Kashū Ietsugu

加州家次

Period

early–late Muromachi period

School

Fujishima school

Active Years

c. Ōei era – late Muromachi period

Tradition

Kaga (Kashū) swordsmiths

Description

Lineage

Kashū Ietsugu was a swordsmith of the Fujishima school active in Kaga Province (present-day Ishikawa Prefecture). The first-generation Ietsugu is said to have been active around the Ōei era in the early Muromachi period, and the line continued through the late Muromachi period.

The Name "Kaga Aoe"

Among the Aoe school of Bitchū Province there are also swordsmiths who used the name Ietsugu, and Kashū Ietsugu is also called "Kaga Aoe."

Style

His hamon has a soft nioiguchi and is generally based on suguha, blended with notare and gunome or gunome-chōji. Kinsuji and inazuma appear within the ha, showing rich activity in which nioi and nie intermingle. In Kaga, his blades were valued as effective cutting swords (wazamono), and many surviving examples carry hozon (preservation) certification and remain in circulation.

Assessment

Kashū Ietsugu is regarded as one of the representative koto-period swordsmiths of Kaga, and his work has been featured in exhibitions on Kaga swords and crafts at the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art. He is a distinct smith, differing in period and lineage from other Kaga-based smiths such as Fujishima Tomoshige, Kashū Kiyomitsu, and Darani Katsukuni I.