One of the true masters of Keicho Shinto. This smith can be found in most books and especially the ” Masters of Keicho Shinto “. A brilliant hitatsura blade forged in the Soshu style by Yamato no Daijo Fujiwara Masanori. This blade was fully restored by Kajihara in the mid-1990’s and papered by Yoshikawa-Sensei of the NTHK also. There is sayagaki by Kajihara.

This sword exhibits all that appeals to the Soshu collector without being forged by a Soshu smith. This sword is wide and massive to the touch, one side is a violent Soshu style Hitatsura while the other side is more reminiscent of the early Shimada Hitatsura. At the same time still retaining the MasaNori style gunome-choji midare in nie-deki. Ara-nie, togari-ba as well as sunagashi abound. Large clouds of tobyaki are everywhere to behold. The Nakago is Masanori’s typical style with a  very pronounced iriyamagata-Jiri. A rare style of sword by a master of Keicho Shinto that does not become available very often.

The original restoration receipt from Kajihara comes with this sword. The steel is a blackish color with a pronounced itame with  mokume covered in ji-nie. Masame can be seen as well. It is Hira-zukiri in shape and has a feeling being large in breadth.