Masahiro Katana from the samurai Hosokawa clan
An antique Japanese katana sword made by the famous gunsmith Hashimoto Masahiro of the Hizen Tadayoshi school about 400 years ago, a traditional samurai weapon. Katana Masahiro was transferred from generation to generation in the ancient Hosokawa family whose ancestors were samurai. The sword is completed by artistic mounting with a black flute-shaped scabbard. The Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords (NBTHK) certified Masahiro's katana as Tokubetsu Hozon Token and the scabbard as Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu (Especially Worthy of Preservation).
Sword type
Traditional katana sword.
Sword master
Hashimoto Masahiro, first generation gunsmith from Hizen province (Saga principality) of the Hizen Tadayoshi blacksmith school.
Sword creation time
The Kanei years (1624-1644).
Blade
Length — 730 mm
Ha-cho (Length of the cutting edge) — 34 mm
Moto haba (width of the blade at the bottom of the blade) — 29,2 mm
Motogasane (blade thickness at the bottom of the blade) — 6 mm
Sakihaba (blade width at the yokote) — 20,5 mm
Sakikasane (blade thickness at the yokote) — 4,5 mm
Condition and preservation are very good. An excellent collector's item.
Tang
Nakago (tang) length — 195 mm
Nakago mei (blacksmith-gunsmith signature) — Masahiro from Saga in the Hizen Lands / Hizen no kuni Saga-ju Masahiro
Shirasaya (mounting for the daily storage)
Length — 965 mm
Koshirae (artistic mounting)
Length — 963 mm
Black lacquered scabbard, executed in the form of the flute (kuro urushi fuemaki nuri zaya uchigatana kosirae)
Bako
Wooden paulownia sword box covered with the black glossy varnish (kuro katana bako)
Documents
NBTHK Certificate for the sword
Status: Tokubetsu Hozon Token
Date of Certification: 2010
NBTHK Certificate for the Koshirae
Status: Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu
Date of Certification: 2009
The letter, which confirms, that Masahiro's katana was the hereditary sword of the Hosokawa samurai family.
The conclusion of a member of NBTHK and NTHK, an expert of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. 2014
The gunsmith of the New Swords era Hashimoto Sadenjiro Masahiro 1st
Hashimoto Sadenjiro (Masahiro I) was the grandson of Tadahiro I (the founder of the Hizen Tadayoshi School). He was the son of Tadayoshi’s son-in-law Hashimoto Yoshinobu.
The lord of Saga-ha daimyo Nabeshima Katsushige (1580 –1657) especially favored this blacksmith, charging to him the fulfillment of the most important orders.
Masahiro 1st passed away at the age of 59. Masahiro went on to start his own line of smiths, which forged swords up to the end XIX of the century.
This katana is an example of the early art of a gunsmith. The deeply curved blade is forged and hardened in the best tradition of Hizen. The sword, along with the presented koshirae, was one of the highly revered relics of the famous samurai family of Hosokawa and has been passed down from generation to generation for a long time.
