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Mesamune & Muramesa
- Thread starter Ash_Saber
- Start date
They are supposed to be lengendary swordsmiths.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masamune and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muramasa for some great articles on them.
I've never heard of kotetsu but I'm sure wikipedia will probably have something on it too
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masamune and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muramasa for some great articles on them.
I've never heard of kotetsu but I'm sure wikipedia will probably have something on it too
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2001
- Messages
- 1,957
Kotetsu / Nagasone Kotetsu was an excellent armor maker. However, in his old age, he began making sword. Very plain, but with excellent cutting abilities. His sword making days only lasted for around 5 years. So, there are only few Kotetsu's swords that survived the ages and yes, they are very expensive. I'm in a hurry, so I'll post more later tonight.
Here's an article I copied some years ago written by Guido Shiller: may shed some light
on this discussion.
_______________________________________
Masamune and Muramasa by Guido Schiller, 2003
The Sôshû (also called Sagami) tradition was established by Shintôgo Kunimitsu in the late Kamakura period. His known swords with inscribed dates show that he was active at least between 1293 and 1334.Kunimitsu's Hamon are Suguha in Nie, his Jihada is rich in Jinie with swirling Itame forming Kinsuji. Among his pupils were two of the most famous names among Japanese swordsmiths: Yukimitsu and Masamune.
Masamune had enormous influence on swordmaking throughout the country. His success was in part due to the fact that he carefully selected his iron, forging together different kinds of steels to give improved strength and hardness. He also successfully tempered blades at a higher temperature than anyone before him, resulting in brilliant Nie. The high temperature usually causes the blade to become extremely hard and brittle; however, he is also credited with "inventing" stress relief, thus avoiding those undesired effects.
The Jigane is complex with varied hues in the Jihada, rich in Jinie, with both bright and dark pools of Chikei. The Hamon is predominantly Notare with Midareba, deep and intense with varied lines of Inazuma, Sunagashi and Kinsuji. The effect is not unlike the work of Yasutsuna of Hôki in its extremes of activity, and it is thought that Masamune may have consciously emulated him.
Although Masamune worked mainly during the Kamakura period (1185 ~ 1333) when one of the characteristic of swords was the pronounced tapering down of the width towards the point, Chû-Kissaki and Koshi-zori or deep Torii-zori, he also produced swords at the beginning of the Nambokuchô period (1333 ~ 1392) and consequently we see swords of him with an overall wide Mihaba, shallow Torii-zori and Ô-Kissaki.
Because blades actually signed by Masamune are exceedingly rare, a theory was developed at the end of the 19'th century that Masamune never existed at all. There is, however, ample evidence, both literary and derived from the swords themselves, to refute this notion. One reason is simply that Tachi were of such great length that they have been cut down to a convenient size for wearing in Uchigatana-koshirae, and have therefore lost the inscriptions that were on the original Nakago. But a number of signed Tantô are extant which are demonstrably by the same hands.
In the sword books of the Muromachi period the scarcity of signed blades by Masamune is accounted for by the explanation that his work was so absolutely distinctive that there was no need for a Mei. However, it is more likely that the reason lies in the fact that Masamune was employed by the Kamakura Bakufu; many of his swords were made for the use of the Shôgun, and it would have been presumptuous and contrary to all normal practice (at that time) for him to have signed them. Those blades that still retain his signature are inscribed with two characters - MASA-MUNE - except the Tantô "Daikoku Masamune" that bears the signature "Masamune Saku".
Masamune is perhaps the most famous of all Japanese smiths. The distinguished scholar and statesman Kanera Ichijô (1402 ~ 1481) recognized Masamune as one of the great men of modern times, and praised him as a smith whose blades were equal in quality to the sharp weapons of the Buddhist guardian deity Fudô himself. Masamune's Hamon is usually described as refined and leisurely at the same time, his Kinsuji looking like lightning in the clouds, and his Nie like bare patches in partially melted snow.
