by Jim Kurrasch
from the January 1999 Nanka Token Kai Newsletter
The Meitô Fushimi Masamune Tantô
As I had mentioned earlier when Katsu Fujimoto was visiting him, Kajiwara san had in his possession the Fushimi Masamune tantô. So Katsu was allowed to study it. After talking with him about this Juyo Bunkasai tantô I decided to look it up a bit more. In 1961 it was published in Masamune and His School it was owned by Mr. Minokichi Kimura. It was also published in the Kanzan Ôshigata around 1969, and the Sôshû Taikan in 1975. I plan on bringing the Sôshû Taikan to our next meeting so our members will have a better idea about this sword.
This sword has a long history. It was listed in the Kyôho Meibutsu Chô. In 1690 it was valued at 300 Mai. The first Tokugawa Shôgun – Tokugawa Iyeyasu obtained this sword in Fushimi. It was given to the Maeda when the adopted daughter of the fifth Tokugawa Shôgun married Maeda Tsunanori. It’s length is 8 sun 5 bu = 25.7 cm. = 10.1 inches.
The Meitô Hyûga Masamune Tantô
While looking up the Fushimi Masamune I wondered about the complaint of finding old ôshigata of famous blades only to realized that they did not give similar information as recent pictures of the same swords. So here I have a scan of the Hyûga Masamune ôshigata from a copy of the Kotôku Ôshigata first published around 1600 by Hônami Kotôku. The photographs of the same sword are from the Jûyô Bukasai information.
The Meitô Fushimi Masamune
The Meitô Hyûga Masamune
