A WAKASA FUYUHIRO KO-WAKIZASHI

Details

A WAKASA FUYUHIRO KO-WAKIZASHI
EDO PERIOD (CIRCA 1610), SIGNED FUYUHIRO SAKU

Configuration (sugata): of flat, wedge section (hira-zukuri) with shallow peaked back (iori-mune); length (nagasa): 1 shaku, 2 sun (36.5cm.); curvature (sori): almost none.
Forging pattern (jihada): open and well-delineated wood grain (itame) with bright ji-nie in the upper third of the outside.
Tempering pattern (hamon): three large waves (notare) in ko-nie which tend to become slightly ruffled at the points of highest convexity.
Point (boshi): an elongated Jizo riding above florid eddies of nie; the inside terminates in a small rounded end (ko-maru) and the outside meanders off like the rising smoke of a candle.
Tang (nakago). Shape (keitai): stubby with uplifted bottom, ubu and with a dry, brown patina; file marks (yasurime): slanted (katte-sagari); end (nakagojiri): ha-agari kuri-jiri; holes (mekugi-ana): two; signature (katanamei): Fuyuhiro saku.

Shirasaya with attestation by Homma Junji.

Silk storage bag.

Accompanied by a tokubetsu kicho token certificate, no. 144662, Showa 43 (68); and a koshu tokubetsu kicho token certificate, no. 13418, Showa 52 (1977), issued by the N.B.T.H.K.

Provenance

John Yumoto, San Mateo, California

Lot Essay

Hisaemon no Jo Fuyuhiro was the son of Soshu Hirotsugu and, on the invitation of the daimyo Fukushima Masanori, moved to Hiroshima from Wakasa in 1606. There were two generations; one characteristic of this first generation is the small size of "saku" in the signature.

Fukushima Masanori (1561-1624) came from a samurai family originally from Owari. He served under Hideyoshi who gave him the castle of Owari as a fief. After Hideyoshi's death and in order to win him over to the Tokugawa rule, Ieyasu gave his adopted daughter in marriage to Masanori's son. Victorious at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Masanori was made daimyo of Aki (Hiroshima).

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