Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchWakizashi in Shirasaya with Koshirae (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token) 天保二卯年九月十一日 一次間土壇入岡田安貞 September 11, Tenpo 2 (1831). Ichijikan Dotan-iri Okada Yasusada. (We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku). This work ranks as Jyojyo Saku among the works of Mutsu ju Miyoshi Nagamichi (3rd generation). Shape: Slightly wide mihaba with somewhat thick kasane, shallow curvature, and a slightly elongated boshi. Jigane: Well-forged itame hada with ji-nie attached. Hamon: Nie-deki gunome-midare with a deep nioiguchi. Features: This is an excellent work by Mutsu ju Miyoshi Nagamichi (3rd generation). The inscription “September 11, Tenpo 2 (1831), Ichijikan Dotan-iri Okada Yasusada” is not a gold inlay inscription, but it carries the same meaning as a tameshigiri inscription. This wakizashi was made by Miyoshi Nagamichi in August of Genroku 8 (1695), and was later used for a test cutting by Okada Yasusada on September 11, Tenpo 2 (1831). Compared with works by the first generation, the quality is in no way inferior, making this a splendid work. It is an especially fine example with workmanship very similar to that of the first generation. Koshirae: Tsuba: Shakudo nanako-ji tsuba with engraved floral designs on the rim highlighted in gold. Fuchikashira: Shakudo nanako-ji with engraved paulownia crests highlighted in gold. Saya (Scabbard): Black roiro lacquer saya wrapped with rice stalk husks. Menuki: Engraved paulownia crests. Kozuka: Shakudo ground engraved with family crests highlighted in gold. Kogatana included: Signed “Mutsu Ju San”. Kogai: Shakudo ground engraved with family crests highlighted in gold. NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token. AoiArt estimation paper. Whole Oshigata.
Certificate reading — 銘 陸奥住三善長道(三代) 元禄八乙亥八月日 (切付銘) 天保二卯年九月十一日 次之間土壇入岡田安貞試之
NihontoWatchAizu Miyoshi School会津三善派
Offered by Aoi Art
4 on the market
As written by the shop
Shinto · Iwashiro
4 pieces on the market now
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 |
The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
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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