Ōshū Masanaga
奥州政長 (Ōshū Masanaga)
Profile
This smith’s profile is being prepared.
Rankings
- Yoki-wazamono (very good) (Kaihō Kenjaku, 1797)
Swords available
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Mutsu Aizu-jū Masanaga
A sturdy blade of about 1658 by a smith to the Katō house of Aizu, with an ubu tang and a koshirae combining a solid silver tsuba with a black ishime saya. Masanaga was a smith to the house of Katō Yoshiaki, lords of Aizu at 400,000 koku, and comes from a well-documented line: his grandfather Nagakuni studied under Harima no Kami Terahiro, a pupil of Umetada Myōju, while his father entered Myōju's school directly, making him a fellow student of the first Tadayoshi of Hizen. The blade, signed 陸奥会津住正長 (Mutsu Aizu-jū Masanaga), dates from about 1658 and shows the Kanbun-era outline: 71.2 cm nagasa, 1.0 cm sori, 3.08 cm motohaba and 1,007 g without the saya. The hada is a vigorous ko-itame and the hamon a gunome-midare in nioi with ko-nie. The original seller points to its closeness to the work of Aizu Michinaga, rated saijō ō-wazamono. The photographs show the tang ubu on both faces, with a single mekugi-ana, a clean kurijiri and a well-spaced signature. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers dated 16 February 2026; the Japanese registration was reissued in 2025 after the previous one was lost. The koshirae carries a solid silver tsuba (gin-muku) and a black ishime-ji saya with inrō-kizami carving, a navy sageo and a tsuka of dark ito over same. No shirasaya is included.
54.7/100
€6,980
