Sue Soshu Katana
Scholars generally categorize sword making schools into the Gokaden, or five traditions, for analysis. These are the Yamato, Yamashiro, Soshu, Bizen and Mino traditions.
Swords of the Soshu tradition are among the most sought after by collectors. This is probably due in part to their relative obscurity, but perhaps, it is more due to the history of Soshu smiths and their reputation for producing high quality swords. This is supported by the fact that swords of the Soshu tradition have earned a very high percentage of Juyo Token (and above) ranked swords, despite their rarity, compared to the other traditions.
Many people consider Shintogo Kunimitsu as the father of the Soshu tradition. Although, he is considered a Yamashiro smith, he had notable students that went on to pave the road to the Soshu tradition. The most notable of these students was Masamune, who is considered by many to be the greatest swordsmith of all time. During the Nambokucho Period, the Soshu tradition became highly revered, because of the works of these giants, so much so, that we see the Soshu tradition influencing other traditions.
Masamune is credited with having “10 gifted disciples”, or famous students, called the Jutetsu. These include, Osafune Kanemitsu, Osafune Chogi, Go Yoshihiro, Norishige, Shizu Kaneuji, O’Sa, Rai Kunitsugu, Hasabe Kunishige, Kinju, and Naotsuna. These smiths became Master Smiths in their own right, influencing sword making history. For example, the Soshu inspired work of Osafune Kanemitsu and his school propagated the famous Soden Bizen style. Interestingly, Masamune’s son, Sadamune, is not included in the Jutetsu, although he too is one of the most gifted swordsmiths in history.
The popularity of the Soshu tradition continued on for many years. During the Muromachi Period we see Soshu inspired swords almost exaggerating certain Soshu characteristics. The Jigane is generally bright. The hamon of many Sue Soshu swords look less natural and more purposefully produced. However, the nie rich hamon still tends to be very active, sometimes engulfing the whole sword, as with hitatsura hamon.
The most famous Soshu inspired smith of this time was Muramasa. His works are of very high quality, and extremely refined. His control of hamon is characterized by a high degree of symmetry, as apposed to the sense of natural randomness, produced by his predecessors.
Moving into the Shinto Period, we find Kotetsu, perhaps the greatest smith of this time, making swords that were clearly influenced by the Soshu tradition. Kotetsu, as his name would imply, forged swords that incorporated steel from the Koto “Old” Period. He reportedly used recycled “old iron” from old tools, nails, etc. The type of steel he produced made for an excellent canvas to produce very high quality swords with his Soshu inspired artistic expression. His notare based hamon is extremely nie laden and bright. It is also more natural looking with more random hataraki. Like many of the old Soshu masters, Kotetsu commonly did not sign his work. He thought that his work would speak for itself. In fact, many of the signed Kotetsu works we see today have attribution signatures that were later verified, sometimes by Kotetsu himself.
We see the Soshu influence alive and well, as we move into the Shin Shinto Period with the works of Motohira and Kiyomaru. Kiyomaru is considered the greatest smith of this period, and one of the greatest in history. Many of his works resemble that of Shizu Kaneuji.
The condition of this sword is excellent, as shown in the pictures. This sword is in excellent health and guaranteed against fatal flaws. It will surely receive papers, if submitted to the NBTHK. This sword could benefit from a better polish, but can be papered and enjoyed, as is.
Nagasa: 66 cm
Motohaba: 3.1 cm
Sakihaba: 2.1 cm
Price: SOLD