by the shape of an old tachi with a deep curve. The signatures of the blades designated in Tochigi sketch the family: Masamori, who sometimes signs with him; Masahira, in Shimotsuke in 1840; Yoshinori, a retainer of the Utsunomiya domain, and his son Masanori.

Sections

  1. The names of the family Life and times Masayoshi, Masamori, Masahira, Yoshinori and Masanori: what their signatures say.
  2. Kantei keys Work and style The clustered chōji, the curve of an old tachi and the signature with a seal.
  3. Tochigi cultural properties Famous works The family’s blades designated by Tochigi prefecture and the NBTHK katana.
  4. Bibliography and credits Sources The sources consulted and the image credits.