War at home and trade abroad made Muromachi Bizen the busiest forge region in Japan: a century of Sengoku demand after the Ōnin War, and export missions to Ming China carrying blades by the tens of thousands.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchNihontoWatchOffered by Choshuya
Our records attribute this piece to Yoshioka Ichimonji Yoshiyasu, a maker with Jūyō-designated work, and we couldn’t find current papers for it. Treat the attribution as unproven until papers say otherwise. — Hoshi Ask me first
2 on the market
Bizen-den · Bizen · around 1247-1249
Fujishiro Jo saku
Where Yoshiyasu 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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Bizen-den · Bizen
Phase: Yoshioka Ichimonji吉岡一文字· 1288–1394
2 pieces on the market now
When the Fukuoka workshops gave way at the close of the thirteenth century, the Ichimonji line carried on at Yoshioka in Bizen, and the setsumei place this branch "in place of the Fukuoka Ichimonji," flourishing from the end of Kamakura into the Nanbokuchō era. The Yoshioka smiths shared the character suke (助) as a generational element, and the records name Sukemitsu, Sukeyoshi, Sukeshige, Suketsugu, Sukeyuki, Sukehide, and a second Sukeyoshi (助義). Sukemitsu is identified as the leading hand of the group, with dated work surviving across the Einin, Gen'ō, Genkyō, and Karyaku eras; Sukeshige left blades dated to Enkyō and to Jōwa 2 (1346), and Sukehide a wakizashi dated Shōhei 18 (1363). Suketsugu, dated Eitoku 2 (1382), is the smith whose recorded move from Yoshioka to Osafune marks the point where this branch fed into the Osafune tradition. Allied groups resident nearby, the Iwato Ichimonji of Yoshiie and Muneuji and the Nitta-shō smith Chikatsugu, belong to the same late-period current. What separates Yoshioka work from the Fukuoka apex is a matter of scale and temperament. " A reverse-slanting (saka) tendency appears at times, and the temper often tightens toward the monouchi.
The forging is a tightly grained ko-itame, sometimes with nagare-hada, carrying fine ji-nie, chikei, and a clearly standing midare-utsuri. Where Fukuoka layered jūka-chōji and fukuro-chōji in flamboyant rise and fall, Yoshioka holds the pattern to a quieter register, and the setsumei repeatedly note that the bōshi in notare-komi with a round turn and the calm, regular tone "resemble contemporaneous Osafune work," the Osafune manner of the period drawing the branch toward kozumu regularity. The kantei value lies in reading that restraint correctly. Against Fukuoka, the discriminators are the reduced scale of the clove pattern, the gunome asserting itself within the midare, the suguha-leaning compositions with entering ashi, and the bright, nioi-dominant nioiguchi with accompanying ko-nie and occasional kinsuji and sunagashi. The named masters anchor these readings: Sukeyoshi's chōji mixed with gunome and narrowing temper, attested by a Hon'ami Chōshiki gold-inlaid kiwame; Sukemitsu's more flamboyant chōji-midare with togariba and tobiyaki, carried on an ō-suriage katana held by old tradition; Sukeshige's round-headed gunome with even undulation. Suketsugu's late tachi, hardening open, waisted gunome, points ahead to the Ōei-Bizen style that followed. Among the documented provenances, the Iwato smith Minamoto Yoshiie's tachi of Mototoku 2 (1330) was bestowed on Yoshikawa Hiroie as a memento of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and several Yoshioka and Tsunetsugu blades carry Hon'ami origami, a reminder that earlier appraisal sometimes folded such work into "Aoe" before the modern separation of the two Tsunetsugu lines. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sukemitsu助光 | 1299-1302 | 8 |
| Ichi一 | 1288-1293 | 3 |
| Kagehide景秀 | 1329-1331 | 0 |
| Kanenaga包永 | 1334-1338 | 0 |
| Kageyasu景泰 | 1326-1329 | 0 |
Bizen in the Muromachi period
War at home and trade abroad made Muromachi Bizen the busiest forge region in Japan: a century of Sengoku demand after the Ōnin War, and export missions to Ming China carrying blades by the tens of thousands.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
If, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.
¥1,500,000