Mutsu Daijō Tachibana Morimune
陸奥大掾橘盛宗 (Mutsu Daijō Tachibana Morimune)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Line of swordsmiths from Tsugaru, in northern Mutsu, who worked for the lords of the Hirosaki domain during the Edo period.
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A line of swordsmiths from Tsugaru, in the north of Mutsu province, who served the Tsugaru lords of the Hirosaki domain and continued until the end of the Edo period. Its founder is taken to be Morimune (森宗) of Namioka, by whom a blade dated 1516 survives. The title Mutsu Daijō went to the fifth head of the line, Sukesaburō (助三郎), under the fourth lord, Tsugaru Nobumasa (津軽信政), and from then on the name was written 盛宗 (Morimune) instead of 森宗 (Morimune). He was the only craftsman of the domain whose title was obtained through the domain itself; the others who held one had received it in Edo before entering its service. Very few blades from his own hand are known. Pupils forged in his workshop, and a katana signed Mutsu Daijō Tachibana Morimune, made by a pupil and signed by him, is a cultural property of the city of Hirosaki, kept in the Hirosaki domain history museum. The signature does not say which generation cut it.
Swords available
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Mutsu-Daijō Tachibana Morimune
Shintō katana signed by Mutsu-Daijō Tachibana Morimune, smith to the Hirosaki domain, with an ubu tang, NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper, shirasaya and a complete koshirae. According to the original seller, Morimune of Mutsu province descends from the Mokusa line and served as retained smith to the Hirosaki (Tsugaru) domain, a pupil of the third-generation Tsunahiro of Sagami; the first generation worked around the Genna era. The blade, in shinogi-zukuri with iori-mune and a slightly extended chū-kissaki, measures 71.2 cm with 1.5 cm of sori. The seller describes a well-forged itame with ji-nie and a nie-deki hamon of gunome and chōji midare with ashi, yō, kinsuji and sunagashi, rising towards the point; the bōshi continues in midare and turns back round. The photographs show the ubu tang, with sujikai file marks and a single mekugi-ana, signed Mutsu Daijō Tachibana Morimune. It comes with a two-piece silver habaki, a shirasaya and an uchigatana koshirae with a brown ishime-lacquered saya, a pierced iron tsuba with a floral design, fuchi-kashira bearing a tiger highlighted in gold and gilt floral menuki. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper, issued in 2024.
58.4/100
€17,230
