Gassan Sadakatsu

Gassan Sadakatsu ( Japanese 月 山 貞 勝 ; * 1869 in Osaka ; † December 24, 1943 ) was a Japanese swordsmith of the modern Gassan school .

Life

Sadakatsu was the first son of Gassan Sadakazu ( 月 山 貞 一 , 1836-1918) and after Gassan Sadayoshi and his father Sadakazu the third ancestor of the modern Gassan school. Although he learned the art of swordsmithing from his father at a very early age, he did not begin to sign blades under his own name until 1918, the year his father died. Before that, he assisted his father in the production of Nihonto (so-called Daisaku). In view of the old age of his father and his high reputation as a teishitsu gigei-in, it cannot be ruled out that the blades were often made by Sadakatsu himself under his father's name (so-called daimei). After the death of his father, Sadakatsu continued the Gassan school and forged swords for the imperial family and other high dignitaries, including the English King George V. The high esteem for Sadakatsu is also expressed in the evaluation of his contemporary Kurihara Hikosaburō . He was a patron of Japanese swordsmithing who rated over 400 Japanese swordsmiths. He assigned Sadakatsu the highest rank (Sai-Jo Saku) along with 11 other swordsmiths. Apparently Sadakatsu was not only an excellent swordsmith, but also a good teacher. Two of his students, his son Gassan Sadaichi and Takahashi Sadatsugu , later received the title Ningen kokuhō (Living National Treasure ). Sadakatsu finally died on December 24, 1943 at the age of 74.

Nihonto characteristics of Sadakatsu

Of course, Sadakatsu mastered the art of forging blades with an Ayasugi hada , the typical Gassan style. However, his swordsmithing is not limited to this. Rather, he also mastered other traditional swordsmithing traditions, such as B. the Bizen tradition and the Sōshū tradition . He also engraved horimono himself . He favored plum branches and quotes from poems by the Japanese poet Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801).

literature

• Morihiro Ogawa: Japanese Master Swordsmiths: The Gassan Tradition. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1989, ISBN 978-0878463091 .
• Leon Kapp, Hiroko Kapp, Yoshindo Yoshihara: Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths: From 1868 to the Present. Kodansha USA, 2002, ISBN 978-4770019622
• Kokan Nagayama: The connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords. Kodansha USA, 1998, ISBN 978-4770020710 , p. 293.

Web links

• Biography of Gassan Sadakatsu
• http://www.nihonto.ca/sadakatsu-3

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.nihonto.ca/sadakatsu-3/
2. ^ Biography of Gassan Sadakatsu ( Memento from July 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Gassan is the family name, Sadakatsu the first name.