Ishidō Korekazu

Profile

Ishidō Korekazu, the seventh master of the Edo branch of the Ishidō school, is known by his art name Unju (運寿). He came from Yonezawa in Dewa province and was a nephew of Chōunsai Tsunatoshi (長運斎綱俊), under whom he trained. Moving to Edo, he was adopted by the sixth Korekazu and took over the name as head of the house around the early 1840s. He worked through the last decades of the Edo period and into the first years of Meiji, and died in 1891. His output is varied: showy chōji hamon rich in nie, in a Bizen manner touched by Sōshū, alongside suguha with konie and a deep nioiguchi. He often dated his blades and signed, for example, 石堂運寿是一作 (Ishidō Unju Korekazu saku), sometimes adding 精鍛 (seitan, "carefully forged") to the inscription. He is credited with training a number of pupils, among them Katsumura Norikatsu (勝村徳勝) of Mito. The Tokyo National Museum holds a katana by him dated 1853.