SIGNED INOUE SHINKAI AND DATED 1674, EARLY EDO PERIOD

From the late summer of 1672 the swordsmith formerly known as Izumi no kami Kunisada II (after the name of his master) began signing himself Inoue Shinkai (the latter name meaning 'true renewal'), and this is one of his earliest recorded works with the new name, showing many of the characteristics of Shinkai's mature manner. Regarded along with Sukehiro as one of the greatest of the Osaka Shinto smiths, Shinkai (1630-82) is especially highly regarded for his individual style, based on the work of the 14th- century Soshu master Go Yoshihiro, and the quality of his nie, while Sukehiro is better known for his nioi. The late-eighteenth-century connoisseur Kamada Gyomyo went so far as to call Shinkai 'the Masamune of Osaka', referring to the fabled fourteenth-century Soshu smith of that name (see Gregory Irvine, The Japanese Sword: The Soul of the Samurai (London, V&A Publications, 2000), pp. 36-7). Both this and the following lot are outstanding examples of Shinkai's work, with a striking suguha hamon made up of powerful, irregular clusters of nie. The chrysanthemum crest seen in many Shinkai signatures was conferred on him by the Imperial family as a reward for a fine tachi that he presented to them.