NihontoWatchOrdering Number: 26003Katana: Shirasaya with Koshirae (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token).Signature: Mutsu Aizu ju Miyoshi Nagamichi (8th generation).A day in August, 1842.陸奥会津住三善長道(八代)壬寅年八月日(天保十三年)(We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku).This work is ranked as Jyojyo Saku for Mutsu Aizu ju Miyoshi Nagamichi.Habaki: Single-layer copper.Blade Length: 71.9 cm (28.31 in).Curvature: 1.7 cm (0.67 in).Mekugi Hole: 1.Width at Base (Motohaba): 3.15 cm (1.24 in).Width at Yokote: 2.18 cm (0.86 in).Thickness (Kasane): 0.8 cm (0.31 in).Sword Weight: 785 g.Era: Late Edo period, 1842.Shape: Slightly wide blade with thick kasane, अच्छी curvature, and an extended kissaki.Jigane: Well-forged ko-itame hada forming a beautiful steel surface.The shinogi shows yakiba with a strong masame hada.Hamon: Nie-deki gunome-midare, with a somewhat hard impression in the temper pattern.Features: The first generation signed Michinaga, and around the same time adopted the name Miyoshi Nagamichi, continuing as a distinguished lineage up to the 10th generation.They were also called “Aizu Kotetsu” and were highly popular swordsmiths.This work is by Miyoshi Nagamichi (8th generation), who was initially named Gonpachi and later changed his name to Toshiro.He passed away on November 27, 1865 at the age of 71.The hamon resembles that of the first generation, though it gives a slightly harder impression.Koshirae:Tsuba: Tatemaru-shaped iron tsuba with the rim covered in shakudo, decorated with karakusa design in gold nunome-zogan.Fuchikashira: Kurigata and Kojiri: Iron base with gold designs.Saya (Scabbard): Black lacquered with patterns; part of the saya has been cut off.Menuki: Leopard and tiger motif, carved and colored with gold.Aoi Art’s Comment: “Mizunoe-tora” (Year of the Water Tiger) is a combination that occurs once every 60 years, most recently in 2022.In the Yin-Yang Five Elements theory, “Mizunoe (yang water = harsh winter energy)” and “Tora (new bud
NihontoWatchAizu Miyoshi School会津三善派
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Shinto · Iwashiro
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The Aizu Miyoshi line took root in Iwashiro when the Katō house was transferred from Iyo to Aizu in Ōshū in Kan'ei 4 (1627). The setsumei trace the family back to Nagakuni, a smith who had resided at Matsuyama in Iyo Province and entered the service of Katō Yoshiaki; when his patron moved north, Nagakuni followed in the retinue, and his son, the first-generation Masanaga, relocated with him. Masanaga's eldest son, born in Aizu in Kan'ei 10 (1633), became the smith the records overwhelmingly cover: Miyoshi Nagamichi, also called Miyoshi Tōshirō. He first signed Michinaga (the entries in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection also note early signatures read Dōchō and Dōnaga), studied under his grandfather Nagakuni, and in Manji 1 to 2 (1658 to 1659) travelled to Kyoto, where he received the court title Mutsu Daijō and changed his name to Nagamichi. He died in Jōkyō 2 (1685) at the age of fifty-three. The setsumei repeatedly name him as the de facto founder of Aizu shintō, working under the patronage tied to the Aizu Matsudaira house, several of whose presentation blades are recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection. Across the blades the hand is consistent. The forging is itame-hada, often mixed with mokume, ō-itame, and nagare that runs toward masame, with ji-nie adhering thickly and fine chikei entering; the sugata tends to a shallow sori, called particularly shallow even among shintō work in the inventory notes.
The temper opens with a short, suguha-based yakidashi, then broadens into ko-notare mixed with gunome; in places two gunome run together as a gourd-shaped hyōtan-ba. Long ashi enter, the nioi is deep, and nie adheres thickly, sometimes coarsely as ara-nie or unevenly as mura-nie, with sunagashi and kinsuji worked into the ha and a bright nioiguchi. " The setsumei tie this manner directly to the "Hanetora" phase of Nagasone Kotetsu in Edo, the recurring point of comparison; one entry also records a tradition that Nagamichi was a disciple of Tsuda Sukehiro, though the writers hold his work closer to the Nagasone group. For kantei, the markers are the shallow sori, the hyōtan-ba pairing of gunome, the sunagashi and kinsuji over deep nioi, and the Kotetsu-type bōshi, balanced against the smith's tendency toward coarser nie. The dated blades range across Enpō 3 through Jōkyō 2 (1675 to 1685), the last corresponding to the year of his death and valued as documentary material on his final years. Cutting-test inscriptions by Yamano Kanjūrō Hisahide appear in gold inlay on several nakago. The provenance recorded is notable: blades presented by the Aizu Matsudaira family are recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, and one katana is held by tradition to have been bestowed on Kondō Isami of the Shinsengumi by the Aizu lord Matsudaira Katamori in recognition of the Ikedaya Incident, later passing to the Meiji general and connoisseur Tani Tateki and thence into the Tosa Yamauchi family. The register places Nagamichi as the smith who set the Aizu shintō idiom, his line carrying the Miyoshi name in Iwashiro. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Nagamichi長道 | 1661-1685 | 9 |
| Nagamichi長道 | 1848-1868 | 0 |
Meiji: survival after the edict
The Haitōrei edict of 1876 ended sword wearing and nearly ended the craft itself. Military demand and imperial patronage kept a remnant alive, and in 1906 Gassan Sadakazu and Miyamoto Kanenori were named Artists to the Imperial Household.
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.
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