Kantei
A long blade from both sides, one above the other, on a black background, with grooves and carvings; on one of the tangs, a carved chrysanthemum flower.

Photo: dealer in Japan

Sukehira · Sukenaga · the Yokoyama

Life and times

The Yokoyama regarded themselves as heirs of the Sukesada of Osafune; with Sukehira and Sukenaga the family split into two lines.

On this page
  1. The family
  2. His life
  3. The generations
  4. Gallery

The family

According to Sesko, Yokoyama Sukehira (横山祐平), formerly called Sukesada, who died in 1829 at the age of 75, became a pupil in 1788 of Yamato no Kami Motohira (大和守元平), of Satsuma, who gave him the character 平 (hira) of his name. Sesko relates that Sukehira’s first son, Shichibei Sukemori (七兵衛祐盛), inherited as eleventh generation the main line of the Sukesada, that of Tōshirō, and that the second, Sukenaga, continued his father’s line.

His life

According to Sesko, Sukenaga was born in 1795 and died in 1851, and with his father was the driving force behind the success of the Yokoyama smiths of Bizen in shinshintō. The Japanese Wikipedia, in the article on Miyamoto Kanenori (宮本包則), has him connected with the Chōshū domain and relates that in 1851 Kanenori, then 22, went to Osafune to study under him; Sukenaga did not accept him, and he was taken on as a pupil by Yokoyama Sukekane (横山祐包), who signed as a descendant in the 58th generation of Tomonari.

The generations

The sources consulted do not document a second generation signing Sukenaga; the lineage is that of the Yokoyama family of Osafune, with its two lines.