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Overview·Kantei·Designations·Blade Forms·Signatures·School
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  1. Schools
  2. Satsuma
  3. Yasuari

Satsuma Yasuari

安在

Jūyō
Vol. 27, No. 225 · Katana

Satsuma Yasuari

安在

4 ranked works

ProvinceSatsumaEraEnkyo (1744–1748)PeriodEdoSchoolSatsumaTraditionYamato-denToko Taikan350(top 49%)TypeSwordsmithCodeYAS16
4Jūyō Tōken

Overview

Every blade on this record of Yasuari is an , signed , three of them cutting the long Satsushu-ju Ippei Fujiwara Yasuari toward the with a thick chisel and dated Meiwa 3 (1766). Yasuari was born in Hoei 5 (1708) as the second son of Nakamura Kiyofusa, and because Ippei Yasuyo, the founder of the Satsuma Ippei line, had no biological heir, he was taken as adopted son in Kyoho 8 (1723) at the age of sixteen. When Yasuyo died at forty-nine in Kyoho 13 (1728), Yasuari succeeded to the headship of the line at twenty-one, and he led it until his own death at seventy in An'ei 6 (1777). The published sources note that he first signed Yasuji, that he undertook and on his master's behalf, and that joint works between the two survive, so that telling his own hand from Yasuyo's is itself a matter of connoisseurship.

His characteristic hand inherits Yasuyo's manner closely. The body is broad in and thick in , full in and high in the , the stout, robust construction of the province. Over a tightly packed he tempers a -based hand into which he sets and somewhat pointed , the deep and the thick with mixed and gathering unevenly. Through the run and , and in the upper half faint -like effects drift into the . On the fifteenth-session the runs straight into a small and the carries an imozuru, the long unbroken thread of -lines that is the celebrated Satsuma-no-imozuru of the province's schools. The deep- carried in coarse , rather than any clove-flower, is the spine of his recognition.

The beneath is the constant. It is a , well compacted and at times tending toward a , plain-grain look, into which forms thickly, mixed with rougher and fine , the steel taking a darkish cast. Over it the runs straight, turning back in a small or, on one piece, thick with in a -like manner, the point swept with . The is , finished with a kuri- tip and file marks, with a single ; the carries the long signature toward the and the a date inscription, the tang-finish itself among the features the published sources read as extremely close to Yasuyo.

The published sources read two faces within this small signed record. In his ordinary range the work is calmer: a wide with a slight tendency in the upper half, narrowing below into a shallow , the whole carrying unevenly distributed over a turning somewhat plain, a piece the judges read as an ordinary level of workmanship in both and that nonetheless "clearly exemplifies the characteristic style of Satsuma " (「薩摩新刀の作風をよく示した」). Against this stands his foremost manner, the mixed with and , deep in and thick in , with , and drifting , the dark and full of . Of one such the published sources say it "approaches the level of his adoptive father Yasuyo, and stands among the foremost superior works within Yasuari's oeuvre" (「養父安代の作に迫るもので、同作中屈指の優品である」); of another, that it is "extremely close to Yasuyo" (「安代に頗る近似している」).

What sets him within his province is exactly the closeness the judges name and the small distance they then measure. He is read first against Yasuyo, whose broad thick , dark and -laden he shares so nearly that the published sources reach for the line again and again. His individuality is located not in a different style but in a quieter handling of the one. Compared to Yasuyo, the published sources find, the activity within the is calmer, and the shows in places a tendency to tighten, features through which "Yasuari's individuality can be discerned, and which may be regarded as his particular flavor" (「刃中の働きが穏やかで、且つ匂口が部分的にしまりごころを呈している」). His own deep- , his dark -laden and his swept are the grounded traits that place him, the second-generation custodian of the Ippei manner within the Satsuma tradition rather than a maker of a separate school.

For the collector he is a comparatively rare name, his own extant works few even within the Satsuma school, since his period of working alongside Yasuyo was short and much of his early labor went into and for his master. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record on this account runs entirely through the tier, where four of his works are held, all , signed dated to Meiwa 3. The published sources call the finest of them a superior piece comparable to his adoptive father, the highest praise the school's own commentary affords a second-generation hand. The blades carry no recorded provenance, descending instead through private collections in Japan and abroad. Most designated blades, including those in private hands, are held rather than traded, and a signed Yasuari of his foremost manner comes to market only rarely and with patience, a document of how the Ippei line carried its founder's - into a second generation.

