Sa Hiroyuki
左弘行 (Sa Hiroyuki)
A smith of the Sa school of Chikuzen in the Nanbokuchō period; an unsigned katana attributed to him is designated Jūyō Bijutsuhin.
Profile
Sa Hiroyuki (左弘行) worked in Chikuzen, in the Sa school, during the Nanbokuchō period. Markus Sesko names him among the smiths who represent the blade shape of the middle of that period.
The Tsuchiura City Museum holds an unsigned (mumei) katana attributed to him and designated Jūyō Bijutsuhin (重要美術品). It is shinogi-zukuri with a mitsu-mune, wide, with a deep sori and an ō-kissaki; the hada is a tight itame with plenty of ji-nie and chikei, and the hamon, based on suguha, undulates gently with small gunome and many ashi and yō. The nakago is ō-suriage and the blade measures 70.0 cm. It comes with an origami from the Hon'ami house dated 1688, and in 1696 the fifth shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, gave it to Tsuchiya Masanao, second lord of Tsuchiura, for having directed the rites for the seventeenth anniversary of the death of the fourth shōgun, Ietsuna.
Monograph
Sa Hiroyuki (左弘行)
His quick profile, what is documented as against tradition, and the essentials.
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