Sōshū Tsunahiro
相州綱広 (Sōshū Tsunahiro)
Lineage: the signature does not state the generation
Line of Sōshū-tradition swordsmiths in Sagami province, based in Kamakura, active from the 16th century to the end of the Edo period.
Profile
A line of Sagami swordsmiths working in the Sōshū tradition until the close of the Edo period, under the family name Yamamura (山村). According to the school’s tradition, the founder worked in Odawara for the Hōjō in the Tenbun era (1532–1555), first signed Masahiro (正広) and took the character tsuna from Hōjō Ujitsuna (北条氏綱); the same tradition has the family return to Kamakura, to the Ōgigayatsu district, after Odawara fell in 1590. The third generation made blades on commission from the Tsugaru clan: one of them, kept at Iwakiyama Shrine in Hirosaki, is a cultural property of Aomori Prefecture. The fifth generation is credited with the title Ise no daijō in 1660 and later Ise no kami. The tenth, Yamamura Uhei, who died in 1791, taught the Sōshū tradition to Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀). Blades attributed to the line show itame mixed with mokume and a nie-rich gunome midare, with hitatsura in the early generations and frequent horimono in the Edo period. The usual signature, Sōshū-jū Tsunahiro (相州住綱広), does not by itself tell which generation made a blade.
Swords available
-
Tsunahiro
Katana signed by the first Tsunahiro of Sagami, late Muromachi period, with horimono on both sides, Tokubetsu Hozon paper and a black-lacquered uchigatana koshirae. Katana signed 'Sōshū jū Tsunahiro', attributed by the original seller to the first-generation Tsunahiro, a Kamakura smith active in the Tenbun era (1532–1555) in the service of the Hōjō of Odawara and rated Yoki Wazamono. The blade measures 75.23 cm nagasa with 2.27 cm sori; according to the seller it originally exceeded 78 cm and was shortened (suriage), keeping the signature on the lower part of the nakago, which shows two mekugi-ana. It carries horimono on both sides: bō-hi with bonji and sanko-tsuka-ken on the omote, bō-hi with bonji and gomabashi on the ura. The seller describes an itame jihada with mokume and nagare, thick chikei and nie-utsuri, and a suguha hamon with ko-gunome, kinsen, sunagashi and yubashiri; the photographs show a well-polished blade with crisp carvings. With a gold-foiled double habaki and NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper. The uchigatana koshirae with black roiro-lacquered saya, which the seller places as a modern-era work by a connoisseur in the Tenshō style, mounts a black-same tsuka wrapped in smoked leather, brass menuki with a catfish motif, an iron tsuba without hitsu-ana and a horn kashira.
37/100
€21,170
