After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchIt has appeared, it has appeared; a precious work with daisho koshirae exactly as it was from the Edo period about 200 years ago, carefully passed down through generations in an old family, has appeared. This is the long-awaited work for those who wish to display daisho swords in their home. The maker of the daito is mumei, but it is passed down as a sword of the level of Nanto Ju Kanabo Hyoe no Jo Masatsugu. It is a work from exactly the time when Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen fought fiercely at Kawanakajima around the Koji era of the Muromachi period (1555) (471 years ago). This sword is a sword that a samurai of later generations shortened to match his own swordsmanship because he absolutely wanted it as his own sashiryo; it shows a good sword sugata with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba, sori, and a large kissaki. As you can see, the jigane is not clearly visible, but does it perhaps show a powerful jigane with itame hada mixed with mokume hada and fine jinie? The hamon is also not clearly visible, but it is a gunome midare-ba in nioi-deki with konie, containing frequent ko-ashi and yo. The first generation Hishu Dewa no Kami Yukihiro of the wakizashi is the grandson of the first generation Hizen no Kuni Tadayoshi, a master of Keicho Shinto. He received the title of Dewa no Kami in Kanbun 3 of the Edo period (1663) (363 years ago). Also, this swordsmith Yukihiro had a wonderfully strong desire for learning, and the reason he signed "Ichi" or "Ichimonji" as on this wakizashi is because he later learned the Bizen-den forging method from smiths of the Ishido school. Carving the "Ichi" strongly expresses the Bizen Ichimonji tradition. He became the retained smith of the Nabeshima family of the Saga Takeo Domain, with 21,600 koku. The sugata of this wakizashi shows a magnificent wakizashi sugata with a wide moto-mihaba and a wide saki-mihaba; the jigane is a well-tightened ko-itame with fine jinie on the ji, and the hamon is a splendid sugu-cho blade of the family tradition in nioi-deki with konie. The koshirae are also equipped with Edo period Akasaka tetsu-ji daisho tsuba, fuchi-kashira of daisho shakudo-ji with a design of waves, and menuki with a design of daisho dragons in kin-iroe; although there is wear from age, the luxurious koshirae add even more splendor to these daisho swords. This time, although these are daisho matched swords that have been cherished for generations in an old family, we have taken them on consignment because the owners said, "We have also grown old, so please pass them on at a low price to someone who will cherish them." Because there is also large hada on the daito blade, although they are precious daisho exactly as they were at the time, we are offering them at a specially low price; please by all means enjoy them.
Offered by Nipponto
9 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Wakimono · Yamato
9 pieces on the market now
The Kanabō (金房) smiths worked in Nanto, the old name for Nara in Yamato province, from the end of the Muromachi period into the early Shintō era. Their relationship to any of the five established Yamato schools is not clearly fixed in the record, and the NBTHK setsumei treat the group as one that rose and flourished in Nara during the late Muromachi decades, with dated examples encountered from the Eishō era onward. The blades here name several hands. Masatsugu (政次), who signed as Kanabō Hyōe no Jō Masatsugu and as Kanefusa Hyōe no Jō Masatsugu, is described as the representative and best-known smith of the line. Masasada (政定), signing Kanefusa Saemon-no-jō Masasada, left an uchigatana dated Eiroku 2 (1559). " Rather than the classical Yamato-den manner of the earlier five schools, the Kanabō hand reads as a Muromachi uchigatana idiom that shares points with the Sue-Bizen and Sue-Seki spheres. The kitae is itame that flows into nagare and tends toward masame, with the grain often standing and growing large, and a whitish utsuri appearing in places. The hamon divides between two registers the setsumei repeatedly cite: a large gunome-based midare, the "hips" of the gunome opening out and mixed at times with togari-ba, chōji, or ko-notare; and a suguha carried on a tight nioiguchi.
Across both, ashi and yō enter well and stand out, ko-nie and ji-nie adhere, and sunagashi with kinsuji run through; the nioiguchi frequently takes a shizumi, subdued cast. The bōshi runs midare-komi, often with hakikake and a pointed or ko-maru return. The build tends to broad mihaba with sakizori on the swords, while naginata are conspicuously common, a production read as answering the demands of the warrior monks (sōhei) of Kōfukuji and the great Nanto temples. For kantei, the line is held by the flowing masame-tending itame, the broad gunome-midare with prominent ashi and yō over a tight or subdued nioiguchi, and the marked presence of naginata and long polearm blades among extant work. The setsumei single out Masatsugu's polearms as typical of his hand, several preserved with their vermilion-lacquer nagamaki mounts (shunuri nagamaki koshirae) and one black-lacquer naginata mounting, the fittings inferred to have been made together with the blade. The records grant that true masterworks within the group are rare, yet they describe individual blades by Masatsugu and Masasada with fine jigane, skillfully cut horimono, and workmanship judged excellent and dignified. Within the wider Yamato sphere the Kanabō stand as a late, utilitarian offshoot whose polearms and serviceable swords carry the group's name into the NBTHK register. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Masatsugu政次 | 1492-1570 | 4 |
| Masazane正眞 | 1532-1555 | 0 |
| Masasada政定 | 1521-1559 | 1 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
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 siteFor 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.
¥950,000
Certificate reading — 無銘（金房）