UNSIGNED, MID EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY)

Connoisseurs say that Ikuhei, the fifth generation, was the first and only member of the Suwa line to attain a high standard of forging. There were eight generations in all. The first master, Shojo, became a student of Goto Eijo in 1639 and was a metalworker to the daimyo Hosokawa Tadaoki. There are no known signed examples.

See illustrations of Ikuhei in Sato, Kanzan, Higo Kinko Taikan, (Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai, 1964), p. 369, pl. 368-370.