In the Sengoku era the school served a second warrior court: the Later Hōjō at Odawara, whose patronage kept the Tsunahiro line forging hitatsura for the uchigatana age until the castle fell to Hideyoshi in 1590.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis blade was signed by Hirotsugu (広次), a swordsmith active in Sagami province (today’s Kanagawa prefecture) during the late Muromachi period. The name Hirotsugu was used by several generations of swordsmiths working in Sagami from the Nanbokuchō period through the Muromachi period. They belonged to the Sōshū tradition, one of Japan’s most celebrated swordmaking traditions, closely associated with the legendary master Masamune. This tradition is admired for its sophisticated forging techniques and distinctive workmanship. The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, or Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) dates this blade to the late Muromachi period, placing it among the works of a later generation of Hirotsugu. This was an era of widespread conflict, when rival warlords competed for power and swords played an essential role in the lives of samurai. This blade offers an opportunity to appreciate the continuation of the Sōshū tradition during the turbulent closing decades of the Muromachi period. Soshu Den Swordsmiths residing in Soshu province (Today’s Kanagawa prefecture) used a particular sword-forging tradition called Soshu Den. And, Shimada school also used this tradition to forge blades. Shoshu Den was born in the middle of the Kamakura period (mid 13th century). Back then, the Yamato and Yamashiro traditions were highly developed, and there were a few renowned swordsmiths from those regions. However, the sword-forging practice was in its infancy in the Kanto area, where the Soshu region was located. At the beginning of the Kamakura government, which was established in 1185, the first Shogun, Minamoto Yoritomo, prioritized making a lot of rules to have its political stability. And he couldn’t afford to hire swordsmiths within the same region or train them. Therefore, the Kamakura government originally ordered weapons to the swordsmiths in the other areas, such as Yamato and Yamashiro. But, since the government was established, the demand for weapons increased exponentially in the government, and they had to figure out how to meet those demands from Samurai who served Kamakura shogunate. Then, the 5th head of the Shogun, Hojo Tokiyori, invited two renowned swordsmiths from other parts of Japan. They were Awataguchi Kunitsuna from Yamashiro province and Bizen Saburo Kunimune from Bizen province. And the 7th-gen Shogun Koreyasu Shino also invited Fukuoka Ichimonji Sukezane from Bizen province. It is said that those three swordsmiths played an essential role in creating the Soshu Den and making the foundation of the Soshu Den. Also another famous figure in the Soshu den is Intou Kunimitsu, an adopted son of Awataguchi Knitsuna. And Kunimitsu passed his excellent craftsmanship to Yukimitsu, his apprentice. And Masamune, one of the most famous swordsmiths in Japanese history, was an apprentice of Yukimitsu. And Masamune was the one that brought Shoshuden to nationwide fame. The tradition Masamune completed became an example of other swordsmiths who learned Soshu Den. Also, Soshu Den influenced many renowned swordsmiths during the Koto- Shinto era. One of examples is Inoue Shinkai from Osaka and Suishinshi Masahide from Edo. Appraisal This Katana blade was appraised as a Tokubetsu Hozon Token (特別保存刀剣). It was issued by NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai:日本美術刀剣保存協会). This authentication papers were only given to authentic Japanese swords, especially well preserved and high quality with artistic value. *Please keep in mind that there are a few Kitae Kizu on the blade. Fuchi-Kashira The theme of this Fuchi-Kashira is the Aoi-Karakusa (葵唐草). Aoi (Asarum caulescens, 葵) is a plant pattern in which each stem branches and has characteristic heart-shaped leaves. As its leaves have a habit of always facing the sun, and the word “Aoi” is taken as “Aogu (仰ぐ, looking up)” for the sun, people thought the Aoi pattern would bring good fortune. Karakusa (Arabesque) is a pattern in which stems and leaves of vines are twined and make curves. Since ivy has a strong vitality and grows up without interruption, people regarded this design as a symbol of prosperity and longevity. Vine is called Tsuru (蔓) in Japanese, and it has another pronunciation; “Man.” There is a word 万 (it is also read Man), which means ten thousand. In the Karakusa pattern, leaves and vines are connected like Obi (帯, belt). The word “帯” can also be read “Tai.” Due to its pronunciation, the term “代 (Tai)” is associated. From this word-association game, an idiom 万代 is associated, and it means a thousand generations. In other words, we could imagine that people used this design wishing prosperity and longevity for their clans