Shitahara Chikashige

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Chikashige (周重) is the smith with whom tradition begins the Shitahara school, in Musashi province, in the area of present-day Hachiōji west of Tokyo. He worked in the 16th century, late in the Muromachi period, and his style is linked to the Sagami (Sōshū) tradition. The school served the Hōjō of Odawara, the regional lords, and after their fall it continued under the Tokugawa. The name was carried by several generations, which the signature does not always allow one to tell apart; the school's main lines were those of Yasushige (康重) and Terushige (照重), and tradition makes the first Yasushige his son. Few of his own blades survive. He signed with formulas such as Bushū-jū Chikashige (武州住周重). The features associated with the school are wide, thin blades of moderate curvature and above all Shitahara-hada: a pronounced mokume that swirls in the middle of the ji, known as jorin-moku (如輪杢).