Sengo Masashige

Lineage and School

Sengo Masashige was a swordsmith of the Sengo (Senji) school based in Kuwana, Ise Province (present-day Kuwana, Mie Prefecture). The first-generation Masashige is said to have been the foremost disciple of the renowned Kuwana smith Sengo Muramasa, becoming his pupil as a resident of Sengo village in Kuwana. The Sengo school was formed by the Muramasa and Masashige lines together, and grew into the largest group of swordsmiths in Ise Province.

Generations and Activity

The first Masashige is said to have been born in 1403 and to have died in 1456. Genealogies record at least four generations, active from the early 1400s to the early 1500s. The line continued beyond that, and surviving signatures confirm that it lasted at least until around 1662. In the early Edo period (from the Keichō era onward), the "Sengo" name is said to have passed from the Muramasa line to the Masashige line, after which the Masashige family formed the core of the school.

Some blades are signed with "Fujiwara," which is described as a custom of the Sengo school. One tradition also holds that the family's original surname was Kusunoki. Later descendants are said to have lived in Edo-machi, just west of the san-no-maru of Kuwana Castle, making small knives and razors.

Style

Many of his works are tantō, with suguha or midare hamon featuring koshiba (a hardened section near the base), in a style similar to Muramasa's. Differences have also been noted: compared with Muramasa, his blades are wider, the hamon rarely runs out to the edge, and the nie is somewhat sparser.

Designated Cultural Properties

Mie Prefecture has designated as Tangible Cultural Properties a "Katana signed Masashige" handed down in the Sanada family of the Matsushiro domain, a tantō bearing an inscription referring to Tadosan Gongen, and two tachi dedicated to Kuwana Sōsha shrine. The Kuwana Sōsha tachi were made between the twelfth month of Kanbun 1 (1661) and the first month of Kanbun 2 (1662) and are inscribed with the date and place of residence, documenting that the Sengo school continued working in Kuwana into the early Edo period.

Significance

The Masashige line, which supported the Sengo school alongside Muramasa, took over the Sengo name from the Muramasa family and carried Kuwana's swordsmithing tradition from the Muromachi period into the early Edo period. As a smith who inherited Muramasa's style while developing distinct traits of his own, Masashige holds an important place in the sword history of Ise.