Shimosaka Tsuguhiro
下阪継広 (Shimosaka Tsuguhiro)
Swordsmith of the Echizen branch of the Shimosaka school, pupil of the third Yasutsugu, active around the Kanbun era (1661–1673).
Profile
Tsuguhiro belonged to the Echizen branch of the Shimosaka school, the line of Echizen Yasutsugu (越前康継). He is held to have been a pupil of the third Yasutsugu of that branch and was active around the Kanbun era (1661–1673). He held the title Ōmi no Kami; according to the school's tradition, he left Fukui for Zeze in Ōmi and also worked in Edo. His signatures include Ōmi no Kami Fujiwara Tsuguhiro (近江守藤原継広), Echizen no Kuni Shimosaka Tsuguhiro and Ōmi no Kami Shimosaka Tsuguhiro, sometimes with Echizen jū Shimosaka (越前住下坂) on the reverse; some blades add 以南蛮鉄 (Nanbantetsu o motte), the reference to imported iron that the school had used since its founder. His work follows the Echizen shintō manner: a visible itame or mokume hada, and a hamon that is usually a narrow suguba or a ko-nie notare, at times with gunome, with sunagashi and kinsuji in the edge.
Rankings
- Wazamono (good) (Kaihō Kenjaku, 1797)
Swords available
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Ōmi no Kami Fujiwara Tsuguhiro
Shintō katana of 75.6 cm from the Echizen Shimosaka school, Kanbun era, with an ubu tang and one mekugi-ana, NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon, shirasaya and a koshirae whose tsuba is engraved with a sutra. Ōmi no Kami Fujiwara Tsuguhiro belonged to the Echizen Shimosaka school and was active mainly in the Kanbun era (1661-1673). He worked in Echizen but also in Edo and in Ōmi, a sign of a wide clientele. He trained under the third Echizen Yasutsugu, head of the school: the first Yasutsugu, born at Shimosaka in what is now Shiga, followed his lord to Echizen, where he was taken under the patronage of Matsudaira Hideyasu, third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu — the source of the line's standing. The blade measures 75.6 cm nagasa with 1.21 cm sori. The photographs show a clean tang with a single mekugi-ana and a signature on both faces, with no sign of shortening. It comes with an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon certificate, a shirasaya and a koshirae whose tsuba bears an engraved sutra inscription.
61.8/100
€10,610
