The Yamato schools grew up in the shadow of Nara’s great monasteries: Tegai took its name from a gate of Tōdaiji. Their austere masame and quiet suguha are a temple aesthetic, prized ever since for exactly that restraint.
This is a tachi from the late Kamakura period, signed Sukekuni from Bingo Province. Sukekuni is known as one of the oldest swordsmiths in Bingo, with dated works from Genko 2, Karyaku 2, and 3. The smithy was located near Kokubunji, a cultural hub with convenient land and sea transport, explaining the development of sword making in the area.
NihontoWatchmei · Kamakura
Ko-Mihara / Kokubunji group (Bingo) · Bingo · around 1321-1329
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 15%
2 pieces on the market now
Sukekuni is the Kokubunji-group smith of Bingo Province, his career fixed by a run of dated blades that carry the eras Tokuji, Genko, Karyaku, Gentoku and Kenmu, placing him from the close of the Kamakura period into the Nanbokucho years. His is one of the standing province problems of the kantei room. Because even his long signatures cut the province only as Bishu (備州), and the Edo-period swordbooks read that single character as Bizen, he was transmitted for centuries as a Bizen Kokubunji smith, and the Kokon Meizukushi named him the founder of the Hokke lineage. The published sources now correct this to Bingo for three reasons: late-Kamakura and Nanbokucho Bingo work customarily cut the province as Bishu, with Bingo no kuni appearing only from the Muromachi period; the Koto Meizukushi Taizen records his residence at Anna Tojo, and the Bingo Kokubunji stood in that Anna district; and the genealogies set this Kokubunji line apart from the Mihara group. The recognition of his hand rests not on shape but on the ji and ha, for his construction stays orthodox, without the broad shinogi-ji and high shinogi by which old Mihara announces itself.
His hand is best read as one smith working in three registers that the published sources name again and again. The first and most characteristic is a suguha or fine hoso-suguha carrying a strong Yamato temperament, and the commentary states it plainly, that 'his style, like that of Mihara works, possesses a Yamato temperament'[[c:1]]. Over an itame that flows and tends to masame, the grain standing, with ji-nie adhering and a whitish shirake-utsuri rising, he tempers a narrow suguha whose habuchi frequently frays into hotsure, with ko-ashi and yo entering, sunagashi and kinsuji running, and ko-nie well laid. The masame-gakari of his steel is the tell that ties him to Mihara and holds him apart from the pure itame of mainstream Bizen, and a reverse inclination, the saka-gokoro that slants his gunome and ashi toward the base, runs through the temper from his earliest dated work.
The jigane is where his two traditions meet. Across the Mihara-toned pieces the steel is an itame flowing to masame, the grain raised, with ji-nie and the whitish utsuri of Bingo; but on the Bizen-leaning blades the ji throws up a mottled, jifu-like utsuri that the published sources liken to the Unrui group, 'work in a suguha manner with a jifu reflection that calls to mind the Unrui of Bizen'[[c:2]]. That jifu-utsuri is the single Bizen trait that distinguishes him within the Yamato-influenced Bingo schools. The boshi runs straight to a ko-maru or finishes in a yakizume-toned sweep with hakikake, and on the ji the published sources find a steel of somewhat dark tone, with chikei entering on the better-forged examples.
The third register the commentary names is a somewhat more decorative midare, a feature it notes is scarcely seen in old Mihara. Into the suguha base he mixes ko-choji, gunome, angular and pointed elements, widening in places to a ko-midare, the whole running saka-gokoro with saka-ashi, ashi and yo frequent, ko-nie well laid and yubashiri appearing, with kinsuji and sunagashi within the ha. The dated works anchor these registers in time: the Genko 3 ubu tachi of 1323 shows the Mihara-toned suguha at its clearest, while the rare Karyaku 2 tanto of 1327 carries the same hand at small scale. The published sources read the more animated tachi against the school directly, observing that this mixing of many kinds of teeth into a suguha base 'corresponds closely to the Gentoku-dated tachi' and is 'a stylistic mode showing a midare-ba scarcely encountered in Ko-Mihara'.
What sets him apart from his neighbours is exactly what the judges name. He stands within the Yamato-influenced Bingo orbit beside the old Mihara smiths, sharing their suguha and standing masame, yet held apart from them by the more decorative midare and by the jifu-like utsuri recalling Bizen Unrui. The published sources describe his working domain as one 'in which Bizen-den and Yamato-den are intermingled'[[c:3]], with the characteristics of Kokubunji Sukekuni shown in both ji and ha, and for that reason they affirm his many o-suriage mumei attributions. Even where a suguha piece at first glance recalls Ko-Mihara, the commentary takes care to note that the construction differs, being orthodox rather than the broad-shinogi Mihara shape; of one such katana it concludes that its appearance, which 'at first glance recalls old Mihara, expresses one facet of Sukekuni's style'[[c:4]].
