¥350,000

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Specifications

About the school

Mizuta School水田派

In Bitchū Province at the close of the Muromachi period, the Mizuta group emerged at the village of that name, and successive generations took the name Kunishige. The setsumei trace their work across Matsuyama, Toribe, Ihara, Ebara, and Niimi, with their vitality carrying into the *shintō* era. The smiths the records cover form a recognizable line: Ko-Mizuta Kunishige, whose dated blade reaches Tenshō 20 (1592); the Niimi Saburōzaemon no Jō Kunishige, said by signature references (*meikan*) to have come from Bingo into the Niimi estate and afterward to have served the Mimura family, lords of Matsuyama Castle; Kunishige of Ihara, who signed "Bitchū no kuni Ihara-jū Kunishige saku"; Kunishige styled Ōtsukiyo Goemon, recorded as forging also at Fukuyama in Bingo and at Kawanami; and Ōtsuki Yogorō Kunishige, abbreviated "Daiyogo," son of Ōtsuki Saburōbei Kunishige, who came after the old Mizuta period and worked from the Kan'ei years. So many smiths bore the name Kunishige that the setsumei call the group's reliance on it overwhelming. The shared vocabulary is consistent across the entries. The *jigane* is *itame*, sometimes flowing and sometimes standing out, with *ji-nie* adhering and *chikei* entering; *utsuri* is visible on the older pieces. The *hamon* of the *shintō* hand rests on a *notare* or *ko-notare* base mixed with *gunome*, deep in *nioi*, with *nie* forming vigorously and at times breaking into coarse *ara-nie*; *sunagashi* and *kinsuji* run through, and *muneyaki* recurs frequently. On the Daiyogo katana the temper rises until the upper half is nearly *hitatsura*, an *ō-midare* in *notare* style with the *bōshi* burning down long toward the *mune-machi*. The *bōshi* elsewhere goes *midare-komi* with *hakikake*, taking a flame-like (*kaen*) cast or becoming *ichimai*-like. The Niimi blade adds *yakidaka* composition with angular and *yahazu*-like elements. These are the marks of the hand: a strong *nie*-laden Sōshū bearing on a serviceable, *iori-mune shinogi-zukuri* build, the signatures cut long toward the *mune*. For kantei the records single out the *notare* foundation worked with *gunome* and intense *nie*, the *yahazu* shapes and *ichimai bōshi* the setsumei name as "the highlights of the Mizuta manner," and the *ha-agari kurijiri* tang that rises markedly toward the edge. The *shintō* smiths are read by their pronounced Sōshū emphasis, the *kotō*-period Ko-Mizuta by a busier (*kosekose*) *gunome-midare* carrying *ko-chōji* and a tight *nioiguchi*. The setsumei describe these as cutting, utilitarian blades, and the Ihara daishō carries elaborate carving, including *kurikara*, "Marishiten," and the Nine Syllables. Named pieces anchor the line: the Niimi Kunishige is published in the *Kōzan Oshigata* and, by the record on its old scabbard, once served as the camp sword (*jin-tō*) of Bunjō-in, Tokugawa Ienobu, the sixth shōgun. Of Daiyogo the setsumei say few signed works survive, the loss attributed to mei being removed or blades shortened and reworked, yet they name him the leading master of the group and credit the school's spread through the Edo period to smiths of his ability.

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