for a long time. Thus, the Aoi-Karakusa pattern, which combines the motifs of these plants that were mentioned above, has long been cherished in Japan as a symbol of good fortune. Tsuka and Menuki This Menuki (目貫) features a Musha-zu (武者図) design depicting two warriors. Musha-zu is a traditional Japanese motif that portrays samurai (武者, Musha) in heroic and dynamic poses. This design is commonly used in Menuki, the ornamental fittings on a sword handle, as well as in paintings and various crafts. Tsuba and Habaki This tsuba features an openwork design that appears to depict a plum tree (梅, Ume). Its twisting trunk and irregular branches extend across the circular frame. The design is rendered using a technique known as sukashi-bori (透かし彫り), or openwork carving. In this technique, sections of metal are carefully cut away to create a pattern, allowing the remaining metal and the surrounding open spaces to form the design together. Here, the openwork emphasizes the contours of the trunk and branches, lending the tsuba a natural, sculptural beauty. Saya *Please keep in mind that this Saya is partially damaged due to its age. The saya (scabbard) of this katana is coated in black lacquer, with scattered, irregular mottled markings adding texture. Lacquer has long been used in Asia for its durability and resistance to moisture. Since Japanese sword blades are made of steel and are vulnerable to rust, lacquer helps protect the wooden scabbard from moisture, including rain and snow. Applying multiple layers requires careful preparation and considerable skill. Craftspeople specializing in this work are known as nushi (塗師), or lacquerers, whose expertise combines practical protection with decorative beauty. Authentication Paper NBTHK,, also known as Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai (the Society for the Preservation of the Japan Art Sword), is one of the oldest Japanese sword appraising organizations in modern-day Japan. They authenticated the Katana blade on Feb 16th in the 8th year of the Reiwa (2026) . It means the blade worth preserving for Japanese society. Registration Number The Board of Education in Tokyo issued a registration paper for the Katana blade.
Offered by Samurai Museum
4 on the market
Soshu-den · Sagami · around 1492-1501
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 37%
4 pieces on the market now
Hirotsugu of Kamakura in Sagami is known from four designated works, three of them placed in the Meio era at the close of the fifteenth century and one in the late Muromachi period. The earliest anchor is a wakizashi recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, signed Soshu-ju Hirotsugu saku and dated Meio 9 (1500). The published sources describe him in a single line: 「広次は相州鎌倉に住した刀工で, 銘鑑にはその初代を建武としているが, 現存するものでは室町時代中期を遡るものはなく室町時代後期を代表する相州鍛冶といえる」 (Hirotsugu lived at Kamakura in Soshu; the reference books put a first generation in Kenmu, but no surviving work predates the mid-Muromachi period, and he may be regarded as a representative Soshu smith of the late Muromachi period). Honma's inventory adds that of the works it had examined the Meio-dated pieces are the oldest, and that a Tenbun-dated blade signed as a resident of Shimada in Suruga is held to be by the same man.
Two of his Juyo katana are signed in two ways. The earlier designation, of 1971, bears a two-character mei, Hirotsugu, cut with a fine chisel beside the mekugi-ana. Its jigane is ko-itame with ji-nie and chikei, and the hamon is a gunome-midare with a choji feeling. The yakihaba is narrow in the lower half and widens from the middle upward into a flamboyant midare with tobiyaki, deep in nioi, with ashi, yo and sunagashi. The blade is carved with a kusa-kurikara on the omote and bonji, gomabashi and rendai on the ura. The published sources call it 「地刃の出来が優れ, 彫物も見事で, 室町時代の相州物の典型である」 (excellent in jigane and hamon, splendid in its carving, and a typical piece of Muromachi Soshu work).
The second katana, designated in 2015, has a six-character signature, Soshu-ju Hirotsugu saku, and is placed 「その銘振りや作風からおよそ明応年間の作と推されるものである」 (from the manner of the signature and the workmanship, to around the Meio era). It has a deep sori with sakizori and a thick kasane. The jigane is itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, with thick ji-nie, chikei and a faint utsuri. The temper runs high enough to reach the shinogi, mixing gunome with choji and togariba, with frequent kinsuji and sunagashi and uchinoke along the tops. The published sources close with 「匂口は締まりごころに明るく冴えるなど, 出色の出来映えを示している」 (the nioiguchi is inclined to tightness, bright and clear, showing outstanding workmanship).
The wakizashi of the Honma inventory shows a standing itame of whitish cast, a gunome-midare with sunagashi, a boshi with hakikake, and bo-hi with soe-hi above bonji and a lotus pedestal. Across the Meio works the constants are a gunome temper with sunagashi, carving in the Soshu manner, and that date.
