Suruga no Kuni Shimada (fss-692)

 

This is a flawless incredible Koto era O-Tanto from the Shimada School.  The horimono is very well made and comes with papers and shirasaya with a Tanobe Sensei’s sayagaki.  This is an exquisite blade for any collector. Below is information on the Shimada school to appreciate this item even better.

The Shimada school, founded by Yoshisuke, thrived in Shimada of Suruga Province from the middle of the Muromachi Period and the smith name of Yoshisuke was succeeded to until the Edo Period. ‘Koto Mei Zukushi’ says that the first generation of Yoshisuke was active in the Kosho Era and the second generation in the Meio Era. As far as I know, the Eisho is the earliest production date of Yoshisuke. Sukemune was a son of 1st Yoshisuke and it is believed that there were two or three generations. Hirosuke was a student of 3rd Yoshisuke. The Shimada school includes many smiths. Amongst them, Yoshisuke, Sukemune and Hirosuke are the representative smiths of the school and we can see many extant works of them today. Yoshisuke tempers notare mixed with gunome, o-notare, gunome-midare, ko-midare and sugu-ha (tanto). His workmanship resembles to that of the Sue-Seki and the Sengo schools. The Shimada school also tempers hitatsura similar to that of Sue-Soshu smiths. 1st Yoshisuke was the most skilful smith of the school, followed by Hirosuke. Hirosuke makes sugata with wide mi-haba and extended kissaki then tempers o-midare, which looks like sugata of the Nambokucho Period. Sukemune was inferior to Hirosuke in skill. Some smiths of the school were retained by the Takeda family of Kai Province (one of the most powerful warlords in the Sengoku Period). There is an extant work of Yoshisuke with the production date of Eisho 3 and the inscription of ‘Takeda Iau no Kami Ason’ (‘Shoji-mei’ or the name of owner) also of Hirosuke with the production date of Eiroku 2 and the inscription of ‘Taira no Ason Hara Mino Nyudo Shoji Kore’. There is a famous tanto nicknamed ‘Osoraku-zukuri’ by Sukemune and owned by Katagiri Katsumno. Four hiragana of ‘O So Ra Ku’ are carved on the tanto and it means ‘Perhaps’ (Perhaps, no tanto in this shape could exist.). Nagasone Kotetsu copied this osoraku-zukuri (wakizashi).

Suruga (Sunshu) province is next to Sagami (Soshu) province along the

Tokaido road. The major swordsmiths are Yoshisuke, Hirosuke and Sukemune.

All these smiths lived in the Shimada region. The Yoshisuke

line served the Imagawa family in Suruga for many. Their existing work

closely resembles that of sue-Soshu swordsmiths such as Hiromasa and

Tsunahiro. There are signed examples of both the second and third generation

.

From the Nihonto Koza

KEIZU OF SHIMADA YOSHISUKE KEI 島田義助系

YOSHISUKE 義助: Around KÔSHÔ 康正 (1455-1457).

[TN: His common name was KEIKIN

YOSHISUKE 義助: Around EISHÔ 永正 (1504-1521).

YOSHISUKE 義助: Around TENMON 天文 (1532-1535).

HIROSUKE 助: Around KÔJI 弘治 (1555-1558).

KUNISUKE 助: Around TENSHÔ 天正 (1573-1592).

TERUYOSHI 輝吉: Around KÔJI 弘治 (1555-1558).

He also inscribed HIROSUKE 助.

TERUSUKE 輝助: No remarks.

SUKEMITSU 助光: No remarks.

YOSHITSUNA 義綱: Around TENMON 天文 (1532-1535).

SADAHIRO : Around TENMON 天文 (1532-1535).

YASUHIRO : Around EIROKU (1558-1570).

HIROTSUGU 次: Around TENMON 天文 (1532-1535).

TERUHIRO : Around TENMON 天文 (1532-1535).

 

 

 

  • Mei: Mumei
  • Date: koto era (1400’s-1500’s)
  • Nagasa: 12 inches
  • Sori: 4.5 mm
  • Width at the ha-machi: 27.5 mm
  • Thickness at the mune-machi: 7.1 mm
  • Construction: hira zukuri
  • Mune: Iori
  • Nakago: Ubu
  • Kitae: Itame
  • Hamon: hitatsura-ba
  • Condition: fresh sashikomi polish
Click to Enlarge Image
Click to Enlarge Image

Sayagaki (information on saya)

駿河國嶋田

但生茎無銘也同派ノ見所ヲ明示セル皆焼刃ノ出来也
刃長壹尺壱分弱

于時丁亥暦神無月探山識

Suruga no Kuni Shimada

Tadashi ubu-nakago mumi nari, dôha no midokoro o meiji-seru hitatsura-ba no deki nari. Hachô 1 shaku 1 bu jaku.

Toki ni hinoto-inoshishidoshi kannazuki Tanzan shirusu + kaô

Suruga no Kuni Shimada

The blade has an ubu-nakago and is mumei but shows with the deki in hitatsura the characteristic features and qualities of this school.
Blade length ~ 30.6 cm

Written by Tanzan (Tanobe Michihiro) in October of the year of the boar of this era (2007) + kaô

This sword is on consignment.
Special Sale Price
Sold
On Hold

Asking price: $8,400.00

Sale price: $7,000.00
Sale ends November 25th 2016

 

(shipping and insurance included)

Email us if your interested in this item and remember to include the order number for this item: fss-692.

Click to Enlarge Image
Click to Enlarge Image

Paper translation:

kantei-sho (鑑定書) No 378446 wakizashi, mumei: Shimada (島田)

nagasa 1 sun 0 1 bu jaku Migi wa tô-kyôkai ni oite shinsa no kekka, hozon-tôken to kantei-shi kore o shô-suru.

(右は當協會に於て審査の結果保存刀剣と鑑定しこれを証する)
Heisei jûkunen hachigatsu nijûichinichi (平成十九年八月二十一日)
zaidan-hôjin (財團法人): Nihon Bijutsu Tôken Hozon Kyôkai (日本美術刀劍保存協會)

Appraisal
wakizashi, unsigned: Shimada

nagasa ~ 30.6 cm According to the result of the shinsa committee of our society we judged this work as authentic and designate

it as hozon-tôken. August 21st 2007 [Foundation] NBTHK

owner is Mike from canada

Needs 6k for him.

sold for 5k mike gets 4.5k

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