Yamaura Masao

[Stephen]

Yamaura Masao” (山浦真雄) any one care to make a call on shoshin or not.

[Ray Singer]

Believe this one is typically read Saneo (but you also see the Masao readings in some references). Both could be considered right, and I think that the Saneo reading is used to differentiate from the 'other Masao'. Only mentioning, as researching Saneo will return additional examples.

 

Your mei does not match the references I have here but will look further.

[Stephen]

Thanks Ray

[Stephen]

what i was going by, he signed many ways older brother to Kiyomaro

 

MASAO (真雄), Kōka (弘化, 1844-1848), Shinano – “Tennenshi Masatoshi” (天然子完利), “Shinano no Kuni Tennenshi Toshimasa” (信濃国天然子寿昌), “Tennenshi Toshimasa” (天然子寿昌), “Shinano no Kuni Komoro-jū Yamaura Toshimasa kore o saku” (信濃国小諸 住山浦寿昌作之), “Minamoto Masao kore o tsukuru” (源正雄造之), “Masao” (正雄), “Yamaura Noboru Minamoto Masao tsukuru” (山浦昇源正雄造), “Shinano no Kuni Masao” (信濃国真雄), “Yamaura Masao” (山浦真雄), “Yūshaken Masao” (遊射軒真雄), “Yū´unsai Masao” (遊雲斎真雄), “Yu´unsai Toshinaga” (遊雲斎寿長), “Minamoto Ason Toshinaga” (源朝臣寿長), Yamaura Masao was the nine-years-older brother of Kiyomaro (清麿), his name reads as Masao but to distinguish him from Suzuki Masao, he is listed in many sources with the reading Saneo, he was born in the first year of Bunka (文化, 1804) as oldest son of Yamaura Ji´emon Masatomo (山浦治右衛門昌友), the village head of Akaiwa (赤岩) in Shinano province, his real name was Yamaura Noboru (山浦昇) and his youth name was Komaji (駒次), he entered an apprenticeship under Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀 in the third month of the eleventh year of Bunsei (文政, 1828) and signed thereupon with Yamaura Tarō Masanori (山浦太郎正則), about one year later – in the sixth month of Bunsei twelve (1829) – he studied together with his younger brother Kiyomaro under the local Shinano-smith Kawamura Toshitaka (河村寿隆), from the first month of Bunsei 13 (1830) he signed with Tennenshi Masatoshi (天然子完利), and between the twelfth year of Bunsei (1829) and the 15th year of Tenpō (天保, 1844) as well as between the first year of Man´en (万延, 1860) and the beginning Bunkyū-era (文久, 1861-1864) with Tennenshi – 608 – Toshimasa (天然子寿昌), between Kaei (嘉永, 1848-1854) and Keiō (慶応, 1865-1868) he used the name Masao which he signed with the characters (正雄) and (真雄), with the Meiji period he changed his name once more, to Toshinaga (寿長), from the fifth year of Ansei (安政, 1858) onwards he worked for Shinano´s Matsushiro fief (松代藩) which was ruled by the Sanada family (真田), but he travelled a lot and also forged swords during these trips, he used the pseudonyms Tennenshi, Yūshaken (遊射軒), and Yū´unsai (遊雲斎), records say that he trained 17 students, among them also his heir and successor Kanetora (兼虎), there was a cutting test held in the sixth year of Kaei (1853) in Matsushiro Castle after that his blades enjoyed an outstanding reputation as of being extremely sharp, it was also said that his blades were even sharper than those of his younger brother Kiyomaro, he died on the 18th day of the fifth month Meiji seven (明治, 1874) at the age of 71, katana have a nagasa between 69 and 72 cm, sometimes also longer blades are found, he applied generelly a shallow sori, a wide mihaba, and an ō-kissaki, and the kasane can be either thick or thin, it is said that he made many naginata nut only few of them are extant today, dense ko-mokume mixed with ō-hada and fine ji-nie, the jigane is rather strong, the hamon is a ko-chōji-midare and ko-gunome at his earlier works and later a gunomemidare in nie-deki that is similar to Kiyomaro but which shows more notare, after that phase he hardened mostly a notaremidare, sometimes mixed with pointed midare elements, Masao´s kinsuji and sunagashi are not that prominent as those of Kiyomaro, his long and somewhat subdued kinsuji are therefore also called shirage-suji (白髪筋, lit. “grey/white wisps of hair”), the bōshi is a small dimensioned midare-komi or sometimes also a ko-maru whereas the tip is somewhat pointed, he carefully finished his tangs, they have a shallow ha-agari kurijiri and sujikai-yasurime, basically the signature of t

[Stephen]

I can see how'd the call could be made.

[Ed]

what does the rest of the blade look like?

[Ed]

Gimei.

[Stephen]

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/v645635784

[Jacques D.]

Plentiful Minamoto Masao (in sôsho script) but no Yamaura Masao in my extensive library...

 

Would guess gimei. 

[Ed]

I found the listing before I wrote gimei.  The photos there were a bit clearer.  If you have ever seen Saneo's work or clean clear oshigata of his mei, one look at the sword listed says gimei!  At a glance, the mei is craggy and unrefined, lacking the fluidity of Saneo's  hand. Further examination reveals numerous discrepancies in the individual character formation. Last, the work seen in the blade is nowhere near the quality of Saneo. 

 

But that is merely my opinion based on poor and incomplete photos, and I was wrong once before. 

[Brian]

Ed, I remember that time you thought you were wrong. But turns out you were mistaken.

[Ed]

Brian,  I like it when on that rare occasion it turns out that way.