Tsuba signed Masakatsu - What about the school ?

[Kurikata]

Dear all,

 

I have this tsuba in my collection since 1989. I know the signature being Masakatsu and always thought it was Ishiguro school. But when refering to Haynes Index, no artists with such kanji are listed in this school. What is your opinion ? Is it from Yanagawa ? Mito ? Iwamoto ? Kikuhoka? Kikuchi  school?

 

Thank you for your views

[Itomagoi]

Hello Bruno,
I am absolutely no an expert. But when I saw your tsuba I immediately thought of Ishiguro school, because I have a tsuba with a similar motif.

Mine tsuba is signed with: Ishiguro Masayoshi (石黒政美).

[Kurikata]

Dear Peter, thank you for your answer and yes, your tsuba shows similarities with mine. But  my tsuba maker Masakatsu has to be linked with another school. Which one ?

[rkg]

Bruno,

 

It looks ishiguro-y, but often the later guys would be "inspired" by (or get an order for a piece that looked like) other groups, the maker might be an unrecorded minor smith, etc.  Given how good some of these guys were, looks can be deceiving.

 

First off, did you run down the other artisans who signed 正克 in Haynes to see if they did anything like this (H04076.0 - H04081.0)? Bob was usually pretty good about noting when they signed with a kao as well, so there being no note of one on these is kind of a red flag that this might be a waste of time, but...

 

A quick check of Wakayama and the mei book xlated by Marcus yielded nobody signing masakatsu this way, which makes me think maybe the better explanation is that the guy is  an minor maker (or the mei a rare alternate one from somebody else) that isn't recorded in the "usual suspect" books.  Elliott Long worked with Haynes to put all the mei/makers that Bob found since he did the index and their addendums into a book - maybe you could either get a copy of this or beg somebody who has it to look in it and see if this 正克 is in it?  Also, is there a book with a more thorough listing of all the ishiguro artisans out there?

 

Good Luck,

rkg

(Richard George)

[Tanto54]

Look at Muto Masatoshi (who occasionally signed Masakatsu with this katsu and sometimes a different katsu...) from the Iwamoto School (worked in Nara style).  He also uses a kakihan like this one. 

[Kurikata]

Thank you Richard and Georges. Thank you Georges, especially , as in fact there are similarities between my tsuba Kakihan and Muto Masatoshi's one as found in "Shosenkenshu" book. Apparently Muto Masatoshi ( 正甫 )used  this 正克 signature also, as stated in Haynes (H04601.0). I think I have found my guy!