Lot Essay
The first Yasuhara, the son of Yasukuni, a native of Shimada in Suruga province, went together with his teacher Shimada Gisuke to work for the Hojo clan in the castle town of Odawara in 1504. He received the alternative character Yasu of the name he adopted in Odawara from Hojo Ujiyasu, and this character was inherited by his son. The second generation left many works dating from around the middle and third quarter of the 16th century. The signatures of the two generations are very similar, but the present sword exhibits both the Mino-influenced hamon, and the broad even curved style of the late 16th-early 17th century Momoyama style, and is thought likely to be by the second generation.