Hello, world. Welcome to Samurai Museum Shop. Thank you for finding our website. In this post, we would like to introduce one of the prominent Japanese swordsmiths. We hope you will enjoy reading this post.
Jyokeshi asa-Aki (城慶子正明 ) was born in Tsuyama city in Okayama prefecture in the 11th year of the Bunka era(1814). His real name was Takemura Tsunejiro(竹村恒次郎). It was often the case that a swordsmith’s maker’s name and his birth name were completely different.
From a childhood, Masa-Aki got sword-forging training from Hosokawa Masayoshi, being his apprentice. Hosokawa Masayoshi(細川正義) is a renowned swordsmith at the end of the Edo period. Hosokawa Masayoshi had learned sword-forging techniques under the master, Suishinshi Masahide(水心子正秀), one of the most skilled swordsmiths in Samurai history.
Masayoshi(Masa-Aki’s master) was extremely a skilled swordsmith, and he was good at forging blades with Choji Midare Hamon, which is the characteristic of the Bizen sword-forging style(BIZEN DEN). Masa-Aki also mastered this excellent sword-forging technique from his master. Choji Midare Hamon is an Irregular wavy tempering line. Most of Masa-Aki’s work reflects Bizen Den (One of the Five Japanese sword-forging traditions).
Hosokawa Masayoshi(his master) and his son Mamori served the Matsudaira clan in the Sakushu Tsuyama domain(today’s Okayama prefecture). And Masa-Aki took over the position after they retired. He served the clan as a Hanko(藩工), who exclusively forged swords for a specific clan. He was also a Hanshi(藩士), who was a Samurai who worked under one clan or domain. Later on, Masa-Aki became an independent swordsmith in Edo city, being popular among high-class Samurai for his excellent craftsmanship.
We hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you are interested in checking his work, we happen to acquire an antique Katana signed by him. More information is available by clicking the image below.
