NihontoWatchModern Nara Mukansa Tosho With hakogaki by Ningen Kokuho Gassan Sadaichi Shinogi-zukuri, high shinogi, low iori-mune, chu-kissaki. On both the omote and ura, there are bo-hi with soe-hi ending in marudome above the habaki. Kitae is itame mixed with mokume, well-tightened, with jinie appearing minutely and thickly, fine chikei entering frequently, and the jigane is generally excellent. Hamon is primarily gunome-midare mixed with ko-gunome and notare; the habuchi is well-covered in ara-nie and is bright and clear, with gunome-ashi entering the hachu, and kinsuji and sunagashi appearing frequently. Boshi is notare style with a deep yaki, the tip returning in a somewhat o-maru fashion. Nakago is ubu, the tip is kurijiri, with kesho o-sujikai yasurime. Silver habaki with gold plating. Period polishing. In shirasaya. With dedicated paulownia box. Sadatoshi, called Gassan Kiyoshi, was born in Osaka in Showa 21 as the third son of Ningen Kokuho Gassan Sadaichi. Learning from his father, since receiving the Takamatsunomiya Prize at the Shinsakuto-ten in Showa 50, he has received the Bunkacho Chokan Sho, Mainichi Shinbunsha Sho, Meiyo Kaicho Sho, Kanzan Sho, and others multiple times; he was designated Mukansa in Showa 57, became the head of the Gassan family after the death of his father Sadaichi in Heisei 7, and was designated a Nara Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property Holder in Heisei 15. From the Hono-tachi for the Ise Jingu Shikinen Sengu to numerous other dedicated swords, sword exhibitions at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the USA, the opening of the Gassan Memorial Museum, and so on, he is a master craftsman who continues to strive for the prosperity of his school and the development of the sword world as the head of a prestigious lineage lasting eight hundred years. This work was made in Showa 59 when the smith was 38 years old; it is a Soshu Masamune utsushi, and the hakogaki stating "Soshu-den Tanpo I-hijutsu Miwayama Saigawa-no-ue Ta-a Minamoto Sadaichi Shi" is by his father, Ningen Kokuho Gassan Sadaichi. The dimensions are slightly less than 2 shaku 3 sun 2 bu, with deep sori, and the mihaba and kasane show a robust and heroic tachi sugata of the late Kamakura period. The excellent jigane of itame mixed with mokume is well-tightened, with jinie appearing minutely and thickly, fine chikei entering frequently, and the blade, primarily gunome-midare mixed with ko-gunome and notare, has a habuchi well-covered in ara-nie that is bright and clear, with gunome-ashi, kinsuji, and sunagashi appearing frequently in the hachu. From the style where gunome is prominent, it is appraised as having taken its model from the likes of the famous Meibutsu Ishida Masamune (Juyo Bunkazai) or Tsuruga Masamune (Tokubetsu Juyo). This is an ambitious work by the smith shortly after his Mukansa designation, aiming for the particularly intense workmanship of Masamune, who is known as the perfecter of the Soshu-den; it is a confident work overflowing with the ambition of Gassan Sadatoshi, the swordsmith currently closest to becoming a Ningen Kokuho.
Offered by Samurai Nippon
2 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Yamato · around 1926-1989
2 pieces on the market now
Shōwa to the present: destruction and revival
The twentieth century nearly killed the craft twice: wartime distortion, then the occupation ban. The NBTHK’s founding in 1948 and licensed forging from 1953 rebuilt the sword as an art, crowned by Living National Treasures and the mukansa rank.
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¥1,950,000