Best Of The Nihon Sansaku

[Ilovekatana]

I recently found something that somewhat confuses me. For a while I always thought Masamune was held as the greatest Japanese swordsmith and thus the Nihon sansaku, but according to yuhindo the best of the Nihon sansaku is toshiro yoshimitsu. I have been having trouble finding the source of the claim,which is apparently the nbthk's token bijutsu, as I can't find an archive. So is yoshimitsu held in higher regard than Masamune?

 

https://yuhindo.com/awataguchi-yoshimitsu/

[Ray Singer]

The smith who has been considered "the best" has varied over time. This is what the Token Bijutsu has to say about Norishige.

"Norishige is superior to Masamune in the hataraki [activities] of nie and forges a unique jihada called matsukawa-hada. He is superior to Masamune in the hataraki of jihada and hamon".

Benson also found when researching his article on Soshu-den that Norishige had been considered by many sword experts to be one of the best of all time.

https://web.archive.org/web/20050207141608/http://togishi.com:80/Sano%20museum1.htm

"We all knew Norishige was a good sword smith because of his connection to Masamune. Actually though with in the past century it seems he has been rated as good as and not a student of Masamune but as a contemporary. In the past several years I have been gleaning all the information out of my old books about him. It is interesting to note that most if not all the authors consider his work amongst the greatest of all smiths. I keep finding interesting statements in all of the writings such as; the combination of steels creating the great chikei was a height of excellence not attained by Masamune. Fujishiro Toshio says, " Even though I have had second thoughts about the excellence of some of Masamune and Go Yoshihiro works I have always found Norishige’s work outstanding". Another interesting fact is out of the past 15 Tokubetsu Juyo Token shinsas there have been 15 Norishiges sword selected and only 10 Masamune selected. Is this a statement of overall quality? Maybe a consistent quality?" - Robert Benson

A national treasure by Norishige is named Nippon Ichi (number one in Japan). I am biased, because I happen to love the work of Etchu Norishige, however I believe this ranking of "the best" is subjective, and that there are masterworks from smiths such as Kanemitsu, Mitsutada, Rai Kunitoshi, etc which show that other individuals achieved that same height of skill as the san-saku.

All that said, Masamune is certainly the biggest household name in Japan and is the one that a majority would label as the best smith considering that he is the best known by a wide margin.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Greetings All,

 

Hmm, in the end to the unfortunate soul being cut down back centuries ago, I don't think it mattered all that much if it was by a Norishige, Yukimitsu, or Masamune. On the reverse side, what does it matter if one died fighting with one of these maker's sword in hand. And, perhaps, more importantly relative to the present is the question of how many of these and other great swords have slipped through the fingers of dealers and collectors sitting on a table unrecognized out of polish.

 

Just stirring the pot on a Saturday afternoon,   cheers!

[Ray Singer]

Just a few years ago, a friend of mine found a previously undocumented Toshiro Yoshimitsu tanto. Whether he was the best smith of all time, or simply one of the greatest of the old masters, this ranks as one of the great nihonto discoveries in recent times.

 

 

And, perhaps, more importantly relative to the present is the question of how many of these and other great swords have slipped through the fingers of dealers and collectors sitting on a table unrecognized out of polish.

[SAS]

I was reading the other night about Sokaku Takeda, who was the Daitoryu jujutsu master who taught Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido; after a brawl with about 50 construction workers, in which a number were killed (1886, I believe) he was forced to give up his beloved Kotetsu sword. It made me wonder what became of the sword, and how it must have made Sokaku feel.....no wonder he looked so pissed off in all of his later photos.

[Jean]

I wonder who he is Ray

[TETSUGENDO]

Search Wikipedia, etc.  The truth is out there!

 

Cheers,