The fourth work, a katana designated Juyo in 2021, is judged by its mei and build to be by a somewhat later Hirotsugu of the end of the Muromachi period, after the skilled makers of the name known around Meio or Tenbun. It is wide, with an extended chu-kissaki, and its itame mixed with mokume stands throughout, thick in ji-nie with frequent chikei. The temper runs high in notare with gunome, choji, togariba and yahazu-shaped elements, and with tobiyaki and muneyaki it becomes hitatsura, thick in nie, the nioiguchi bright, with frequent kinsuji and sunagashi. The published sources write that at first glance it recalls the Hasebe school of the Nanbokucho period[[c:1]], a powerful hitatsura strong in nie, and that it shows the high skill of this Hirotsugu.
Where Hirotsugu 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.
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Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Soshu-den · Sagami
Phase: Sue-Sōshū末相州· 1356–1868
20 pieces on the market now
When the great Kamakura masters had passed and the country slid into the wars of the late Muromachi, a residual Soshu-den held on in Sagami under a new patron. The Later Hojo, ruling from Odawara castle, kept smiths at hand, and it was from this orbit that the leading name of the window emerged: Tsunahiro, transmitted as a retained smith of the Odawara Hojo who took the character tsuna from Hojo Ujitsuna. The first generation's earliest dated works fall in the Tenbun era, and the line runs forward in the conventional reckoning through Tensho, Keicho, Kan'ei, and Manji, the third generation drawn west to Tsugaru by Tamenobu to forge daisho before returning home. Around him stood a wider Sagami population working the same idiom: Hirotsugu of Kamakura, whose strongest hands cluster near the Meio and Tenbun years; Hiromasa and Soso, names carried across several indistinct generations; Masahiro, reaching back toward Joji; and the Odawara group of Yasuharu, Yasukuni, and Fusamune, the last praised above all for his carving. These smiths inherited the manner of the Nanbokucho apex at a remove of generations rather than by direct descent from the mainline of Masamune and Sadamune. The signature of the phase is the open declaration of the full temper. The forging stays itame mixed with mokume, the grain inclined to stand (hadadachi-gokoro), with ji-nie and chikei; over it the smiths ran a notare-and-gunome ground that climbs the upper half into hitatsura, tobiyaki and muneyaki firing across ji and mune, sunagashi and kinsuji threading the ha. This is the hitatsura and o-midare learned from Hiromitsu and Akihiro, but pushed toward display: the Hirotsugu katana of the 61st Juyo runs its temper so high it reaches the shinogi, mixing choji, togariba, and yahazu-gata into a demonstrative yakidaka pattern.
The contrast with the classic apex is precise and the appraisers mark it. Where Masamune raised nie to its deepest refinement over a bright, clear steel, the Sue-Soshu ji tends to shirake, a whitish cast standing in for that clarity, and the nioiguchi inclines to shizumi, a sunken or subdued quality rather than depth. The 238th Jubi record states the point plainly for the first-generation Tsunahiro: the ji and ha carry abundant nie, yet the very shape of the hamon departs from that of Hiromitsu and Akihiro. The temper is broader and busier across the surface, but it lacks the quiet command and the leaping interior activity of the original. To kantei the window is to separate this demonstrative late temper from the classic Soshu-den it imitates: a standing itame with shirake, a wide hitatsura worked with yahazu and crescent tobiyaki, a nioiguchi that sinks rather than deepens, and signatures reading Soshu-ju with full given names rather than the o-suriage mumei of the great forebears. The named hands carry the distinctions, Fusamune through his dense, precise horimono of kurikara and bonji, Tsunahiro through his crescent tobiyaki and high monouchi fire, Hirotsugu through a hitatsura vigorous enough to recall Hasebe. Provenance keeps these blades close to power: several are recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, one bearing the ownership inscription of Akimoto Yoshihide of Kozuke, another the Hachiman Daibosatsu invocation of a Sengoku warrior, the Tsunahiro commission tied by its dated nakago to the Tsugaru house. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Fusamune總宗 | 1504-1521 | 5 |
| Tsunahiro綱廣 | 1532-1555 | 14 |
| Hiromasa廣正 | 1444-1456 | 4 |
| Tsunaie綱家 | 1532-1555 | 3 |
| Hirotsugu廣次 | 1492-1501 | 4 |
Sōshū in the Muromachi period
In the Sengoku era the school served a second warrior court: the Later Hōjō at Odawara, whose patronage kept the Tsunahiro line forging hitatsura for the uchigatana age until the castle fell to Hideyoshi in 1590.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteReturns/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.
¥1,400,000