Kantei

A nie-laden Soshu-leaning notare over a dark, thick ji-nie ko-itame, the Satsuma Ippei manner inherited from Yasuyo; told from the master by a calmer ha-activity and a nioiguchi that locally tightens.

Yasuari, who signed the long Satsushu-ju Ippei Fujiwara Yasuari, was the second son of Nakamura Kiyofusa, adopted in 1723 as heir to Ippei Yasuyo, the founder of the Satsuma Ippei line, whom he succeeded at the headship in 1728. His hand inherits Yasuyo's manner closely: a broad, thick- over a tightly-packed whose forms thickly and runs dark, the a -laden with deep , , , and , the long imozuru of Satsuma running into a straight, rounded . The published sources read his particular flavor in a calmer activity within the and a that tightens in places, the trait by which he is told apart from his master.

Diagnostic discriminators

100% of his works

75% of his works

25% of his works

deep nioi with thickly-adhering ko-nie; in his foremost pieces the ji and ha approach Yasuyo, while the published sources find the activity calmer and the nioiguchi tightening in places, his own flavor

Observation by phase

The standard Satsuma shinto manner

In his ordinary range the is a , mixed and well compacted, tending somewhat toward a (plain-grain) look, with scattered here and there; over it he tempers a wide with a slight tendency, narrowing in the lower half into a shallow , the whole carrying unevenly distributed . The runs straight into a small , and on the the long imozuru of Satsuma enters. The published sources read this as an ordinary level of workmanship in both and that clearly exemplifies the characteristic style of Satsuma .

Sugata 姿
Jigane 地鉄
Hamon 刃文
Bōshi 帽子

His foremost works, approaching Yasuyo

In his finest pieces the construction is broad in width, thick in and full in , with a high ; the forging is a tightly-packed into which forms thickly, mixed with rougher and fine , the steel taking a darkish cast. Over it lies a notare base mixed with and somewhat pointed elements, entering, the deep and the thick with ; and play through, and in the upper half faint -like effects drift into the . The is straight with a rounded turnback, the tip showing . The published sources call such a work an outstanding piece by the smith, comparable to and approaching the level of Yasuyo himself.

Sugata 姿
Jigane 地鉄
Hamon 刃文
Bōshi 帽子
Scholarship

The published sources read Yasuari's manner as a close inheritance of Yasuyo, sharing the broad thick sugata, the dark ji-nie ko-itame and the nie-laden notare, and they locate his individuality in a calmer ha-activity and a nioiguchi that locally tightens.

Born the second son of Nakamura Kiyofusa and taken as adopted heir because Yasuyo had no biological child, Yasuari first signed Yasuji and undertook daisaku and daimei for his master, so that distinguishing his own hand from Yasuyo's is itself a matter of connoisseurship.

Designations

Kokuhō—
Jūyō Bunkazai—
Jūyō Bijutsuhin—
Gyobutsu—
Tokubetsu Jūyō—
Jūyō Tōken4

Elite Standing

0.02 across 4 designated works

Top 28% among smiths

Blade Forms

Distribution across 4 ranked works

Signatures

Signature types across 4 ranked works

Currently Available

Satsuma School

Other artisans of the Satsuma school

  1. 1.Yasuyo安代1 for sale20designated
  2. 2.Motohira元平12 for sale38designated
  3. 3.Masayuki正幸4 for sale27designated
  4. 4.Masakiyo正清2 for sale26designated
  5. 5.Masayoshi正良1 for sale10designated
  6. 6.Masakage正景3designated
  7. 7.Masafusa正房3designated
  8. 8.Kunihira國平3designated
  9. 9.Masayoshi正良3designated
  10. 10.Masafusa正房1 for sale1designated
  11. 11.Sukehira祐平1designated
  12. 12.Kageyoshi景吉1designated

Yasuari

Yasuari(安在) was a Japanese swordsmith of the Satsuma school in Satsuma province, active during the Enkyo (1744-1748) period.

The work follows the Yamato-den tradition.

Designated works by Yasuari include 4 Jūyō.