Kantei
Both sides of the point of a blade, vertical on a black background, with the whitish temper in waves along the edge.

Tokyo Fuji Art Museum · CC0 1.0

Itame · gunome-midare with points

Work and style

What is known of his style comes from one blade: the katana in the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, which the museum describes as outstanding work in the steel and in the temper.

On this page
  1. Kantei keys
  2. What is not on record
  3. Gallery

Kantei keys

  • Sugata. Toriizori curvature, with normal width and thickness; the museum’s katana has a 70.3 cm blade and 1.5 cm of curvature.
  • Jihada. Itame with ji-nie, and masame in the shinogi-ji.
  • Hamon. Gunome-midare with points (togari-ba) here and there, and a ko-midare next to the habaki.
  • Horimono. On the museum’s katana, a groove on one side and, on the other, a sword with a vajra-shaped hilt (三鈷剣, sankoken) in relief, as can be seen in the museum’s photo.
  • Nakago and mei. A single hole (mekugi-ana) and the signature 大和大掾藤原正則 (Yamato Daijō Fujiwara Masanori).

What is not on record

None of the sources consulted describes Masanori’s bōshi or compares his work with that of the second generation; the description of his style comes from a single blade.