Of the many skilled individual smiths of the Muromachi period (1392 ~ 1573) Muramasa of Ise deserves particular mention. It seems there were three generations of smiths signing Muramasa; their work is similar to that of Heianjô Nagayoshi and Kanesada of Seki, who worked in Mikawa and Yamada of Ise respectively, whose blades, like Muramasa's, are reputed to cut well. Muramasa of Ise's work contains much of both Sôshû and Mino traditions. The Jigane is often whitish, like the work of Kanesada and other good Mino smiths. His Hamon varied considerably and included Notare, Gunome, and his own particular variant of Sanbon-sugi.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's grandfather was slain at age 25 by a Katana made by Muramasa, his father received a serious wound by a drunk with a Wakizashi made by Muramasa, and he himself cut his hand with a Kogatana by Muramasa. As Muramasa's work was considered unlucky for the Tokugawa family, various prohibitions were imposed by the Tokugawa Bakufu regarding the carrying of his swords. But since Muramasa's swords were considered extremely good cutters, the character MURA was sometimes obliterated, and the character MUNE inscribed beneath the remaining character, thus transforming the Mei into the far more palatable Masamune. It might have been this practice that gave rise to the popular belief that Muramasa was a pupil of Masamune of Sôshû, yet his earliest-known work is dated 1501, almost two centuries after Masamune's time.
There are quite a few legends surrounding Masamune and Muramasa and their blades. Masamune's work was considered benign, and Muramasa's evil and bloodthirsty - Katsujinken (live-giving sword) and Satsujinken(live-taking sword). In one story two swords - a Masamune and a Muramasa - were held into the water of a gently flowing river. The autumn leaves floating by drifted away from the Masamune, while they were drawn to the Muramasa and cut in pieces.
Although those stories are pretty entertaining, they're just myths. Connoisseurs appreciate those swords for their artistic, cultural and historic value and significance, not for the folklore surrounding them.
Many fine photos and Oshigata of Masamune's work can be found in the special exhibition catalog " Masamune - A Genius Swordsmith And His Lineage", published by the Sano Museum, ISBN 4-915857-54-9. Text in Japanese, but with a short introduction and a list of plates in English.
__________________________________
And another on Kotetsu (don't know who wrote it; my apologies to whoever did):
----------------
Nagasone Kotetsu Okisato. Most are signed with some variation of those three names.
By the way, I read somewhere that some books don't list Kotetsu under "Kotetsu", but under "Okisato". Born in Nagasone in 1597 into a family working for a rather important
Lord (whose name escapes me at the moment) as armorers. Anyway, around 1600 the fella took on Tokugawa Iyeyasu (a serious mistake) and his family like most people
working for the doomed lord moved to Echizen. He stayed in the family business and
made mostly armor and some helmets. There is the old story about him interrupting a
lord testing a sword on one of his helmets. And that his shame in screwing up the test led him to try to perfect the making of swords. Anyway, I'm not sure if he was making swords while in Echizen, but eventually he moved to Edo where he settled. The story says he moved to Edo as a result of him being ashamed of screwing up the test.
Whether the story is apocryphal or whatever, I don't know. And I'm not sure when he moved to Edo and whether he was making significant swords prior to the move.
He lived well into his 80's by all accounts. And on his swords,m ostly katana, wakizashi, tanto, some yari and some naginata. He was known for making a few shobu zukuri tanto (which is why I'm a fan of shobu, by the way) and also unokubi zukuri.
He was renouned for crystal clear, hard steel of incredible sharpness and strength.
He was first and foremost a total technician obsessed with making the best sword he could. One hallmark of Kotetsu is that the beauty is due to simple perfection.
Shibumi in action. Quite simply he is known for the highest quality even compared to
Koto (he was Shinto era and most Shinto era aren't known for being up there with the
koto blades). That's another reason I really like the guy. No frills, no fluff, all substance.
And beautiful as a result. Anyway, my notes conflict with themselves on the next part. Regardless, I have that he had two phases -- one where he was doing a sort of squared gunome in the Shinto Tokuden tradition. The other where he had a wide suguha with
strong ashi in the Yamashiro tradition. One part of my notes say his early work was suguha, my others say it was his latter. Regardess, he *believed* in ashi, he always had thick bright white nie and nioi, and kinsuji are often found. His jigane is a wet looking
very fine mokume "burled" surface with the shinogi ji looking more like masame.
