Nagasone Okisato
長曽祢興里 (Nagasone Okisato)
An Edo smith of the 17th century, known as Kotetsu; a former armourer from Echizen, held the finest smith of shintō and the most forged.
Profile
Nagasone Okisato came from a Nagasone family of Ōmi which after Sekigahara took refuge in Fukui, Echizen, where he was an armourer. Already a mature man, around the Meireki era (1655-1658), he moved to Edo and turned to the sword; his dated blades run from 1656 to 1677. On taking holy orders he adopted the name Kotetsu. Izumi no Kami Kaneshige is held to be his teacher. His jigane is very clean and his best-known temper is the juzu-ba, a row of round-headed gunome like rosary beads. Many of his blades carry saidan-mei with the results of cutting tests, and the Kaihō Kenjaku of 1797 ranks him saijō ō-wazamono. He is probably the most forged of all smiths: the sword of Kondō Isami said to be his is today held to be a fake.
Notable works
- Katana signed Nagasone Okisato Nyūdō Kotetsu, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.
Rankings
- Saijō ō-wazamono (highest grade) (Kaihō Kenjaku, 1797)
- Ōzeki (East) in Tomita Kiyama’s ranking of shintō smiths (1935)
Swords sold
Rank 72
€457,890
current max. 255 Points: 150 points · current max. 255