Mototake was born the second son of Motonao in the 1st Year of Kannen (1748). His elder brother was the renowned Motohira and his younger brother was Motoyasu. They worked in the Shizu Soshu den influenced by Mondosho Masafusa and Ippei Yasuyo.
The works of Mototake and Motoyasu are quite few due to the two brothers frequently assisting Motohira in producing Daisaku/Daimei for him. In the Satsuma To Meisaku Shu on page 106 there is a Juyo Token which shows the collective effort of the three men. Dated works by Mototake range from Tenmei to Bunka until in Bunka 13 (1816) when he died at age 68. His grandson, Nidai Mototake worked during the Keio period at the end of the Bakumatsu Period.
This sword was illustrated in the Shinshinto Volume of the Nihonto Koza in 1967. Here are the comments on this wakizashi:
'Shinogi zukuri, hamon is a mixture of nie fukai togari ha and gonome midare, and kinsuji is seen. This has a robust form and construction, and is really sound. Mototake was a (sic)pupil[younger brother] of Satsuma Motohira, and he was a toko who made very few swords, but he was very skilled.'
In the same book, on page 385, there is this further entry on Mototake:
'He was the younger brother of Yamato Kami Motohira, and he made a special skill of nie fukai midare in the same manner as did his older brother Motohira. The reason that the name of Motohira was known under this heaven was also because he had such an excellent younger brother.
Work Style
The work style of the Oku Motohira group was a large notare, midareba hamon with profuse nie spilling out to become ara nie. But this nie is good quality and not rough like lesser makers. The jigane is mokume becoming matsukawa with imozoru (Satsuma photo vine) This last point is an indicator of Satsuma swords particulary of this group. Mototake formal rank is chujo saku but because he produced a lot of daisaku /daimei for Motohira, his actual ability is a bit above this. Motohira is rated jo-jo saku.
On Motohira its says;
.....'a watery o-hada can be seen, and there is ji-nie. Ara-nie in the ji is a another distinctive feature.
We can see this feature on this sword by Mototake.
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