Nagasone Okimasa

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Nagasone Okimasa (長曽祢興正) was the pupil and adopted son of Nagasone Okisato, the smith known as Kotetsu (虎徹), and reference works count him as the second generation of that line. He worked in Edo, in Musashi province, in the second half of the 17th century, alongside his master. School tradition holds that he had already assisted Okisato when the latter was still an armourer in Echizen, and that he moved with him to Edo; he is also credited with forging blades that left the workshop under his master's signature. He signed Nagasone Okimasa. His work closely follows Kotetsu's manner, and he is the most direct continuator of it.