The Shintō era was largely invented in Kyōto: Umetada Myōju’s workshop trained the movement, Horikawa Kunihiro raised a generation, and the Hon’ami appraisers, who held no forge, governed the meaning of famous blades.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis blade was signed by Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi (丹波守吉道). According to NBTHK’s appraisal, it was forged by the 4th-gen Yoshimichi in Kyoto. The swordsmith name Yoshimichi prospered in both Osaka and Kyoto for generations during the Edo period. And to distinguish two Yoshimichi, The one in Kyoto is called Kyo Yoshimichi, and the other one is called Osaka Yoshimichi. The 4th-gen Kyo Yoshimichi belonged to the prestigious school called Mishina (三品) school. He was especially active in sword-forging during 1673-1703. He received the high official title “Tanba no Kami (丹波守)” in the 12th year of the Kanbun Era (1672). His birth name was Mishina Kichinojyo (三品吉之丞). He was allowed to inscribe a chrysanthemum emblem, which is the symbol of the Japanese emperor. His sword forging technique was so great that the emperor permitted him to use this emblem, which was honorable for any swordsmith. A chrysanthemum emblem remains in the tang of this blade. Mishina School The first-gen Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi belonged to Kyoto Mishina school and was one of the sons of the Mishina school’s founder. Mishina school was created by the first-gen Mutsu no Kami Omichi (陸奥守大道), also known as Kanemichi. It is said that initially, he was from Mino province, exclusively forging blades for Shingen Takeda, a famous feudal lord. Later on, he moved to Kyoto by bringing his four sons and founded his school in Kyoto. Five sons were Iga no Kami Kinmichi(伊賀守金道)、Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi(和泉守来金道), Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi(丹波守吉道) and Echu no kami Masatoshi(越中守正俊). His sons were known as Kyoto Gokaji(京都五鍛冶), prestigious swordsmiths forging in Kyoto in the early Edo period. Mishina school was prosperous throughout the Edo period and spread to other parts of Japan, such as Osaka. The superb craftsmanship of the Mishina school was passed down for generations. The 4th-gen Yoshimichi is a good example, and you can see excellent artistry from this blade. Kyo Yoshimichi school lasted seven generations by the end of the Edo period. The first-gen Yoshimichi developed a unique Hamon pattern(tempering line) called Sudareba(簾刃). Sudare means traditional screens or blinds in Japanese. The Hamon pattern he invented resembles its appearance to Sudare. This blade has a beautiful Sudareba Hamon. This special characteristic was passed down to the generations of Yoshimichi. It is appraised as a Tokubetsu Hozon Token (特別保存刀剣) issued by NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai:日本美術刀剣保存協会). *Please keep in mind that there is a couple of Kitae Kizu on the blade. Fuchi-Kashira This fuchi-kashira is decorated with a motif of bracken (warabi), a type of fern native to Japan. Its young shoots unfurl in a distinctive spiral shape, a graceful form that has long been appreciated and incorporated into various decorative arts. The stylized representation of this form developed into the warabite (蕨手) motif. Characterized by curled, spiral-shaped tips, this decorative design has been used in Japan since the Yayoi period (c. 300 BCE–300 CE) on pottery, tools, and ornaments. Similar motifs have also been found in China, dating back to the Han dynasty. As seen in this piece, such flowing, curved designs are often arranged symmetrically, emphasizing harmony and aesthetic balance. Tsuka and Menuki The theme of the menuki is a dragon (龍, ryu). The dragon is an imaginary creature originating in ancient Chinese traditions and myths, and it has long been regarded as an auspicious and symbolic beast. Its form is traditionally described as a composite of nine animals: antlers of a deer, the head of a camel, eyes of a demon, the neck of a snake, the belly of a mizuchi (a mythical Japanese creature resembling a horned, four-legged serpent), scales of a fish, claws of a falcon, paws of a tiger, and ears of a cow. Because of this extraordinary composite appearance, the dragon was believed to reign at the pinnacle of all animals. In Japan, dragons have also been revered as water deities in a belief system known as Ryujin Shinkō. As rice cultivation flourished, water became an indispensable resource, and for this reason, dragon motifs have been familiar and meaningful to the Japanese people since ancient times. Tsuba and Habaki The tsuba is of a plain oval form. Its surface is finished in ishime-ji (石目地), a texture created by striking the base with a tagane (鏨, metalworking chisel), resulting in a rough, stone-like appearance. The rim is further reinforced with a fukurin (覆輪), a metal edging that encircles the tsuba, protecting its perimeter while adding a subtle decorative accent. Saya This saya features raden(螺鈿) craftsmanship, a traditional Japanese decorative technique. Raden involves inlaying or embedding thin pieces of shell, such as mother-of-pearl or abalone, into lacquer or other materials. The shimmering, iridescent quality of the shells creates a striking visual effect, reflecting light in a play of colors that range from soft pastels to vivid hues. This technique has been used in Japan for centuries, adorning everything from furniture to accessories and weapons, showcasing the skill and artistry of the craftsman. Authentication Paper They authenticated the blade on December 9th in the 3rd year of Heisei (1991). They appraised it as Tokubetsu Hozon Touken, the blade especially worth preserving for Japanese society.
