Echizen Shimosaka

Echizen Shimosaka is an important presence of the shintō period, known as the Shimosaka school (Shimosaka-ha), a line of swordsmiths that originated in Shimosaka in Ōmi Province (present-day Shiga Prefecture) from the Keichō to the Kanbun eras and later flourished in Echizen. The Shimosaka school is a line centered on Echizen Yasutsugu. It held a place among the swordsmith groups representing Echizen shintō, had deep ties to the Echizen Matsudaira domain of the Tokugawa family, and Yasutsugu's house served as official swordsmith of the Tokugawa shogunate. Yasutsugu and other members of the family made swords generation after generation based in Echizen, forming the core of the regional sword culture of Echizen. Yasutsugu's original style was in the manner of Seki smiths, but because he undertook re-tempering (saiba) and copies (utsushi) of famous swords burned in the fall of Osaka Castle, he was strongly influenced by the Sōshū-den tradition. As a result, the swords of the Shimosaka school became Sōshū-den-lineage works with the regional character of Echizen added. The jigane (ground steel) shows flowing itame (flat grain) with jinie, and its basic appearance is the bold forging texture of the Sōshū-den lineage, yet it has a distinctive texture with the characteristics of Echizen jigane added. The hamon is midare, mainly gunome and notare, and its basic character is the bold workmanship of the Sōshū-den lineage with coarse nie. It also shows changes peculiar to Echizen, in which togari-gunome and angular gunome are mixed. The taihai (overall form) is mainly that of uchigatana from the Keichō to the Kanbun periods, and many have a solid mihaba (blade width) and a practical form with a nakakissaki (medium kissaki). Active under the protection of the domain in Echizen, an important base of the Tokugawa shinpan (collateral house) domain, the Shimosaka school attained a particularly high standard even among regional shintō swords, and several works designated as Jūyō Tōken (Important Swords) and Tokubetsu Jūyō Tōken (Special Important Swords) survive.