This antique Katana is signed by Ujiyoshi, a smith from the Kaifu school in Awa Province, active during the early Edo period (Kan'ei era, 1624-1645). The blade features intricate Horimono carvings of Fudō Myō-ō with a Kurikara dragon and Gomahashi. It comes with an NTHK Kanteisho certificate, shirasaya, and a Tokugawa Aoi mon decorated habaki.
NihontoWatchmei · Kaifu · Edo · nagasa 67.8cm · sori 2.3cm
Wakimono · Awa · around 1596-1615
1 piece on the market now
Where Ujiyoshi stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Wakimono · Awa
10 pieces on the market now
The Kaifu group (Kaifu-ha, 海部) takes its name from the Kaifu district of Awa Province on Shikoku, in the region of present-day Tokushima. The Kotō Meizukushi and the Kokon Meizukushi place the founder as Kaifu Tarō Ujiyoshi (海部太郎氏吉), set around the Kōryaku era (1379-1381), and record a second strand said to descend from a pupil of Naminohira around the Ōan era (1368-1375) who signed with the single character Fuji (藤). No blade securely traces back to those origins, and the setsumei are consistent that the group's documented activity belongs to the Muromachi period, growing conspicuous from its latter half. The smiths who appear by name on the designated blades are Ujiyoshi (氏吉), Ujishige (氏重), Yasuyoshi (泰吉) with a Daiei 5 (1525) example, and Yasunaga (泰長), placed around the Daiei era; one tantō by Ujishige is read as the earliest of the line, end of Nanbokuchō into early Muromachi. A shintō continuation survives in Fujiwara Ujiyoshi of Kaifu in Ama district, working in the Kyōhō era (1716-1736), whose hand the setsumei describes as late kotō in appearance, his ancestors' manner carried forward without absorbing other provinces' shifts. Forging across the group runs to ko-itame or itame that often flows and inclines toward masame near the edge, with ji-nie and chikei that the setsumei repeatedly call subdued or lacking strong brilliance; shirake-utsuri and a faintly blackish kanairo recur. The temper is most often a suguha base, from a narrow line on the tantō to a broad suguha mixed with ko-notare, gunome, and midare, the nioiguchi frequently hazy and oceanic (bōyō) rather than tight, with ko-nie, kinsuji, and sunagashi; bōshi turn back in ō-maru with long kaeri or run midare-komi with a togari tendency.
The signature Kaifu form is the hira-zukuri tantō of wide mihaba and slight uchizori, carrying a bonji with suken and gomabashi cut as deep kaki-nagashi grooves, the long mei boldly chiselled in thick strokes. The setsumei also note the kiriba-zukuri wakizashi known as Kaifu mountain swords (Kaifu no yamatō), and a high, thick build of utilitarian character; a flowing masame-tinged jigane with hazy temper and a coarse, bōbō nie reads as the group's ordinary signature, while finer pieces in the same idiom step above it. For kantei, a deeply tempered suguha-based blade whose ko-itame carries dense ji-nie can at a glance suggest Go Yoshihiro, and the group's drift toward a Naminohira manner and the old saying that Kaifu work "changed into E" mark the lines along which it is read. The standing of these smiths rests on cutting character: the meibutsu Iwakiri Kaifu, a katana by Ujiyoshi recorded in the Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō, takes its name from its sharpness, was held by the Miyoshi of Awa with whom Miyoshi Nagayoshi is said to have won martial exploits, and passed thereafter to the Kuroda of Fukuoka. The Ujishige tantō once in the collection of Itō Miyoji is published in the Kōzan Oshigata; a katana by the later Yamato Daijō Ujishige stands at Hiromine Shrine; and two wakizashi by Fujiwara Ujiyoshi were given to the Imperial Household Agency by volunteers from Tokushima. Signed Kaifu blades are few, which makes each named example reference material for the group as a whole. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Ujiyoshi氏吉 | 1492-1501 | 3 |
| Yasunaga泰長 | 1521-1528 | 1 |
| Yasuyoshi泰吉 | 1504-1521 | 1 |
| Ujishige氏重 | 1655-1658 | 2 |
| Ujiyoshi氏吉 | 1596-1615 | 2 |
The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Under the Tokugawa peace the daishō became a regulated uniform, and demand gathered in the castle towns, above all Edo itself. The craft split two ways: brilliant display work for connoisseurs, and tested blades whose cutting results were sometimes inlaid in gold.
The NTHK’s principal certificate, issued for a blade of considerable quality. It confirms a genuine signature, or, for an unsigned (mumei) work, records the judges’ attribution to a smith or school. The paper carries a detailed worksheet with a numerical point score.
The NTHK (Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai, the Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Sword) is the oldest of Japan’s sword-appraisal bodies, founded in 1910, decades before the NBTHK. After the death of its long-serving head it divided into two successor societies, the NTHK and the NTHK-NPO, both of which continue to hold shinsa. NTHK certificates are known for a detailed worksheet that records a numerical point score alongside the judges’ written opinion, and the society is especially respected for its attribution of unsigned (mumei) work.
Returns/exchanges limited to defects caused by shipping (except willful misconduct or gross negligence by the company); customers must contact within 72 hours of receiving the product.
¥800,000
