1798 Ozaki Gengomon Suketaka

[Frye1001]

Hello everyone,  I have as stated in the title a 1798 Suketaka. I am in need of any insight as to the historical significance it holds, as well as info period.  Attached are tang photos, it has an amazing hamon thats mostly ghosted. I can give further details if needed.

[Frye1001]

[Julien]

Hi John,

thank you for sharing your blade with us, and welcome on NMB.

Would you mind adding pictures of both side of the nakago, a full length pictures and some closer shot of hamon, hada ? It helps us a lot to have multiple shots rather than only a partial nakago picture.

 

Does it have koshirae or is it in shirasaya ? Is it a Katana, a wakizashi ?

 

What are you thinking when you say "Historical significance" ? Is it rarity ? Value ? Worth keeping it ? Worth restoring it ?

Here are two swords by the same smith, with Tokubetsu Hozon : https://www.touken-sato.com/event/katana/2012/08/W-ozaki_suketaka-01.html. 
https://www.seiyudo.com/wa-111211.htm.
It can be of interest if you want to compare the signature, and think about sending it to shinsa, etc...

 

 

 

[John C]

3 hours ago, Frye1001 said:

historical significance it holds

John:

In general, the Edo period was relatively peaceful. Samurai were still working for daimyo, however as peace keepers, police (see info on sodegarami), firemen, guards, etc. Swords became less for battle and more for status, tradition, and peace keeping. This means hamon became more flamboyant and kashirae became a form of an expression of wealth and status. In short, a sword (assuming katana here) from that time period would have been carried by samurai, though would not have likely seen any battle.

 

John C. 

[Frye1001]

It is a wakizashi, has a very ornate undulating wave hamon, was in extremely bad condition, severe rust and scale, war trophy not maintained or respected. I will take more detailed pictures 

tomorrow and post. Thanks for the interest. I have a feeling this is a very cool sword.

 

[oli]

indeed interesting smith, from Book Markus Sesko:

SUKETAKA (助隆), Kansei (寛政, 1789-1801), Settsu – “Ozaki Gengo´emon Suketaka” (尾崎源五右衛門助隆),

“Ozaki Gengo´emon no Jō Suketaka” (尾崎源五右衛門尉助隆), “Ozaki Gengo´emon Fujiwara Suketaka”

(尾崎源五右衛門藤原助隆), “Ozaki Nagato no Kami Fujiwara Ason Suketaka” (尾崎長門守藤原朝臣助隆), real

name Ozaki Gengo´emon (尾崎源五右衛門), he was born in the third year of Hōreki (宝暦, 1753) in Harima province

but moved later to Ōsaka to study under Kuroda Takanobu (黒田鷹諶), Takanobu in turn was the grandson of the 6th

gen. Bungo Kai-Mihara Masaie (貝三原正家), Suketaka received the honorary title Nagato no Kami (長門守) in the

twelfth month of Kansei ten (寛政, 1798), he died in the second year of Bunka (文化, 1805) at the age of 53, as

Suishinshi Masahide he too tried to copy the tōran-midare of Sukehiro (助広), that means we can see how early shinshintō

smiths were influenced by Kamada Natae´s (鎌田魚妙) praise of Sukehiro´s tōran in his standard work Shintō Bengi

(新刀弁疑), his successor was his son Takashige (隆繁), Suketaka´s blades have a shallow sori, a thick kasane, much hira-

– 1017 –niku, and a relative large chū-kissaki, they show a dense and hardly discernible ko-itame which tends to muji, we know tōran-

midare, gunome-midare, and suguha hamon whereas the tōran-midare consists of rough and irregular nie, the tama don´t have an

uniform size, he applied a long sugu-yakidashi and the bōshi ist ko-maru, some blades show horimono in the form of dragons,

plum blossoms, or a branch of a plum tree, the tip of the tang is an iriyamagata-jiri, the yasurime are ō-sujikai with keshō, he

signed also with a characteristical cursive script which tends almost to grass script whereas the date signatures of such mei

are entirely executed in grass script, jō-saku

[Frye1001]

[Frye1001]

[Frye1001]

[Frye1001]

[oli]

There is a chapter about the smih in the Book Shinshinto-shi from Markus Sesko. I would go for restoration and papers, you have some options in USA. Another example https://shop.nihontou.jp/products/detail/29508

[CSM101]

For comparison.

 

 

[sabiji]

Suketaka is considered one of the major smiths of the early Shinshinto period. However, it is difficult to classify Suketaka as a Shinshinto smith in the strict sense of the Shinshinto period.

He copied the Osaka Shinto style, particularly that of Tsuda Sukehiro. Accordingly, he also copied the Shinto Sugata, though his Saki-Haba is always slightly wider, as in the works of Osaka Kanbun. He likewise copied the Osaka Kessho and the cursive style of Tsuda Sukehiro or Sukenao.

Shinto-Osaka was extremely popular in the late 18th century. In addition to Suketaka, Suishinshi Masahide, Tegarayama Masashige, Kato Tsunahide, and the young (Kato) Chounsai Tsunatoshi were the primary artists working in this style.

