Lot Essay
Famous as one of the Masamune juttetsu [Ten Great Pupils of Masamune], Norishige is credited with taking the Soshu style of blade manufacture to new heights, producing principally tanto. One characteristic of the steel surface on his blades is the matsukawa hada grain, said to resemble pine-bark. This tanto displays the slight uchizori [reverse curvature near the point] typical of certain Soshu smiths and Norishige in particular, together with a long kissaki [point], producing a shape known as takenoko-zori from its resemblance the curve of a bamboo shoot. A National Treasure tanto by Norishige, a prized blade of Marquis Hosokawa now in the Eisei Bunko Foundation, is extremely similar to this blade in its shape, forging and tempering.