His blades carried significant niku. Shallow sori. Chu kissaki for the most part
(although in my notes I have a comment I wrote in years ago about
one with an almost ko-kissaki). Sometimes there were Ashi in the ko maru boshi.
That's what I got in my notes. All in all he liked thick, meaty blades with even curvature,
moderate kissaki, a high shinogi, and with a simple "structural" with ashi to support it. And his workmanship is excellent with incredibly tight, hard steel.
----------------------------------------
Rich
The Japanese Sword Index
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm
on this discussion.
_______________________________________
Masamune and Muramasa by Guido Schiller, 2003
The Sôshû (also called Sagami) tradition was established by Shintôgo Kunimitsu in the late Kamakura period. His known swords with inscribed dates show that he was active at least between 1293 and 1334.Kunimitsu's Hamon are Suguha in Nie, his Jihada is rich in Jinie with swirling Itame forming Kinsuji. Among his pupils were two of the most famous names among Japanese swordsmiths: Yukimitsu and Masamune.
Masamune had enormous influence on swordmaking throughout the country. His success was in part due to the fact that he carefully selected his iron, forging together different kinds of steels to give improved strength and hardness. He also successfully tempered blades at a higher temperature than anyone before him, resulting in brilliant Nie. The high temperature usually causes the blade to become extremely hard and brittle; however, he is also credited with "inventing" stress relief, thus avoiding those undesired effects.
The Jigane is complex with varied hues in the Jihada, rich in Jinie, with both bright and dark pools of Chikei. The Hamon is predominantly Notare with Midareba, deep and intense with varied lines of Inazuma, Sunagashi and Kinsuji. The effect is not unlike the work of Yasutsuna of Hôki in its extremes of activity, and it is thought that Masamune may have consciously emulated him.
Although Masamune worked mainly during the Kamakura period (1185 ~ 1333) when one of the characteristic of swords was the pronounced tapering down of the width towards the point, Chû-Kissaki and Koshi-zori or deep Torii-zori, he also produced swords at the beginning of the Nambokuchô period (1333 ~ 1392) and consequently we see swords of him with an overall wide Mihaba, shallow Torii-zori and Ô-Kissaki.
Because blades actually signed by Masamune are exceedingly rare, a theory was developed at the end of the 19'th century that Masamune never existed at all. There is, however, ample evidence, both literary and derived from the swords themselves, to refute this notion. One reason is simply that Tachi were of such great length that they have been cut down to a convenient size for wearing in Uchigatana-koshirae, and have therefore lost the inscriptions that were on the original Nakago. But a number of signed Tantô are extant which are demonstrably by the same hands.
In the sword books of the Muromachi period the scarcity of signed blades by Masamune is accounted for by the explanation that his work was so absolutely distinctive that there was no need for a Mei. However, it is more likely that the reason lies in the fact that Masamune was employed by the Kamakura Bakufu; many of his swords were made for the use of the Shôgun, and it would have been presumptuous and contrary to all normal practice (at that time) for him to have signed them. Those blades that still retain his signature are inscribed with two characters - MASA-MUNE - except the Tantô "Daikoku Masamune" that bears the signature "Masamune Saku".
Masamune is perhaps the most famous of all Japanese smiths. The distinguished scholar and statesman Kanera Ichijô (1402 ~ 1481) recognized Masamune as one of the great men of modern times, and praised him as a smith whose blades were equal in quality to the sharp weapons of the Buddhist guardian deity Fudô himself. Masamune's Hamon is usually described as refined and leisurely at the same time, his Kinsuji looking like lightning in the clouds, and his Nie like bare patches in partially melted snow.
Of the many skilled individual smiths of the Muromachi period (1392 ~ 1573) Muramasa of Ise deserves particular mention. It seems there were three generations of smiths signing Muramasa; their work is similar to that of Heianjô Nagayoshi and Kanesada of Seki, who worked in Mikawa and Yamada of Ise respectively, whose blades, like Muramasa's, are reputed to cut well. Muramasa of Ise's work contains much of both Sôshû and Mino traditions. The Jigane is often whitish, like the work of Kanesada and other good Mino smiths. His Hamon varied considerably and included Notare, Gunome, and his own particular variant of Sanbon-sugi.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's grandfather was slain at age 25 by a Katana made by Muramasa, his father received a serious wound by a drunk with a Wakizashi made by Muramasa, and he himself cut his hand with a Kogatana by Muramasa. As Muramasa's work was considered unlucky for the Tokugawa family, various prohibitions were imposed by the Tokugawa Bakufu regarding the carrying of his swords. But since Muramasa's swords were considered extremely good cutters, the character MURA was sometimes obliterated, and the character MUNE inscribed beneath the remaining character, thus transforming the Mei into the far more palatable Masamune. It might have been this practice that gave rise to the popular belief that Muramasa was a pupil of Masamune of Sôshû, yet his earliest-known work is dated 1501, almost two centuries after Masamune's time.
