Suishinshi Masatsugu
水心子正次 (Suishinshi Masatsugu)
Edo swordsmith in Musashi province, heir to the Suishinshi house, active in the middle decades of the 19th century.
Profile
Suishinshi Masatsugu, whose civil name was Kawabe Hokushi, was born around 1813 into the Suishinshi family of Edo. He was the heir of the second-generation Masahide and is regarded as the grandson of the school's founder, Suishinshi Masahide. The second Masahide died while Masatsugu was still very young, so he trained under Taikei Naotane (大慶直胤), his grandfather's leading pupil, and his work stands closer to his teacher's than to that of his own house. Although he headed the family, he never took the name Masahide and signed Suishinshi Masatsugu. He is held to have served the Tatebayashi domain, with a workshop in Okachimachi, Edo. He worked in both the Sōshū and Bizen manners, with gunome and chōji hamon rich in nie. His working life was short and few of his blades survive; he died in 1860, aged 47.
Swords available
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Suishinshi Masatsugu
Katana by Suishinshi Masatsugu dated Tenpō 13 (1842), with an ubu tang, shirasaya and a black-lacquered uchigatana koshirae; Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper declared by the original seller. Katana by Suishinshi Masatsugu, an Edo smith of the Suishinshi school active in the Tenpō era. According to the original seller, he was the son of the second Suishinshi Masahide and son-in-law of Taikei Naotane, and worked in Shitaya Okachimachi, Edo, in the service of the Akimoto house. The blade, with a nagasa of 71.3 cm and a sori of 2.2 cm, is shinogi-zukuri with an iori-mune. The original seller describes an itame jihada mixed with masame and dense ji-nie, and a notare hamon mixed with gunome, rich in nie, with ashi and kinsuji, in the manner of the old Bizen Kanemitsu. The tang is ubu, with a single mekugi-ana and slanting file marks; the omote bears the signature 水心子正次 (Suishinshi Masatsugu) with a kaō, and the ura the date 天保十三年二月 (Tenpō jūsan-nen nigatsu), corresponding to 1842. It comes in shirasaya and with an uchigatana koshirae: a black roiro lacquered saya, a tsuka wrapped in black ito over white same, an openwork iron tsuba with ginkgo leaves and gold touches, and a fuchi with gilt chrysanthemums. The original seller declares an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken paper, which does not appear in the photographs.
67.6/100
€13,850
