This is a mumei katana attributed to Hokke Ichijo, a smith from the Bingo Hokke school active during the Nanbokucho period. It features a wide, thick blade with a small curvature and a regular-sized kissaki, characteristic of the era. The jigane is a mix of Itame, Moku, and Masa with Chikei, while the hamon is Suguha and shallow Gunome with a tight nioikuchi, Nie, Hotsure, and Sunagashi. The blade comes with an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Certificate.
Certificate reading — 無銘（法華一乗）
NihontoWatchmumei · Hokke · Nanbokucho · nagasa 74.09cm · sori 0.97cm
Yamato-den · Bingo
7 pieces on the market now
Bingo province, in the late Kamakura into the Nanbokuchō and Muromachi periods, hosted a cluster of workshops that the setsumei repeatedly set apart from the better-known Mihara line. The reference work Kokon Meizukushi Taizen is cited again and again as locating the Hokke (法華) line among the makers of Ashida District (葦田郡), a genealogy presented as distinct from the so-called Mihara tradition, with Sukekuni (助國) named as its founding progenitor. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Shigeyasu重安 | 1362-1373 | 5 |
| Hokke Ichijo法華一乗 | 1394-1573 | 4 |
| Chikatsugu親次 | 1352-1356 | 1 |
| Kanetsugu金次 | 1532-1555 | 1 |
| Nobukane信兼 | 987-1596 | 1 |
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.
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.
This is a mumei katana attributed to Hokke Ichijo, a smith from the Bingo Hokke school active during the Nanbokucho period. It features a wide, thick blade with a small curvature and a regular-sized kissaki, characteristic of the era. The jigane is a mix of Itame, Moku, and Masa with Chikei, while the hamon is Suguha and shallow Gunome with a tight nioikuchi, Nie, Hotsure, and Sunagashi. The blade comes with an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Certificate.
Certificate reading — 無銘（法華一乗）
NihontoWatchmumei · Hokke · Nanbokucho · nagasa 74.09cm · sori 0.97cm
Yamato-den · Bingo
7 pieces on the market now
Bingo province, in the late Kamakura into the Nanbokuchō and Muromachi periods, hosted a cluster of workshops that the setsumei repeatedly set apart from the better-known Mihara line. The reference work Kokon Meizukushi Taizen is cited again and again as locating the Hokke (法華) line among the makers of Ashida District (葦田郡), a genealogy presented as distinct from the so-called Mihara tradition, with Sukekuni (助國) named as its founding progenitor. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Shigeyasu重安 | 1362-1373 | 5 |
| Hokke Ichijo法華一乗 | 1394-1573 | 4 |
| Chikatsugu親次 | 1352-1356 | 1 |
| Kanetsugu金次 | 1532-1555 | 1 |
| Nobukane信兼 | 987-1596 | 1 |
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.
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.
