Moritsugu oshigata

[Renato]

Hi folks, I'm an italian collector and now I'm in trouble because I saw a beautiful Ko-Aoe tachi and I must choose to purchase it or not.

Is there anyone that can post an oshigata or pic with Ko-Aoe Moritsugu mei?

Thanks a lot

Renato

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Renato,

From "Token Bijutsu" volume 56 English edition.

Grey

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Welcome Renato.

[Renato]

Hi Grey thanks a lot. I'd like to ask You another information: the two mei at the lower left seem very different to the other. Do they belong to the same swordsmith or to different ones?

Renato

[Grey Doffin]

Renato,

According to the write up in "Token Bijutsu", it has been thought that there were 3 generations of Moritsugu, differentiated by changes in the mei. However, the author of the write up posits that there is no real evidence for more than one smith doing the work, and that all 7 mei might be by the same hand. Considering that Moritsugu worked mid-Kamakura and that nothing was ever written about him or his work at the time he worked, it isn't possible to know for sure how many smiths were responsible for the work.

Grey

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

 

Renato,

According to the write up in "Token Bijutsu", it has been thought that there were 3 generations of Moritsugu, differentiated by changes in the mei. However, the author of the write up posits that there is no real evidence for more than one smith doing the work, and that all 7 mei might be by the same hand. Considering that Moritsugu worked mid-Kamakura and that nothing was ever written about him or his work at the time he worked, it isn't possible to know for sure how many smiths were responsible for the work.

Grey

 

 

That is confirmed by Fujishiro.

 

 

MORITSUGU

As for the previous figures, it has been explained that "One has a feeling that the mei kanji of the two types of Moritsugu are quite different, but as to whether it is correct that there were two smiths named Moritsugu in Ko Aoe, you get a feeling that they are different because the first are signed in kaisho and the second are signed in sôsho, but an answer cannot be given that they were the same person or separate persons". However, if you look at Figure II and Figure III among these, you will see that the "Mori" of Figure I and Figure II, the "Tsugu" of Figure II and Figure III, and the "Mori" of Figure III and Figure IV are similar. These are probably changes in a mei by the same person.

As for his works, those like Figure IV are the most numerous. When viewed from the point that it was frequently the case that there were many changes in a mei during the early period and that it became fixed at a later period, I think that Figure IV is from his later period.