Knowledge please

[Ask]

Hi first post here, I'm looking for some help with a specific maker.

Echizen no kuni juu shimosaka aka higo kami fujiwara yasutsugu.

Started in shimosaka went to echizen went to edo became yasutsugu.

Where in the rankings?

Sought after?

Previous prices?

Any info appreciated.

Regards

[Mark]

the first generation (seems that is who you are asking about) is very famous. made many great blades that are very valuable.

 

very high ranking (depending on source)

many people collect him, so sought after

I have seen $10,000 to 50,000 but I am sure there are higher and lower

there is a lot of info on him online as he is famous

[Ask]

Thanks Mark,good start.

[Curran]

Shimosaka was a name used by famous Yasutsugu at a point early in his career.

 

However, Shimosaka is also a general two character school name signature used on many tanto and yari mostly from the 1800s.

If a piece simply signed "Shimosaka" then it is probably one of the 1800s works.

I only own 2 tanto, but one of them is a Shimosaka in koshirae from around 1865 seen here: http://www.juyo-bi.com/toppei-koshirae.html

 

A Shimosaka yari: http://www.aoijapan.com/yari-shimosaka

 

Copy and pasted dealer notes on Echizen Shimosaka that you originally asked about:

Special feature : Yasutsugu school continued to 8th generation.

This piece is from 3rd generation piece.

The first generation Yasutsugu is from Mino province.

At his early carrier, he named himself Echizen Shimosaka.

While then, he has become a personal sword smith of Shogun　family.

While his presence, he has engraved the letter “康-Yasu-”

from Tokugawa Ieyasu and Aoi family crest on the top.

[Ask]

Curran thanks again you've been very helpful.

It's the second guy in your post,I'm after and I'm thinking about a sword not yari.

Nice tantou.

[Toryu2020]

John -

Make sure you search the archives here while you are at it - lots of nuggets buried among the many posts and pages. You might also check nihonto.com - the articles section there has good information on many of the well known smiths...

-t

[Ask]

Thanks T I will have a look around.

[Darcy]

They can go very high.

 

Christie's sold a wakizashi for $132,000 (Juyo) and another at $90,000 (no papers).

 

Tokubetsu Juyo katana for sale in Japan at the moment around $170k.

 

One of the unique blades he made, say one of the special Sadamune copies, in particular those with both Aoi and Honda mon on them, I would expect those to be very expensive as well.

 

He was extremely talented. Fujishiro lists him at Jo-jo saku but when you look at the best work it is on a par with the other top level Shinto smiths.

[Jean]

One of the unique blades he made, say one of the special Sadamune copies, in particular those with both Aoi and Honda mon on them, I would expect those to be very expensive as well.

 

Darcy,

 

3 and a half year ago at DTI, I saw, side by side, saiha (retempered by Yasutsugu) Sadamune tanto tokuju for sale at 180k$ and its tokuju utsushi by the same Yasutsugu for sale at 250k$.

[cabowen]

I have seen photos of those Jean....Quite a pair!

[Ask]

Thanks for the informative posts.

Where can I find a photo of his wakizashi work and a clear mei phot?

I've looked but can only find higo daijo not higo kami.

[Mark]

if you want the best reference for Yasutsugu Grey's wesite says he ca get you a copy of the Taikan

http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.c ... an-dr-sato

[Ask]

Thanks mark I had a look but I don't want to buy the book It would be good to just see a good signature shot.

[Ask]

i cant find this anywhere,any suggestions?

[Stephen]

did ya try to google his name then images

 

found this on Hageyamas site

[Stephen]

some on ebay is this why your asking?

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=S ... 0390414607

[Ask]

Hi Stephen thanks for your post.

The first photo is a list of yasutsugu smiths generations not actual mei and the stuff on eBay I also saw nidai is a different person and it's only a wakizashi I'd like to see the style and mei.

The one that was echizen shimosaka it couldn't be read but thank you very much for your post I really appreciate the time you put in.