NihontoWatchKatana in Shirasaya with Koshirae (16th NBTHK Juyo Token) We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku. This work is ranked as Saijyo Saku (the highest ranking) for Bishu Nakaji Ju Moritsugu. Shape: Well-balanced in width and thickness, with deep curvature. Jigane: fine ko-itame-hada with Jinie and visible utsuri. Hamon:Nie-based small gunome-midare with thick and soft nioikuchi, small nie, active kinsuji and sunagashi. Features: This blade bears the signature "Bitchu no Kuni Nakaji Ju Moritsugu Saku", corresponding to the Ko-Aoe school. It has been certified as a Juyo Token (16th edition), and the sayagaki by Hon'ami Kōson was written in 1954. The blade has deep curvature and displays itame-hada with mokume and some masame, showing clear utsuri, giving a strong sense of age. The note states that the upper part is difficult to identify and further examination will be needed. As it bears a tachi-mei, it is unquestionably a Bitchu work, and more materials in the future may confirm its attribution. The combination of the hamon, curvature, and jigane suggests this is a work from the late Kamakura period. 16th NBTHK Juyo Certificate Aoi Art Estimation Paper whole oshigata
中路盛次は銘鑑には、時代延文、備前とあり、その系統師伝等を明らかにしないが、作風が備前よりも備後物な どに近く、銘も刀銘である点は注目すべきところであろう。 珍品ながらその完全な究明は今後の問題であり、他には類 品同作を鑑たことがない。
NihontoWatchOffered by Aoi Art
As written by the shop
Bizen-den · Bitchu · around 1332-1334
1 piece on the market now
Where Moritsugu 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 · Bitchu
Phase: Chū-Aoe中青江· 1235–1334
20 pieces on the market now
The Chu-Aoe school represents the middle and culminating phase of the Aoe tradition of Bitchu Province, encompassing smiths active from the late Kamakura period through the Nanbokucho era. The lineage traces its origins to an ancient swordmaking heritage in the lower basin of the Takahashi River, a tradition already celebrated in the eleventh-century Shin Sarugakki, which counted "the swords of Bitchu" among the notable products of the provinces. Scholars conventionally distinguish earlier Ko-Aoe production, extending through the mid-Kamakura period, from the Chu-Aoe and later Sue-Aoe phases that carried the tradition forward. The name Sadatsugu -- transmitted since the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi as one of the goban-kaji appointed to serve Retired Emperor Gotoba and accorded the highest valuation in the Shinkan Hiden-sho -- stands as the school's most prestigious lineage name, while Yoshitsugu, Naotsugu, Tsunetsugu, and Hidetsugu represent the principal working smiths whose signed and dated examples anchor the chronology of the late Kamakura Aoe group. With the transition into the Nanbokucho period, a second flowering emerged under Tsugunao, Tsuguyoshi, and Moritsugu, who are consistently identified by the NBTHK as the representative smiths of Aoe in that era. The technical identity of Chu-Aoe is defined by a constellation of traits that recur with remarkable consistency across the school's members. The forging characteristically displays tightly packed ko-itame-hada mixed with mokume, upon which extremely fine ji-nie adheres thickly and delicate chikei are interwoven. A mottled, patch-like jifu texture frequently appears, and the distinctive crepe-like surface known as chirimen-hada is encountered among several smiths. Most diagnostic of all is the school's utsuri, which manifests in multiple forms: midare-utsuri, the stepped dan-utsuri in which linear utsuri near the edge transitions to midare-utsuri toward the mune, and the dark-toned sumihada. The hamon is fundamentally suguha-based, ranging from narrow hoso-suguha to medium chu-suguha with shallow notare, into which ko-gunome, ko-choji, and saka-ashi are mixed. The nioiguchi is universally described as tight, bright, and clear -- the single most defining quality of the school -- producing a deep shio-ai that is repeatedly praised in NBTHK assessments.
The boshi characteristically runs straight, turning back in ko-maru with a tendency toward a pointed tip. A critical stylistic evolution occurred within the Nanbokucho period: while the late Kamakura smiths worked predominantly in suguha, the later generation developed a splendid, flamboyant saka-choji-midare that became the school's most celebrated mode. Tsugunao is recognized as "a master of saka-choji," producing tempering of such florid brilliance that the NBTHK characterizes it as "the exclusive forte of this group" -- an emblematic and highly individual domain. The reverse-slanting tendencies visible in earlier Kamakura-period works are understood as precursors to this splendid later development. The Chu-Aoe school occupies a position of enduring prestige within the Japanese sword canon. The Hon'ami family developed a longstanding practice of rendering Sadatsugu appraisals for unsigned Aoe works of particularly fine workmanship, treating the name as a mark of the highest quality within the tradition. Naotsugu and Yoshitsugu, whose signed examples bearing official court titles and era dates from Gentoku through Kanno survive in exceptional condition, furnish irreplaceable documentary material for the study of Bitchu swordmaking. Works from the school have been transmitted through distinguished collections -- the Choshu Mori, the Nabeshima of Hizen, the Uesugi, and the Maeda of Kaga -- attesting to sustained appreciation across centuries. Naotsugu occupies a pivotal position at the transition from the ko-nie-deki manner of the Kamakura period to the tighter, brighter nioi-deki workmanship of the Nanbokucho era, while Moritsugu's rare surviving works bridge the late Kamakura and early Nanbokucho phases with tanto displaying both the traditional suguha and a saka-choji not previously encountered in the school. In both the quiet restraint of their suguha and the gorgeous brilliance of their saka-choji-midare, the smiths of Chu-Aoe demonstrate the Bitchu tradition at its most refined and accomplished -- a school whose tightly forged steel, luminous nioiguchi, and distinctive utsuri constitute an aesthetic achievement of the first order. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tsugunao次直 | 1345-1361 | 26 |
| Masatsune正恒 | 1213-1219 | 31 |
| Naotsugu直次 | 1288-1350 | 20 |
| Yasutsugu康次 | 1211-1213 | 10 |
| Kanetsugu包次 | 1211-1213 | 9 |
Bizen in the Nanbokuchō period
Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
A blade of top-grade workmanship and condition, formally judged to rank with a nationally recognized Important Art Object (Jūyō Bijutsuhin). Awarded only at the NBTHK’s competitive annual examination.
Of Japan’s roughly 2.5 million registered swords, only 12,348 (about 1 in 202) have ever attained Jūyō.
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 siteIf you wish to return an item, please notify us within 3 days of receipt. After this period we cannot accept cancellations. Please ship the return to us within 5 business days. Cancellation is conditional on the item being kept in the same condition as at the time of sale, so please handle it with care.
¥6,500,000