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Shinto · Yamashiro · around 1673-1681
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The Mishina school (三品), one of the two dominant smithing groups of early Edo Kyoto beside the Horikawa, grew from the late-Mino workshop of Kanemichi of Seki, whose dated blades run through the Tenbun, Eiroku, and Tenshō eras. During the closing decades of the sixteenth century Kanemichi came up to the capital with his four sons and settled at Nishinotōin Ebisugawa, where the eldest, Iga no Kami Kinmichi, is recorded as having greatly raised the name of the line. The brothers, Kinmichi together with Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi, Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi, and Etchū no Kami Masatoshi, became known collectively as the Sanpin (三品) makers, and the published sources count Kinmichi head of the Kyō go-kaji, the five Kyoto smiths. From the second generation the house held a hereditary right to recommend smiths to the court for their titles and added that by-line to its signatures. The name continued under the same appellation to the end of the Tokugawa period, throwing off branches that included the Tango no Kami line working at Ōsaka into the Genroku years, though the published record consistently holds the founding generation the most outstanding of the line. Beneath every branch lies a shared vocabulary carried up from Mino-Seki. The jigane is the constant: an itame mixed with mokume that flows into nagare-hada and tends toward masame near the mune, the grain standing, with thick fine ji-nie and frequent chikei. Over it the Mino-derived gunome and togariba are refined toward a Kyoto manner, the nie strong and at times coarse, gathering unevenly, kinsuji and vigorous striped sunagashi running throughout. Two tells bind the house. The first is the Mishina bōshi, a notare or midare run-in pointed at the tip and swept with vigorous hakikake, the form Masatoshi shows at its clearest, described as if drawn from a picture. The second is sudareba, the bamboo-blind temper in which layered sunagashi and yubashiri stripe into parallel bands; Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi devised it, and the first-generation hand keeps it a free, semi-cursive disorder where his heirs would regularize it into a fixed lattice.
The lines diverge from that common ground. Kinmichi and his younger brother Masatoshi both excelled in a Shizu manner, the large midare of Mino grafted onto Sōshū nie, with Masatoshi the most versatile, ranging across Shizu, Mino sanbon-sugi, Yamato suguha, and Sōshū hitatsura. The later Ōsaka Tanba branch held to the sudareba alone, opening from a straight yakidashi, while the second Tango no Kami Kanemichi cast off the family chōji for a flamboyant tōran-style large gunome in alternating two-joined and three-joined groups, and a deep-nioi suguha read in the manner of Inoue Shinkai. To kantei Mishina is to read these two house marks first. The pointed, hakikake-swept bōshi and the striped sudareba, set over a standing itame that flows to masame, place a blade within the line before any signature is weighed; the sunagashi, far heavier than on a Bizen ji, is the very material from which the temper is built. Within the house the founding generation sets the standard. Fujishiro grades Kinmichi and Masatoshi Jō-jō saku, the Ōsaka Tanba shodai Jō-saku, and the second Tango no Kami Chū-jō saku, the sources judging the later Kyoto and Ōsaka generations markedly inferior to the founders as the manner thinned toward a single uniform pattern. Provenance on record runs through samurai and collector hands rather than great museums: a Kinmichi katana among the cherished swords of Tani Tateki, a Yoshimichi katana made for Naitō Kuroemon and another now in the Kyoto National Museum, Masatoshi blades passing through Oda Urakusai and the Imperial household, and a second Tango no Kami katana descending from the Aoyama wardens of Ōsaka castle. The brothers' blades are signed and knowable, dated examples rare, so the manner of the mei joins the workmanship in placing them; for the Ōsaka and Kyoto branches the cut of the character 守 separates one hand from the next. Most designated work is held rather than traded, so a signed founding-generation Mishina blade comes to light only from time to time, and with it the temper in which one of the most recognizable hamon of the Shintō era was first being worked out. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kinmichi金道 | 1596-1615 | 25 |
| Yoshimichi吉道 | 1596-1615 | 36 |
| Masatoshi正俊 | 1596-1615 | 29 |
| Kanemichi兼道 | 1681-1704 | 5 |
| Eisen来栄泉 | 1673-1688 | 3 |
Kyōto: the revival workshop
The Shintō era was largely invented in Kyōto: Umetada Myōju’s workshop trained the movement, Horikawa Kunihiro raised a generation, and the Hon’ami appraisers, who held no forge, governed the meaning of famous blades.
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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