For the collector Sukekuni is a name encountered seldom and held with care. Fujishiro grades him Jo-jo saku. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through the Juyo tier, where twenty of his blades are designated, and through the prewar Juyo Bijutsuhin, which holds three more, among them the Gentoku 1 tachi and a Karyaku 2 tanto. Signed works are extremely few, most of them tachi, and the published sources call surviving tanto by this smith exceedingly rare, 'examples by this maker in tanto form being exceedingly rare'[[c:5]], so a dated piece is prized as research material. His blades have passed through long-held private collections rather than museums: the Juyo Bijutsuhin tachi were held by Saito Makoto and by Takashima Tatsunosuke, and the orikaeshi-mei tachi by Okajima Kichiro, while one Juyo Bijutsuhin blade is recorded as having been 'presented as a memento among the belongings of Ito Hirobumi'[[c:6]]. Held mostly in private hands and seldom traded, a signed and dated Kokubunji Sukekuni comes to light only from time to time, a quiet but well-documented witness to the Yamato-influenced swordmaking of late-Kamakura Bingo.
Where Sukekuni 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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Yamato-den · Bingo
Phase: Ko-Mihara古三原· 1288–1393
2 pieces on the market now
Ko-Mihara (古三原) opens the Mihara story at its Bingo base, where a body of smiths gathered from the close of the Kamakura period and through the Nanbokuchō era. The setsumei treat the term as a chronological bracket rather than a separate workshop: works of this span are "collectively termed Ko-Mihara," with Masaie and Masahiro repeatedly named as the leading figures, and Masahiro held by tradition to be Masaie's son. The province's web of shōen estates tied to Kinai temples such as Tōji and Rengeō-in (Sanjūsangendō) drew the early smiths into regular contact with the central provinces, and the Yamato-den temperament that the records read in these blades is referred to that exchange. A second current runs alongside it: because some pieces show an Aoe manner, the appraisals also weigh influence from neighbouring Bitchū, as the Chikatsugu tachi of Shōhei 7 (1352) makes plain, sitting on the seam between Yamato bearing and Aoe surface. In the ji, the early hand keeps an itame-tending ground that takes on mokume, nagare, and a masame-like flow, with the grain inclined to stand (hada-dachi) and fine ji-nie set densely across it; a pale shirake-utsuri recurs as the most cited diagnostic, though the Masaie ōdachi of around Jōji instead shows a darkish steel with a midare-utsuri-like cast. The temper holds to a refined chū-suguha with ko-ashi and yō, the nioiguchi drawn tight or shizumi, the habuchi breaking into hotsure, kuichigai-ba, uchi-noke, and a nijūba suggestion, with fine kinsuji and sunagashi threading through.
The bōshi runs sugu, closing in yakizume, ko-maru, or maru with hakikake at the tip. The records keep these early works the cleaner pole of the school: a quiet, controlled Yamato manner whose forging shows "not the slightest looseness," set against the coarser, looser later Sue-Mihara of the closing Muromachi, where the disciplined suguha and tight ground give way. For kantei, the early phase reads as Yamato bearing without Yamato vigour: the nie of ji and ha runs weaker than in the Nara schools proper, the steel turns whitish, and the nioiguchi tightens, so a bright clean suguha with pointed bōshi can be mistaken at a glance for Aoe until the broad shinogi-ji, high shinogi, standing mokume, and hotsure with kuichigai-ba declare Mihara. Masaie and Masahiro divide on sugata: Masaie is the man of the bold ō-kissaki and the ōdachi, while Masahiro keeps ordinary chū-kissaki proportions and a freer, midare-gokoro edge with deeper kaeri, as in the Meibutsu Ō-Mihara cited by name. Because Yamato habit left few signed Mihara works, the early phase rests heavily on mumei and kinzogan attributions, several of them given to Masaie by Hon'ami Kōtoku, while dated and signed survivors stay scarce and so carry weight as reference material. Provenance threads through the great houses, the signed Masaie tachi presented to Emperor Meiji by the Shimazu family and another Masaie transmitted in the Date. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sukekuni助國 | 1321-1329 | 23 |
| Takamitsu高光 | 1319-1321 | 1 |
The Yamato schools grew up in the shadow of Nara’s great monasteries: Tegai took its name from a gate of Tōdaiji. Their austere masame and quiet suguha are a temple aesthetic, prized ever since for exactly that restraint.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
If, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.
This is a tachi from the late Kamakura period, signed Sukekuni from Bingo Province. Sukekuni is known as one of the oldest swordsmiths in Bingo, with dated works from Genko 2, Karyaku 2, and 3. The smithy was located near Kokubunji, a cultural hub with convenient land and sea transport, explaining the development of sword making in the area.
