Sasaki Ippō

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Ippō (一峯), a name also read Kazumine, is a smith of Ōmi in the shintō period who signed with the surname Sasaki (佐々木). One of his blades is signed 江州住人佐々木善四郎源一峯 (Gōshū jūnin Sasaki Zenshirō Minamoto Ippō), with the tsūshō Zenshirō and the uji Minamoto (源) before the name, and also bears 南蛮以鉄作之 (nanban-tetsu o motte kore o tsukuru), which declares that it was forged with imported iron. Tomita Kiyama lists him as a smith of Ōmi in the classification of shintō smiths he published in 1935 in his Nihontō Jiten, shintō-hen. Beyond this, little is known of him.