Katana Made By Musashi Taro Yasukuni

[general_piffle]

Preferably papered, I'm after a katana made by Musashi Taro Yasukuni, the Shinto smith who studied under Omura Kaboku. With or without koshirae, please contact me if you have such a katana. Many thanks.

 

[Vermithrax16]

Nice sword indeed! Probable that someone has one here on NMB. 

[general_piffle]

Bumping this as the recent technical issue wiped all replies. If anyone spots a katana made by Musashi Taro Yasukuni (with or without koshirae) please let me know. Many thanks.

[mywei]

http://www.hyozaemon.jp/product/musasitarou/

 

wakizashi though. I think his blades are fairly popular in Japan. (the sword of the main chara in Sword of Doom, the movie adaptation with Nakadai and Mifune is one of my favourites)

[general_piffle]

Many thanks Matt. I've tried to contact the vendor. Fingers crossed I get a response and it's available.

[general_piffle]

Quick update on this. Thanks to Matt's eagle eyes it turned out to be an excellent Musashi Taro Yasukuni wakizashi in shirasaya with NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers. 

 

After a bit of confusion, as the dealer in Japan (understandably) speaks very little English the sword has been secured with the assistance of the very helpful Pablo at Unique Japan and is in the process of making its way to me.

 

This is after around 3 years of searching for a papered sword made by either Omura Kaboku or one of his key students - of which this particular generation Yasukuni most certainly was (thanks here also to Markus Sesko for providing me with invaluable insights into Kaboku's history and apprentices). 

 

Very happy is an understatement. 

[general_piffle]

A small follow-up, the sword is now secured but still in Japan while paperwork is carried out. Some pictures, apologies for the low quality but this is all I have for now:

 

 

 

 

[general_piffle]

Once again, thanks to a lead from Matt a stocky, healthy, papered Yasukuni katana in koshirae (dark fittings, could almost be The Sword of Doom itself!) has been secured:

 

http://www.e-sword.jp/katana/1710-1120.htm

[SwordGuyJoe]

Excellent swords! I love to ask, to hear the perspective of other collectors, what draws you to these smith’s and their work? Please don’t think that I’m asking based on quality and not liking the swords. I love taking these moments and asking “why?”, I mean if you wouldn’t mind taking the time to share.

[Vermithrax16]

Great it all worked out for you! Thanks for sharing, love posts like this.

[general_piffle]

Excellent swords! I love to ask, to hear the perspective of other collectors, what draws you to these smith’s and their work? Please don’t think that I’m asking based on quality and not liking the swords. I love taking these moments and asking “why?”, I mean if you wouldn’t mind taking the time to share.

 

Hi Joe, many thanks! I'm fascinated by the work and recorded personality of Omura Kaboku, also of his key students/apprentices of which Musashi Taro Yasukuni was arguably one of, if not, his finest. The following is taken from the nihonto.ca site to give you some more insights:

 

Musashi Taro Yasukuni was born in 1650 in Hachioji. His initial smith name was Yamamoto Tota Hiroshige, nidai from his father, Kinzaemon Hiroshige. He later changed his name to Musashi Taro Yasukuni. At the age of 35, he began study of forging under Omura Kaboku, who was a notably unique and according to anecdotes, very eccentric character. Omura Kaboku was highly educated, a scholar, and a surgeon by trade who allegedly learned western medical techniques and took up forging in order to augment a supply of better cutting instruments than he could not otherwise procure. Kaboku served Matsudaira Mitsunaga, Lord of Echigo as his surgeon, and made swords while in the Matsudaira domain of Echigo. His inscriptions often include “I SAKU” ( 慰作) or, “made as a diversion” essentially meaning sword forging was a hobby for him and not a professional position. Kaboku also inscribed his works with “Shin Ju Go Mai Kobuse Saku” (made with true 15 plate construction) on his works displaying a pride of craftsmanship. Yasukuni clearly received an education in this techinique and continued the practice, as many of his works, such as this one, also carry this uramei inscription. Yasukuni is a well regarded smith and left a fair number of works. He is rated as Josaku by Fujishiro in the Shinto Hen which is the highest rating among his peers and higher than even that of the founder. He is also rated at 3.5 million yen in the Toko Jiten. Shitahara works have generally been weighted to utilitarian works by many reference sources over the years, however the school has garnered more attention and appreciation in recent years. Yasukuni works logically have higher artistic qualities overall to merit a rating of Josaku in the eyes of Fujishiro as this is a respectable rating among Shinto works overall.

 

I suppose my fascination with the Shitahara school and characters such as Kaboku and Yasukuni grew the more I found out about them. It was like discovering parts of their stories and from there getting an insight into the kind of people they could have been over 300 years ago. Japanese history around this time from late 1600s to mid 1700s is fascinating, so much change, uncertainty and opportunity.

 

Some more info about Yasukuni:

 

In 1719 (the fourth year of Kyohou), YASUKUNI climbed up to an honorable position to be invited by Shogun Tokugawa YOSHIMUNE to have a look at making a sword at Mihama Goten palace. In his later years, he named Yamamoto Bokuyu. Passed away 1730 (the fifteenth day, the eighth month, the fifteenth year of Kyouou), lived out his allotted span, was 81 years old.

The hero Tsukue Ryunosuke of movie/novel [The Sword of Doom], owned a sword of YASUKUNI.

 

I hope this goes someway towards answering your question. Thank you for asking.

[Vermithrax16]

Great story about the smith looking to make surgical items. Off topic but as of late obsidian has become more used in surgery as the cuts are less damaging and heal better.

[SwordGuyJoe]

Very interesting! Thank you for taking the time to share.

[Petersan]

Bumping this as the recent technical issue wiped all replies. If anyone spots a katana made by Musashi Taro Yasukuni (with or without koshirae) please let me know. Many thanks.

Hello, 

 

I just bumped into your post about this smith, as I was just helped with the translation of my 57 cm nagasa blade which turned out to be like yours ,  Musashi Taro Yasukuni . Is it a valuable blade?