There are quite a few legends surrounding Masamune and Muramasa and their blades. Masamune's work was considered benign, and Muramasa's evil and bloodthirsty - Katsujinken (live-giving sword) and Satsujinken(live-taking sword). In one story two swords - a Masamune and a Muramasa - were held into the water of a gently flowing river. The autumn leaves floating by drifted away from the Masamune, while they were drawn to the Muramasa and cut in pieces.
Although those stories are pretty entertaining, they're just myths. Connoisseurs appreciate those swords for their artistic, cultural and historic value and significance, not for the folklore surrounding them.
Many fine photos and Oshigata of Masamune's work can be found in the special exhibition catalog " Masamune - A Genius Swordsmith And His Lineage", published by the Sano Museum, ISBN 4-915857-54-9. Text in Japanese, but with a short introduction and a list of plates in English.
__________________________________
And another on Kotetsu (don't know who wrote it; my apologies to whoever did):
----------------
Nagasone Kotetsu Okisato. Most are signed with some variation of those three names.
By the way, I read somewhere that some books don't list Kotetsu under "Kotetsu", but under "Okisato". Born in Nagasone in 1597 into a family working for a rather important
Lord (whose name escapes me at the moment) as armorers. Anyway, around 1600 the fella took on Tokugawa Iyeyasu (a serious mistake) and his family like most people
working for the doomed lord moved to Echizen. He stayed in the family business and
made mostly armor and some helmets. There is the old story about him interrupting a
lord testing a sword on one of his helmets. And that his shame in screwing up the test led him to try to perfect the making of swords. Anyway, I'm not sure if he was making swords while in Echizen, but eventually he moved to Edo where he settled. The story says he moved to Edo as a result of him being ashamed of screwing up the test.
Whether the story is apocryphal or whatever, I don't know. And I'm not sure when he moved to Edo and whether he was making significant swords prior to the move.
He lived well into his 80's by all accounts. And on his swords,m ostly katana, wakizashi, tanto, some yari and some naginata. He was known for making a few shobu zukuri tanto (which is why I'm a fan of shobu, by the way) and also unokubi zukuri.
He was renouned for crystal clear, hard steel of incredible sharpness and strength.
He was first and foremost a total technician obsessed with making the best sword he could. One hallmark of Kotetsu is that the beauty is due to simple perfection.
Shibumi in action. Quite simply he is known for the highest quality even compared to
Koto (he was Shinto era and most Shinto era aren't known for being up there with the
koto blades). That's another reason I really like the guy. No frills, no fluff, all substance.
And beautiful as a result. Anyway, my notes conflict with themselves on the next part. Regardless, I have that he had two phases -- one where he was doing a sort of squared gunome in the Shinto Tokuden tradition. The other where he had a wide suguha with
strong ashi in the Yamashiro tradition. One part of my notes say his early work was suguha, my others say it was his latter. Regardess, he *believed* in ashi, he always had thick bright white nie and nioi, and kinsuji are often found. His jigane is a wet looking
very fine mokume "burled" surface with the shinogi ji looking more like masame.
His blades carried significant niku. Shallow sori. Chu kissaki for the most part
(although in my notes I have a comment I wrote in years ago about
one with an almost ko-kissaki). Sometimes there were Ashi in the ko maru boshi.
That's what I got in my notes. All in all he liked thick, meaty blades with even curvature,
moderate kissaki, a high shinogi, and with a simple "structural" with ashi to support it. And his workmanship is excellent with incredibly tight, hard steel.
----------------------------------------
Rich
The Japanese Sword Index
http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm
