Hosokawa Tadayoshi
細川忠義 (Hosokawa Tadayoshi)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Swordsmith who signed from Sakura, in Shimōsa province, in the mid-19th century.
Profile
Nothing is known of this smith beyond what his signature says. He signed as Hosokawa Minamoto Tadayoshi and placed himself in Sakura, in Sōshū (総州), a name that here refers to Shimōsa province. He dated his blades; one bears the third year of the Kaei era (1850), in the mid-19th century.
Swords available
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Hosokawa Minamoto Tadayoshi
A shinshintō work signed and dated 1851, with an ubu tang holding a single hole, ko-chōji-midare with sunagashi and a condition the original seller calls excellent. A shinshintō blade by Hosokawa Minamoto Tadayoshi, active in Sōshū, signed and dated to the Kaei era, 1851, the date cut on the reverse of the tang. It measures 70.2 cm nagasa and 1.6 cm sori, and reaches 103 cm when mounted. The hamon is a ko-chōji-midare with togariba and visible sunagashi. The tang is ubu, with a single mekugi-ana. The original seller describes the condition as excellent: no hagire, no troublesome ware, no pitting and a good polish. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers accompany the blade. The mounting carries a pierced iron tsuba and a fuchi with a dragonfly motif; the original seller himself states that, although tsuba and fittings are Edo-period, the ensemble was probably assembled in Meiji or later, and that the saya appears to postdate Edo. No shirasaya is included.
70.4/100
€12,240
