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Yamashiro Daijō Minamoto Kunishige


JSA

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Dear Jean-Sebastien.

 

First of all thank you for sharing your sword.  I like it.

 

As the sword is papered we can assume that it is the smith you have identified.  He is the only one of the Bitchu Mizuta school who signed in this way.  Sesko identifies him as Ichizo, brother of Oyogo Kunishige and states that he ws awarded the title Yamashiro no Daijo in the second year of Shoho, 1645.

 

Hope that helps a little.

 

All the best.

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Geraint,

First of all, thank you very much for your input. It is really appreciated.

You beat me to it, as I was about to add to my original post:

The blade is indeed signed Yamashiro Daijyo Minamoto Kunishige (山城大掾源国重) and as you mentioned, I was also told that the smith's name is Ichizo (市蔵), the younger brother of Otsuki Yogoro Kunishige, the most highly-regarded swordsmith in Mizuta school (Oyogo Kunishige school, lead by Master Otsuki, Bitchu province). I was also told the blade was forged in the early Edo period, around 1645-1648, so everything is indeed pointing to KUN1026 (Hawley).

The thing is I've also found 2 other smiths who signed their work Yamashiro Daijyo Minamoto Kunishige; KUN1037 and KUN1113 (same school, different era). I completely trust the source, but any directions or leads that could help confirm the smith would be appreciated.

Here's one more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

09_Minamoto Kunishige_Tousin-Saya.jpg

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I am not very familiar with Shintō smiths so I cannot say much with lot confidence as I don't really study them. However it seems to me that the majority of dealers seem to list swords signed this way as work of Kunishige from Musashi, Ōtsuki Denshichirō (大月伝七郎). Who apparently was the son of Ichizō Kunishige. They must have good original sources that make them say so.

 

Here are some reputable dealers that all list the smith similarily in their description. Hopefully my understanding of Japanese is correct in this case.

https://ginza.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/r1/008/05_kunishige.htm

https://www.seiyudo.com/wa-080112.htm

https://asahitoken.jp/contents/01_token/details/token-B/B079.html

https://www.aoijapan.jp/脇差山城大掾源国重/

https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords5/KT331392.htm

https://tokka.biz/sword/kunishige8.html

 

Markus lists 3 Kunishige smiths having the title Yamashiro no Daijō

Quote

Kunishige (国重), Shōhō (正保, 1644-1648), Bitchū
Kunishige (国重), Jōkyō (貞享, 1684-1688), Bitchū
Kunishige (国重), 2nd gen., Manji (万治, 1658-1661), Musashi

 

But after reading the info on these I believe the bottom two smiths (and two entries in Seskos smith book) could be the same smith, Denshichirō. As I believe he seemed to have been moving from Bitchū to Edo and also worked in Tsuyama (which fits to both bottom 2 smiths and I think would be very unlikely happening otherwise). Unfortunately I haven't had Hawley in many years so I cannot say anything about his smith numbering.

 

Here is also interesting one that is signed 備中国水田住 / 山城大掾源国重

https://toyuukai.com/2019/10/備中国水田住山城大掾源国重/

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That’s good stuff Jussi, thanks.

 

I think you might be right about duplicate entries in Seskos and Hawley as well.

 

Actually, the 3rd link you provided is the very same blade. Looks like someone got their initial investment back and then some…

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7 hours ago, Jussi Ekholm said:

I’m sorry, my Japanese is a little rusty:

一ヶ所だけ小さい疵が確認できます。切先の棟に数ミリの割れのような疵です。鑑賞には差障りのない疵ですが、見て見ぬ振りをしてご紹介するわけにはいきません。あしからずご了承ください。”.

 

Scratch or crack?

 

Edit: Cutting ridge… There’s indeed a small crack on the mune, but French is my first language so I was a bit worried when a saw the words “crack” and “cutting”, as in cutting edge…

 

Edited by JSA
Additional info not worthy of a new post.
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Hi Jussi - I think you are correct. I spent some time looking at this today and I agree there seem to be only two Kunishige smiths who signed with Yamashiro-Daijō;  Ichizō and his son Denshichirō. 