 

Since Suketaka died as early as 1805, he did not fully experience the actual Shinshinto Renaissance, which Sushinshi Masahide essentially initiated, marking a shift away from the rather hard-fired Osaka style—which had been popular until then—toward the Ko-Nie and Nioi-Deki styles of the Bizen-Kamakura masters.

 

Shortly before his death, during his Nagato-Kami phase, he abandoned the cursive signature style. He produced mainly wakizashi. Katana are quite rare and relatively short.

 

 

[Lindley]

Hello everyone, 

im just curious based on the Kansai 10 date signature. Was it common for Suketaka to produce swords with no month or date on them? Also did he frequently etch in Gengoemen on his earlier pieces?

[Lindley]

Furthermore, does anyone know exactly what date he was promoted to Nagato no Kami? I’ve heard anywhere from 1798-1801. Thank you for any information you can provide.

[ROKUJURO]

18 hours ago, Lindley said:

.....did he frequently etch in Gengoemen on his earlier pieces?

He certainly did not "etch" anything in his blades. Signatures are chiseled with a TAGANE.

[ROKUJURO]

On 3/25/2026 at 6:29 AM, Frye1001 said:

It is a wakizashi, has a very ornate undulating wave hamon, was in extremely bad condition, severe rust and scale,.....

Hi John,

this made me curious. The blade WAS in bad condition and had even SCALE? So how was that condition changed to its actual shiny state and possibly rounded SHINOGI? 
Scale can occur when a steel object is exposed to fire/heat which for a Japanese sword means, it is destroyed. 

[Frye1001]

Do you have any useful information? Or just a critique.

 

[Lindley]

Greetings, 

first and foremost, thank you for the correction in my wording. However, since you already seem to grasp the meaning of my inquiry, I ask that you forgive my improper wording. I’m new here. Literally my first post. So thank you for pointing that out but you failed to answer my question. Is it common or not? I appreciate any useful information you can provide. I am also still curious about Suketakas’ promotion year. An exact date would be wonderful, but a year would suffice. Thank you all again.

[ROKUJURO]

17 minutes ago, Frye1001 said:

Do you have any useful information? Or just a critique.

John,

I am asking basics to help assess the blade. A signature does not tell all that might be necessary, and if you want competent comments, we need good photos in the first place. 

As we strongly object any DIY polishing attempts, the actual condition of a blade is of interest and importance. The little that I can see on the less than ideal photos (maybe due to my old eyes) lead me to suspect that the blade was not traditionally polished. Usually, this leads to severe damage and loss of value. 

So please excuse my critical questions, but I think they were justified to come to useful answers to your inquiry.

[Frye1001]

[Frye1001]

Get a glimpse now?

[oli]

10 hours ago, Lindley said:

Furthermore, does anyone know exactly what date he was promoted to Nagato no Kami? I’ve heard anywhere from 1798-1801. Thank you for any information you can provide.

December 1798

[Nihonto student]

13 minutes ago, Frye1001 said:

Get a glimpse now?

Dear John,

 

I'll try to simplify Jean's post. The blade was previously covered in rust, but now it's not...who cleaned the rust from the blade? You or a professional togishi? This is because when it comes to Japanese blades, the problem isn't just removing the rust, but maintaining the geometry. If you don't maintain the geometry, it's a big problem. This is why becoming a togishi requires years of training...in the photos you posted, the shinogi seems barely visible, which suggests that whoever removed the rust had no idea how to maintain the geometry.

@Lindley Suketaka received honorary title “nagato no Kami” in 1789  (Reference Sesko Compendium).

 

All the best

 

Giordy

 

 

[Lindley]

Hello Giordy, 

oh, okay. I was informed by Mike Yamasaki that the date of his lording was in the 19th day of the 10th month of Kansai 10. I was just hoping to verify that. So 1789. Ok. Thank you.

[Lindley]

Hello all,

The reason I am asking about the date is because the sword that Frye posted has a Kansai 10 date I do believe. Can anyone confirm that it is in fact that date. If it is, wasn’t that Suketakas promotion year? What does that entail for its possible historical prominence? 

[Nihonto student]

18 minutes ago, Lindley said:

Hello Giordy, 

oh, okay. I was informed by Mike Yamasaki that the date of his lording was in the 19th day of the 10th month of Kansai 10. I was just hoping to verify that. So 1789. Ok. Thank you.

Kansei = from 1789 to 1801    ---   Kansei 10 should be 1798      so for Mr. Yamasaki  19th October 1798

 

I can't confirm the signature in question, but even if it were the same year I don't think it would substantially change the cards on the table from an evaluation point of view, of course you would surely know that it is a blade made at the peak of his career so qualitatively would expect more compared to previous works.

[Lindley]

Just a curiosity really. It’s my inderstanding that in the politics of the late edo period that a requirement for lordship was the forging of a piece proving his worth as a lord. A resume of sorts. It was standard policy of the time that there was an 8 month Audit period from the time of his shogunal selectee for Nagato no Kami elect to his official imperial decree later that year. He would have been in a professional limbo of sorts, not a commoner and not a lord. The timing on this sword is just very…..appropriate.

[Kantaro]

How did you find it?

[Frye1001]

War trophy, buddy of mines grandfather brought it home from WW2. I got it from him. 

Was in very bad shape.