Ise Daijō Tsunahiro

Ise Daijō Tsunahiro is a smith of the mid-Edo period who corresponds to the fifth generation of the Tsunahiro school, part of the Odawara line of the Sōshū tradition. In Manji 3 (1660) he received the provincial title Ise Daijō. The Tsunahiro family moved from Kamakura to Odawara; from the first generation, who established the Odawara smiths under the protection of the Later Hōjō clan, the family formed a long-lived Sōshū-school line of smiths that continued from generation to generation until the Meiji era.

Lineage and career

The first generation moved from Kamakura to Odawara during the Sengoku period and, under the protection of the Later Hōjō clan, laid the foundation of the Odawara smiths. The second generation was taken into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu; from then on, while maintaining relations with the Edo shogunate, the line carried on the traditions of the Sōshū tradition. The fifth-generation Ise Daijō received the highest technical acclaim.

Style

The style of the fifth generation is characterized by a sturdy overall form (taihai) with strong fumbari and saki-zori. The hamon is notare-midare and gunome-midare with nie-deki, and ara-nie appears in the valleys of the hamon, giving it the nie-rich appearance typical of the Sōshū tradition. The Katana, signed 'Sōshū-jū Ise Daijō Minamoto Tsunahiro' (Hozon Tōken), owned by the Touken World Foundation, is known as a representative surviving example.

Evaluation

The Tsunahiro family holds an important place in the history of Japanese swords for having maintained the Sōshū tradition's lineage throughout the Edo period. The fifth-generation Ise Daijō is said to have had the highest technical skill within the Tsunahiro family, and his works are still highly regarded today as representative of Sōshū shintō.