Nice Sukesada Wakizashi -trying to figure out what generatio

[darbianco]

Hi everyone ! trying to figure out what generation this Sukesada Wakizashi is from. signed Bishu osafune Sukesada. I was told it was pre 1600s. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[cabowen]

I think we need more pictures to even have a chance to make a reasonable guess...

[darbianco]

Ill see if i can get some more soon thanks

[Darcy]

Swords singed Bishu Osafune Sukesada like this one are very difficult to impossible to determine the maker. There were a very large number of Sukesada smiths of whom we mostly know about the leading ones in the Muromachi period (Yosozaemon-no-jo, Hikobei-no-jo, Genbei-no-jo). There is a second generation Yosozaemon and then there are some others a bit less ranked, and then a whole heap of anonymous guys.

 

Of those big guys Hikobeinojo sometimes they have stepped out and made this attribution of the six character signature to him.

 

For the others, almost never.

 

There are cases of longer signatures going to Yosozaemon but I am not aware of any six character ones. So at best it is a very difficult task.

 

Part of the reason of this is the signature habits changed after Hikobei-no-jo. Prior to this a six character signature was very common and seen on works of Kanemitsu, Chogi and their peers, and then the following generations of Yasumitsu, Morimitsu, Moromitsu and so on. By the time it gets to Yosozaemon, the son of Hikobei, the standard seems to shift to the longer Bizen no Kuni Ju Osafune Sukesada saku. And then on top works the smith inserted his personal name in the style of Bizen no Kuni Ju Osafune Yosozaemon-no-jo Sukesada saku. This kind of blade is called chumon-uchi or a custom ordered piece.

 

So we look at the signatures at this point and we can determine some of what the smiths are intending. The shorthand version is that the shorter the signature the less significance of the work. So this pushes it more and more into the anonymous group of smiths.

 

Hikobei-no-jo seems to come a bit before this practice really became the standard so they do assess some of those to him and they can be top works. So you can hope for that, without going back to check signatures though it is a slim hope. Mostly they end up being the mass produced works of the Sukesada workshop and beyond individual attribution.

[cabowen]

  darbianco said:

Ill see if i can get some more soon thanks

 

That would be helpful. While the nakago appears to be older (it actually looks a bit odd-rust converter?), this mei was used by Sukesada smiths in not only Koto, but in Shinto and Shinshinto as well. The first step is to ascertain/verify the period, then go from there...