Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
(Showa 41 Tokubetsu Kicho Token) It has arrived, it has arrived! Currently, with the "Hachioji Hachioji-kai"—a luxurious group of fellow Hachioji natives including celebrities such as Hiromi, Saburo Kitajima, Yumin, Roland, Fuwa-chan, Minami Takahashi, Haruna Iikubo, Funky Kato, Hiromu Takahashi, Takaya Kamikawa, and Hidetoshi Nishijima—Tokyo’s Hachioji is showing great vitality and is burning with excitement. From that very Hachioji comes a local sword lineage continuing since the Muromachi period. We have received a precious, famous wakizashi in hira-zukuri by the first generation Bushu-ju Yasushige, the head of the Shimohara smiths, a lineage that lasted 12 generations until the Meiji era. Around the Tenbun era of the Muromachi period (1543, 482 years ago), the first generation Yasushige was granted the character "Yasu" from Hojo Ujiyasu and changed his name to Yasushige. The first generation Yasushige studied sword-making under Muramasa of Ise, and the style inherited from Muramasa, such as the tanago-hara nakago, became a characteristic of Shimohara swords. Since ancient times, the Shimohara smiths, much like the Higo Dotanuki school of Kyushu or the Bungo Takada smiths, forged wazamono swords that were greatly favored by Sengoku period generals as practical weapons. This wakizashi displays a hira-zukuri wakizashi sugata with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba, and the nakago shows the tanago-hara shape of Muramasa. The jigane is forged in itame-hada; while the ji is difficult to see clearly due to the old togi (polish), it faintly reveals the gyorin-moku (fish-scale moku) spiral-shaped forged grain characteristic of Shimohara smiths. The hamon is a notare-style blade in nioi-deki with ko-nie, tempered to look as though it cuts extremely well. On this occasion, we received this from an old family who said, "We have grown old ourselves, and as some light sabi (rust) has appeared, please let it go at a low price so that a successor may take care of it." As a local sword of Tokyo—where the lineage has resided since the Muromachi period, not just Hachioji—this sword by Bushu-ju Yasushige is a precious work that must be cherished. We are offering it this time at an ultra-bargain price; please do enjoy it.
Certificate reading — 銘 武州住康重
NihontoWatchMuromachi · nagasa 41.3cm · sori 1cm
Shinto · Musashi · around 1558-1570
Tōken Taikan top 60%
4 pieces on the market now
Where Yasushige 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.
Shinto · Musashi
13 pieces on the market now
The Shitahara group (下原) worked at Hachiōji in Bushū, the old province of Musashi, from the end of the Muromachi period and carried its forge on into the Edo period. The setsumei place the lineage among the swordmakers of Musashi in the kotō age and name Terushige, Yasushige, Hiroshige, and Chikashige as its leading hands, with the meikan recording Terushige across three generations: a shodai in Kyōroku, a nidai in Eiroku, and a sandai in Tenshō. " That same blade was made to order, in this case from Hagiwara Kaminao of Kōshū, marking the group as a working provincial forge serving its region. In the forging the setsumei return repeatedly to an itame-hada freely mixed with mokume that stands up rather than lying flat, the grain described as hada-datsu, often running to nagare near the edge and taking on an ayasugi-like, whorled or vortex-like cast in the jigane. The temper is a moderately undulating notare into which gunome enter, frequently in regular paired sequences, with pointed togariba, a chōji-like feeling at times, and ko-nie clinging along a nioiguchi that can settle into a subdued shizumi tone; sunagashi and ashi appear within the ha, and the bōshi tends to run midare-komi and turn back in maru. One katana shows a wet-looking nureba surface with angular irregularities and hakikake.
The setsumei read this hand as a synthesis drawing on late Sōshū and the Muramasa line together with late Mino tendencies, which together account for the standing grain and the paired gunome. For kantei the markers are consistent: the risen mokume with its ayasugi turn, the regularly paired gunome, and a build suited to the uchigatana of the closing Muromachi years, often with pronounced sakizori and an extended chū-kissaki. Carving recurs, including bō-hi, bonji, gomabashi, and a deeply cut kurikara-ryū whose coiling tail the NBTHK singles out as characteristic. Named and dated pieces anchor the group: the Yamamoto Genjirō Terushige naginata, uncommon as a double-edged ryōba form, and a Terushige katana appraised between Eiroku and Tenshō that the register calls the hakubi of the school. The setsumei note that Shitahara work survives in number into the shintō period while outstanding examples remain few, which sets these designated blades apart within the lineage. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Terushige照重 | 1558-1570 | 2 |
| Terushige照重 | 1596-1615 | 1 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1558-1570 | 1 |
| Morishige盛重 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1661-1704 | 0 |
Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
This work carries older NBTHK “Kichō”-era papers, which the NBTHK no longer issues and now regards as unreliable. To confirm the attribution, submission to an official Japanese examination body (such as the NBTHK or NTHK) for modern certification could be considered.
For returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
(Showa 41 Tokubetsu Kicho Token) It has arrived, it has arrived! Currently, with the "Hachioji Hachioji-kai"—a luxurious group of fellow Hachioji natives including celebrities such as Hiromi, Saburo Kitajima, Yumin, Roland, Fuwa-chan, Minami Takahashi, Haruna Iikubo, Funky Kato, Hiromu Takahashi, Takaya Kamikawa, and Hidetoshi Nishijima—Tokyo’s Hachioji is showing great vitality and is burning with excitement. From that very Hachioji comes a local sword lineage continuing since the Muromachi period. We have received a precious, famous wakizashi in hira-zukuri by the first generation Bushu-ju Yasushige, the head of the Shimohara smiths, a lineage that lasted 12 generations until the Meiji era. Around the Tenbun era of the Muromachi period (1543, 482 years ago), the first generation Yasushige was granted the character "Yasu" from Hojo Ujiyasu and changed his name to Yasushige. The first generation Yasushige studied sword-making under Muramasa of Ise, and the style inherited from Muramasa, such as the tanago-hara nakago, became a characteristic of Shimohara swords. Since ancient times, the Shimohara smiths, much like the Higo Dotanuki school of Kyushu or the Bungo Takada smiths, forged wazamono swords that were greatly favored by Sengoku period generals as practical weapons. This wakizashi displays a hira-zukuri wakizashi sugata with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba, and the nakago shows the tanago-hara shape of Muramasa. The jigane is forged in itame-hada; while the ji is difficult to see clearly due to the old togi (polish), it faintly reveals the gyorin-moku (fish-scale moku) spiral-shaped forged grain characteristic of Shimohara smiths. The hamon is a notare-style blade in nioi-deki with ko-nie, tempered to look as though it cuts extremely well. On this occasion, we received this from an old family who said, "We have grown old ourselves, and as some light sabi (rust) has appeared, please let it go at a low price so that a successor may take care of it." As a local sword of Tokyo—where the lineage has resided since the Muromachi period, not just Hachioji—this sword by Bushu-ju Yasushige is a precious work that must be cherished. We are offering it this time at an ultra-bargain price; please do enjoy it.
Certificate reading — 銘 武州住康重
NihontoWatchMuromachi · nagasa 41.3cm · sori 1cm
Shinto · Musashi · around 1558-1570
Tōken Taikan top 60%
4 pieces on the market now
Where Yasushige 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.
Shinto · Musashi
13 pieces on the market now
The Shitahara group (下原) worked at Hachiōji in Bushū, the old province of Musashi, from the end of the Muromachi period and carried its forge on into the Edo period. The setsumei place the lineage among the swordmakers of Musashi in the kotō age and name Terushige, Yasushige, Hiroshige, and Chikashige as its leading hands, with the meikan recording Terushige across three generations: a shodai in Kyōroku, a nidai in Eiroku, and a sandai in Tenshō. " That same blade was made to order, in this case from Hagiwara Kaminao of Kōshū, marking the group as a working provincial forge serving its region. In the forging the setsumei return repeatedly to an itame-hada freely mixed with mokume that stands up rather than lying flat, the grain described as hada-datsu, often running to nagare near the edge and taking on an ayasugi-like, whorled or vortex-like cast in the jigane. The temper is a moderately undulating notare into which gunome enter, frequently in regular paired sequences, with pointed togariba, a chōji-like feeling at times, and ko-nie clinging along a nioiguchi that can settle into a subdued shizumi tone; sunagashi and ashi appear within the ha, and the bōshi tends to run midare-komi and turn back in maru. One katana shows a wet-looking nureba surface with angular irregularities and hakikake.
The setsumei read this hand as a synthesis drawing on late Sōshū and the Muramasa line together with late Mino tendencies, which together account for the standing grain and the paired gunome. For kantei the markers are consistent: the risen mokume with its ayasugi turn, the regularly paired gunome, and a build suited to the uchigatana of the closing Muromachi years, often with pronounced sakizori and an extended chū-kissaki. Carving recurs, including bō-hi, bonji, gomabashi, and a deeply cut kurikara-ryū whose coiling tail the NBTHK singles out as characteristic. Named and dated pieces anchor the group: the Yamamoto Genjirō Terushige naginata, uncommon as a double-edged ryōba form, and a Terushige katana appraised between Eiroku and Tenshō that the register calls the hakubi of the school. The setsumei note that Shitahara work survives in number into the shintō period while outstanding examples remain few, which sets these designated blades apart within the lineage. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Terushige照重 | 1558-1570 | 2 |
| Terushige照重 | 1596-1615 | 1 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1558-1570 | 1 |
| Morishige盛重 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1661-1704 | 0 |
Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
This work carries older NBTHK “Kichō”-era papers, which the NBTHK no longer issues and now regards as unreliable. To confirm the attribution, submission to an official Japanese examination body (such as the NBTHK or NTHK) for modern certification could be considered.
For returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
