Lot Essay
The smith was originally named Sagenta, and became the seventh generation signing Munetsugu following Iyo no Jo Munetsugu, a contemporary of Tadayoshi I in Hizen Province in the early 17th century. He wrote a treatise on sword-making, the Katana Uchidashi Kodensho [Oral tradition of Sword-making], and died in 1869 at the age of 82. Both he and his successor, Munetsugu VIII, continued with the Hizen tradition of very fine itame and jinie, although their hamon were perhaps more regularly continued than those of their predecessors.