Shimōsa Daijō Kanemasa
下総大掾兼正 (Shimōsa Daijō Kanemasa)
Swordsmith of the Echizen Seki school, active around the Kanbun era (1661-1673) in Echizen and later in Hikone, Ōmi province.
Profile
Kanemasa worked in the second half of the 17th century, around the Kanbun era (1661-1673), within the Echizen Seki school, the group of smiths from Seki in Mino who had settled in Echizen in the late 16th century. His civil name was Hattori Kichibei, and tradition makes him a fifth-generation descendant of a Seki line. He held the honorary title Shimōsa Daijō (下総大掾), which heads his signatures. He lived in Echizen, also worked in Edo, and later settled in Hikone, in Ōmi province. He signed Shimōsa Daijō Fujiwara Kanemasa, sometimes adding Echizen-jū (越前住) or a reference to his residence in Hikone, and at least one blade states in its signature that it was forged from nanban-tetsu (南蛮鉄), imported iron. Beyond these signatures, little is recorded linking him to the other Echizen smiths. His work follows the Mino tradition of the school: an itame hada mixed with mokume, and a hamon of gunome and gunome-chōji, at times with pointed elements and sunagashi.
Rankings
- Mixed category (ō-, yoki- and wazamono) (Kaihō Kenjaku, 1797)
Swords available
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Shimousadaijo Fujiwara Kanemasa
Shintō katana from Echizen province signed by Shimōsa-daijō Fujiwara Kanemasa, with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken, a recently declared polish and a complete black-lacquer koshirae. Katana signed by Shimōsa-daijō Fujiwara Kanemasa, a smith of Echizen province active in the Edo period, around the Enpō era. According to the original seller, his civil name was Hattori Kichibei and he was a fifth-generation descendant of the Kanenori line of Seki, in Mino; he worked in Echizen, Edo and Hikone. The blade, with a nagasa of 64.6 cm and a sori of 0.7 cm, is of shinogi-zukuri construction, restrained in outline and shallow in curvature; the photographs show a clear, continuous undulating gunome hamon and a rounded bōshi. The nakago appears intact in the photographs, with a single mekugi-ana, an even patina, a rounded end and a signature on both faces, with no engraved date. The original seller states a recent polish and excellent condition, which the images confirm. A complete koshirae accompanies it: black-lacquer saya with spiral fluting, leather-wrapped hilt with fuchi-kashira and a central band of light hammered metal bearing dragons in relief, and an iron tsuba with brass inlay. The blade holds an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken certificate.
59.8/100
€8,450
