Nihonto Club

Biography and lineage

Highest rated smith.

Workmanship and style [1]

1. Tachi

Shape and construction

Made in the tachi style of the late Kamakura period. The wide mihaba and long kissaki of the early Yoshino period were also made.

In both cases the effect is that of very rugged, at the same time retaining much grace in general appearance.

Horimono

Bo-hi or futasuji-hi in most cases, and the tip of the hi will drop below the ko-shinogi area.

Hamon

There will be variations in the width of the hamon. The patterns will be o-midare, gunome nie kuzure, uma-no-ha midare with nie kuzure, suguba choji nie kuzure or o-notare with any combination of the aforementioned designs.

All are made in nie, and this nie is considered the ultimate nie. Absolutely no one has been able to equal Masamune's nie, before him or since.

Within the hamon, nie will have nioi clustered around forming ashi. The colour of the nie will seem to make the nie 'float'. And all the various hataraki that can result from nie and nioi will be found in Masamune's works. Kinsuji and inazuma are found in great numbers all along the hamon.

Boshi

Midare-komi made shallow and in small patterns ending in either yakizume or in slight kaeri, kaen nie kuzure.

In some cases there will be boshi made in gunome which starts right below the yokote line, continues above the line and the ashi from the gunome run out beyond the cutting edge in places.

Jitetsu and hada

The steel appears strong and very fine. The grain of steel will be in o-mokume hada or there will be some made in itame hada.

There will be a great amount of ji-nie and chikei, and yubashiri are found all along the ji. The yubashiri will be made round.

The ji-nie (providing that the blade has been properly polished) will be laid on very thick and it will seem as though the nie is piled in thick layers one upon another.

Nakago

Will be in sunzumari shaped in tanagobara style with tip in kengyo.

The file marks will be in kiri or suji chigai.

According to the old oshigata books, there are blades signed in two characters and signed long, however, there are no long swords known to exist today that are signed.

2. Tanto

Shape and construction

Hira-zukuri, chukan zori. The shape will seem a little strong and the roundness at the fukura will be lacking.

Hiraniku will be found and the thickness of the blade is made neither too thick nor too thin.

The mune is made in shin-no-mune.

In some cases there will be odd shaped blades such as Hōchō Masamune, so called because they resemble the shape of hōchō (kitchen knife) and with extremely wide mihaba and with sori.

Horimono

In some cases there will be unusual carvings like those found in the Hōchō Masamune of a suken gomabashi. However, in most cases they are: suken, gomabashi, bonji or combinations of these.

In the case of a blade like Kurikara Masamune the carving of a kurikara is made within a hitsu. In any event, all of the Masamune carvings are made exceptionally well.

Hamon

The pattern of the hamon are made small, well in proportion to the length of the blade and they will have much vibrancy in them with kinsuji and inazuma galore.

The workings are especially plentiful around fukura area.

The valley of the midare is deep which in some cases are made very close to the cutting edge.

Boshi

Midare-komi with slight kaeri with the tip in komaru, and some in yakizume or kaen.

Jitetsu and hada

The steel of this swordsmith can be summed up in one word - beautiful - the likes of which is not seen on any other smiths' works.

The grain of steel will be in ko-mokume hada with o-hada mixed in. Some works are made in o-hada only.

The word uruoi certainly applies to all of this man's work.

Chikei is found all along the ji.

Nakago

The nakago is made narrow and rather long. There will be a little niku on the hira.

The tip is made mostly in kurijiri and the file marks will be in kiri.

Most blades are unsigned, though there are 3 blades that are signed and these are judged to be the true inscriptions of this smith.

References