Osumi Sadamune of the Shimazu Kajiki Family 1734-1791

The Shimazu family in their small but productive twin fiefs of Satsuma and Osumi were truly blessed with having no less than six groups of prolific and high quality swordsmiths in their midst. The senior school, the Naminohira were long resident in Satsuma,predating the arrival of the Shimazu as Shugo of the province. Their stronghold of Taniyama were given many orders by other feudal families living in Satsuma, Osumi, Hyuga like the Iriki-in, Kimotsuki, Ito, Sagara etc. Other schools, though later influenced by the Soshu style, claim decent from the Naminohira and formed a strong basis of foundation of swordmaking in this small corner of Kyushu. One of these schools was the Ichiji Masayoshi school which started from the middle of the Edo period which totaled six generations until 1868. The most famous and prolific member of this school was the third generation Masayoshi, who in 1793, along with his neighbouring twin smith, Oku Motohira was honoured with the Hoki Kami title. Unlike the latter smith, Masayoshi had many students of which one, who is the subject on these pages is a little known smith named Sadamune. After the internal dissensions of the Shimazu was settled and unification achieved under Shimazu Takahisa in 1542 his (sons were the famed Yoshihisa, Iehisa and Yoshihiro) the six main branches of the Shimazu were given permanent fiefs in the two kuni(the former Lords of Osumi, the Kimotsuki were defeated by the Shimazu and became their retainers as with the Iriki-in.) Kajiki castle, at first under the stewardship of Kimotsuki Kanemori was given to Shimazu Tadaaki (1616-1676) the third son of Shimazu Iehisa who was granted this fief later valued at 17,000 koku making him a daimyo in his own right in 1631. Of course, Osumi being barren of swordsmiths wished to have a pool of swordsmiths at their disposal, Satsuma Masayoshi's school which was very large, was able to have several promising men of the kuni, many of them of quasi or low ranking goshi sent. A very good example of this was the story of Ippei Yasusada, who a retainer to the Kiire Kimotsuki whose family name, Nakamura (later changed to Tamaki) was ordered by the 5th Kimotsuki Lord Yoshikane to study under 57th Head Naminohira Yasuyuki. Sadamune of Kajiki was such a smith.

Osumi Sadamune (貞宗) was born the third son of Matsumoto Jurozaemon (松本十郎左衛門) on the 19th year of Kyoho (1734) in Osumi Province. He was later adopted by a retainer of the Shimazu Kajiki family, Takaba Shozaemon (竹迫正左衛門) in Horeki 3 (1754) and became known as Takaba Shozaemon (竹迫庄左衛門) He was sent to Satsuma province to study under Sasshu Masayoshi (薩州正良) (later Hoki Kami Masayoshi.) who was his direct contemporary being a younger than Masayoshi. After completing his apprenticeship, he returned to Osumi, and became a swordsmith to the Kajiki Shimazu (加治木島津) family along with Osumi Masakage (大隅正景) and Osumi Masamitsu (大隅正光). His initial signature was Yoshitoki (良時) and later changed to Sadamune. His own line composed of the 2nd Generation Sadamune. He died in the 3rd year of Kansei (1791) at age 57. The style of Sadamune was very close to his teacher and worked in the Soshu Shizu den so beloved of the Satsuma smiths. This example is a very well done work for Sadamune's rank and very close in quality to his teacher. Indeed, Fujishiro Matsuo, gave this sword a very rare Yushu designation therefore confirming the quality of this wakizashi. The hamon is a midare notare with kinsuji and imozuru which is a well known Satsuma trait for their smiths. There is a very rare date of Tenmei 6th Year (1787) and as Sadamune's swords are rarely dated, this sword is a very useful specimen for data on this smith and his approximate work period.