 

Ichizō would be Yamashiro-Daijō Kunishige the 1st, and his era is usually noted as Shōhō (1644) (ref. Fujishiro, Iimura) KUN1026

Denshichirō is Yamashiro-Daijō Kunishige the 2nd, and his era is usually noted as Jōkyō (1688) (ref. Fujishiro, Iimura) KUN1037

 

Most of the shops are authenticating their swords to Denshichirō based on the mei in Fujishiro, which is identical to the one in Jean-Sebastian's post. So this would be Fujishiro p 260, which should be the same as Hawley KUN1037. Alas, I don't own anything from Hawley either so I cannot check on the Hawley entry.

 

Interesting to note, however, the description for the sword on the "Asahi Tōken" site:

銘鑑には万治と貞享頃の二人が載っていますが、寛文新刀の姿からは万治頃の國重かと思われます。ただ、これまで世に紹介されてきた國重の多くは貞享の國重としています。当店の推測は果たして正しいのかどうか。どちらも同人の可能性だってありえます。まあ、どのみち水田の系統には違いありませんが・・・

 

translation

The swordsmith encyclopedias list two smiths (who used the name Yamashiro-Daijō), one from Manji (1658) and one from Jōkyō (1684), and judging from the kanbunshintō shape of this sword we assume this to be the work of Kunishige from the Manji era. However most of the Kunishige swords on the market are said to be from Kunishige of the Jōkyō era. We do not know if our assumption is correct. This sword could be from either one. Anyway, it is sure that this sword comes from the Mizuta line... 

 

I am guessing there is a Japanese source out there that lists Kunishige 2nd as coming from the Manji era, and this was referenced by both Markus as well as Asahi Tōken. None of my books (Fujishiro, Iimura, Tokuno) mention anything about a Manji era smith named Kunishige. So that is a slight mystery, but I'm pretty confident that the sword in the first post in this thread is the work of Yamashiro-no-jō Kunishige 2nd. 

 

The sword on the Toyūkai site is from Ichizō (Yamashiro-Daijō Kunishige 1st). 

 

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22 hours ago, SteveM said:

So that is a slight mystery, but I'm pretty confident that the sword in the first post in this thread is the work of Yamashiro-no-jō Kunishige 2nd.

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to look into it @SteveM.

 

There's definitely some confusion around the name, but are you suggesting that the blade in my possession should be attributed to Denshichirō instead of Ichizō? Because that blade was presented to me as Ichizo's (市蔵) work from early Edo period (Shōhō, 1645-1648).

 

If that's true, the blade will still be as beautiful to my eyes, but the financial value will take a big hit as one is rated Chu-jo saku and the other one is not rated at all. Are confident are you about your claim that this blade was forged by Denshichirō? Is there any particular photo angles or parts of the blade that I could provide that could give you more info?

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I think the name on your sword looks like the names on the other swords which are attributed to Denshichirō (Yamashiro Daijō 2nd). In particular I think the whole sword has strong similarities to the ones from Asahi Tōken, Tokka, and Ginza Chōshuya: the mei, the file marks, the hamon. 

 

If your sword were by Ichizō, the name would look more like the name on the sword that Jussi linked to at the end of his post (the mei that reads "Bitchu-kuni Mizuta-jū...".

 

I'm not an expert in kantei, so I wouldn't make any hasty conclusions based on some guy's opinion on an internet forum. If it were presented as the work of Ichizō, I would ask the seller why he thinks that way. 

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4 hours ago, SteveM said:

In particular I think the whole sword has strong similarities to the ones from Asahi Tōken…


It’s not just similar, I confirm it’s the exact same sword.

 

4 hours ago, SteveM said:

I'm not an expert in kantei, so I wouldn't make any hasty conclusions based on some guy's opinion on an internet forum.


I agree and let me reassure you @SteveM; I’m grateful for your input, whatever the conclusion. You are only replying in good faith to my message and I appreciate it.

 

I’ll definitely need to dig further into this…

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