Minamoto Masao
源正雄 (Minamoto Masao)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Pupil of Minamoto Kiyomaro, active in Edo in the mid-19th century and in Hakodate between 1858 and 1860.
Profile
Minamoto Masao studied under Minamoto Kiyomaro (源清麿) in Edo in the mid-19th century. Tradition gives his family name as Suzuki and his birthplace as Mino, and blades made on his master's behalf (daisaku) are attributed to him. By around 1853 he was working independently in Edo. From 1858 to 1860 he forged in Hakodate, in Ezo, using local iron sand, sometimes noting its source on the tang; he then returned to Edo, where he also signed Musashi kenkō Minamoto Masao (武蔵剣工源正雄). His work follows the school's manner: an itame hada mixed with mokume, an irregular gunome with pronounced ashi and plenty of nie activity, and a notably free hand in the signature. A katana of his dated at Hakodate in 1859 is held by the Hakodate City Museum as a designated cultural property of Hokkaidō. He should not be confused with Yamaura Saneo (山浦真雄), Kiyomaro's elder brother, whose name is sometimes also read Masao.
Swords available
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Masao
Katana signed and dated by Minamoto Masao, a pupil of Kiyomaro, forged in the 8th month of Ansei 6 (1859) from Ezo iron sand. Tokubetsu Hozon paper, shirasaya and a koshirae with gold crests. Katana by Minamoto Masao (Suzuki Jirō Masao), a shinshintō smith who, according to the original seller, studied under Kiyomaro from the time the master still signed Masayuki and set up on his own in Edo in Kaei 6 (1853). The tang, ubu with a single mekugi-ana, carries a long inscription on both sides: the signature "Minamoto Masao", the date of the 8th month of Ansei 6 (1859), the name of the patron who commissioned it and a note that the blade was forged from iron sand of Ezo (Hokkaidō), which the seller reads as steel smelted by the smith himself for the loyalists who travelled north to defend Ezo. The blade measures 70.5 cm of nagasa with a sori of 2.0 cm; the seller describes a midare hamon rich in sunagashi and kinsuji, with bright nie and fine workmanship, and the photographs show a polished blade with the bōshi intact. It comes in a shirasaya with an inscription and with a complete koshirae: iron sukashi tsuba, fuchi, kashira and menuki bearing gold crests, a saya covered in a brocade-pattern finish and a sageo. The mounting is documented only in the photographs: the seller neither describes nor dates it. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken certificate, photographed.
60.4/100
€23,740
