Kantei

Midare of coarse nie · kinsuji and sunagashi

Work and style

The NBTHK has set his blades as kantei pieces several times: a wide, tall midare, rich in nie, with kinsuji and sunagashi, on the shape typical of the Hizen swordsmiths.

On this page
  1. Kantei keys
  2. A rare suguha
  3. How to tell him apart

Kantei keys

  • Sugata. The Hizen shape that, according to the NBTHK, the second Tadahiro, the third Tadayoshi, the first Masahiro, Yukihiro and Tadakuni adopted: medium or somewhat wide width, little difference between the base and the point, a chū-kissaki that is sometimes somewhat long and a curvature of about 6 bu (1.8 cm).
  • Jihada. Ko-itame with some itame, the hada somewhat visible and ji-nie, on the 1639 katana studied by the NBTHK.
  • Hamon. Tall, of gunome with chōji, with abundant ashi and yō, a dense nioiguchi and much somewhat uneven nie, kinsuji and sunagashi, tobiyaki in the upper half and muneyaki. The NBTHK considers it the most dynamic of the Hizen side branches, and the Tokyo National Museum highlights the strength of his large midare of coarse nie in the works made before the title.
  • Bōshi. Straight, with a small round tip (komaru) and a long turn-back; it follows the line of the fukura.
  • Nakago and mei. File marks (yasurime) sujichigai or ō-sujichigai and the tip in iriyamagata, according to the NBTHK; signatures 肥前国佐賀住正広 (Hizen no kuni Saga jū Masahiro) and, with the title, 肥前国河内大掾藤原正広 (Hizen no kuni Kawachi Daijō Fujiwara Masahiro).

A rare suguha

The NBTHK (Sword Journal no. 749, 2019) studies a katana signed with the title and tempered in suguha, something it calls rare in Masahiro: a suguha with ko-gunome in which the nioiguchi runs straight on the back side and undulates only on the edge side, with a visible, dark hada, some shin-gane showing, yubashiri, hotsure and long kinsuji.

How to tell him apart

  • From the second Masahiro. According to the NBTHK, the second works in the same way in his best work, but with a wider temper and thicker blades.
  • From Yukihiro and Tadakuni. A narrow notare with clusters of chōji and gunome is seen in Yukihiro and also in Masahiro and in Harima Daijō Tadakuni; the showy midare of abundant nie, with kinsuji and sunagashi, is Masahiro’s, and Yukihiro sometimes has odd shapes in the temper.
  • From the main line. The side branches tend to show a wide, tall midare of great variety, as against the suguha of the Hizen Tadayoshi.