Archived Nihonto.ca (Yuhindo.com): Soboro Sukehiro

Soboro Sukehiro

Soboro Sukehiro was born in Banshu and has a personal name of Yaheinojo. He established himself in Osaka, and went on to fame as one of the representative smiths of the Osaka Shinto tradition. His adopted son is Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro, who is known as one of the best smiths of the Shinto period (some authors have gone on to state that the Nidai Sukehiro was the number one smith of the Shinto period).

Shodai Sukehiro has the nickname of Soboro. Fujishiro notes this as being a strange name referring to his habit of wearing rags (probably threadbare and dirty clothing) without any concern for his appearance. An alternative (and more plausible in my opinion) theory is floated by Iida Kazuo in the Sukehiro Taikan. He states that in classical chinese, “soro” refers to a place where frost and dew falls, and that this name was given because his swords show the beauty of frost and dew in the hamon. Soboro then is properly pronounced Sohoro, thus being close to the pronunciation of soro. It may seem like a stretch, but given the inspection of works by Sukehiro, it may make sense.

Soboro Sukehiro is given the very high rating of Jo-jo saku by Fujishiro, and furthermore is one of only a handful of smiths who are rated at Sai-jo O-wazamono for supreme sharpness in their blades.

This wakizashi is done in typical style, with a very tight ko-mokume hada mixed with some masame. The hamon is thick nie based gunome midare showing long kinsuji, yo and togariba here and there. There are koshibi on both sides. It’s a lovely and very enjoyable blade for the collector looking for one of the top Shinto smiths, and a representative of the Osaka tradition.