The Oku family
According to Markus Sesko, the Oku worked for the Satsuma domain from the 1640s; counting from their ancestor Tadakiyo (忠清), the second Motohira is the seventh generation. The first Motohira was the most celebrated master of the family, and his younger brother was called Motoyasu (元安).
The first Motohira
The record of his spear in Bunka Isan Online gives him the years 1744 to 1826, one of the swordsmiths who represent Satsuma at the end of the Edo period. In 1785 (Tenmei 5) the domain allowed him to sign 薩藩臣奥元平 (Satsuhan shin Oku Motohira), “Oku Motohira, retainer of the Satsuma domain”, and in the twelfth month of 1789 (Kansei 1) he received the title of Yamato no Kami, at the same time as Hōki no Kami Masayuki.
A katana of his from 1793 (Kansei 5), which the NBTHK published as a kantei piece, says on the tang that he forged it for Sumi Motooki (角元興) “to transmit to him the art of forging”; before the war it was kept by the Sumi family.
The second Motohira
Sesko relates that he was born in 1833 and that his father, Motohiro (元寛), son of the first Motohira, died young and suddenly in 1843 (Tenpō 14): at ten years old he became the nominal head of the family. He trained under the second Motoyasu (元安), born in 1793 and son of his grandfather’s younger brother. He first signed Motomitsu (元光) and, having taken religious orders at the end of his life, used the name Juan (寿安); he died in 1905. His blades are rare, and dated ones even more so: Sesko knows two from 1867 (Keiō 3) and one from 1897 (Meiji 30). He served the last three lords of Satsuma, Shimazu Narioki, Nariakira and Tadayoshi.
Son or grandson?
The record of the Kyūshū National Museum says that the first Motohira had a son of the same name; Sesko, that the second Motohira was his grandson, son of Motohiro. Both versions are given here.
The Satsuma sword
The NBTHK attributes to the Jigen-ryū (示現流) school of swordsmanship, very widespread in Satsuma, the robust shapes of many shintō and shinshintō swords from the province.