NihontoWatchmei · Kamakura
Ko-Mihara / Kokubunji group (Bingo) · Bingo · around 1321-1329
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 15%
2 pieces on the market now
Sukekuni is the Kokubunji-group smith of Bingo Province, his career fixed by a run of dated blades that carry the eras Tokuji, Genko, Karyaku, Gentoku and Kenmu, placing him from the close of the Kamakura period into the Nanbokucho years. His is one of the standing province problems of the kantei room. Because even his long signatures cut the province only as Bishu (備州), and the Edo-period swordbooks read that single character as Bizen, he was transmitted for centuries as a Bizen Kokubunji smith, and the Kokon Meizukushi named him the founder of the Hokke lineage. The published sources now correct this to Bingo for three reasons: late-Kamakura and Nanbokucho Bingo work customarily cut the province as Bishu, with Bingo no kuni appearing only from the Muromachi period; the Koto Meizukushi Taizen records his residence at Anna Tojo, and the Bingo Kokubunji stood in that Anna district; and the genealogies set this Kokubunji line apart from the Mihara group. The recognition of his hand rests not on shape but on the ji and ha, for his construction stays orthodox, without the broad shinogi-ji and high shinogi by which old Mihara announces itself.
His hand is best read as one smith working in three registers that the published sources name again and again. The first and most characteristic is a suguha or fine hoso-suguha carrying a strong Yamato temperament, and the commentary states it plainly, that 'his style, like that of Mihara works, possesses a Yamato temperament'[[c:1]]. Over an itame that flows and tends to masame, the grain standing, with ji-nie adhering and a whitish shirake-utsuri rising, he tempers a narrow suguha whose habuchi frequently frays into hotsure, with ko-ashi and yo entering, sunagashi and kinsuji running, and ko-nie well laid. The masame-gakari of his steel is the tell that ties him to Mihara and holds him apart from the pure itame of mainstream Bizen, and a reverse inclination, the saka-gokoro that slants his gunome and ashi toward the base, runs through the temper from his earliest dated work.
The jigane is where his two traditions meet. Across the Mihara-toned pieces the steel is an itame flowing to masame, the grain raised, with ji-nie and the whitish utsuri of Bingo; but on the Bizen-leaning blades the ji throws up a mottled, jifu-like utsuri that the published sources liken to the Unrui group, 'work in a suguha manner with a jifu reflection that calls to mind the Unrui of Bizen'[[c:2]]. That jifu-utsuri is the single Bizen trait that distinguishes him within the Yamato-influenced Bingo schools. The boshi runs straight to a ko-maru or finishes in a yakizume-toned sweep with hakikake, and on the ji the published sources find a steel of somewhat dark tone, with chikei entering on the better-forged examples.
The third register the commentary names is a somewhat more decorative midare, a feature it notes is scarcely seen in old Mihara. Into the suguha base he mixes ko-choji, gunome, angular and pointed elements, widening in places to a ko-midare, the whole running saka-gokoro with saka-ashi, ashi and yo frequent, ko-nie well laid and yubashiri appearing, with kinsuji and sunagashi within the ha. The dated works anchor these registers in time: the Genko 3 ubu tachi of 1323 shows the Mihara-toned suguha at its clearest, while the rare Karyaku 2 tanto of 1327 carries the same hand at small scale. The published sources read the more animated tachi against the school directly, observing that this mixing of many kinds of teeth into a suguha base 'corresponds closely to the Gentoku-dated tachi' and is 'a stylistic mode showing a midare-ba scarcely encountered in Ko-Mihara'.
What sets him apart from his neighbours is exactly what the judges name. He stands within the Yamato-influenced Bingo orbit beside the old Mihara smiths, sharing their suguha and standing masame, yet held apart from them by the more decorative midare and by the jifu-like utsuri recalling Bizen Unrui. The published sources describe his working domain as one 'in which Bizen-den and Yamato-den are intermingled'[[c:3]], with the characteristics of Kokubunji Sukekuni shown in both ji and ha, and for that reason they affirm his many o-suriage mumei attributions. Even where a suguha piece at first glance recalls Ko-Mihara, the commentary takes care to note that the construction differs, being orthodox rather than the broad-shinogi Mihara shape; of one such katana it concludes that its appearance, which 'at first glance recalls old Mihara, expresses one facet of Sukekuni's style'[[c:4]].
For the collector Sukekuni is a name encountered seldom and held with care. Fujishiro grades him Jo-jo saku. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through the Juyo tier, where twenty of his blades are designated, and through the prewar Juyo Bijutsuhin, which holds three more, among them the Gentoku 1 tachi and a Karyaku 2 tanto. Signed works are extremely few, most of them tachi, and the published sources call surviving tanto by this smith exceedingly rare, 'examples by this maker in tanto form being exceedingly rare'[[c:5]], so a dated piece is prized as research material. His blades have passed through long-held private collections rather than museums: the Juyo Bijutsuhin tachi were held by Saito Makoto and by Takashima Tatsunosuke, and the orikaeshi-mei tachi by Okajima Kichiro, while one Juyo Bijutsuhin blade is recorded as having been 'presented as a memento among the belongings of Ito Hirobumi'[[c:6]]. Held mostly in private hands and seldom traded, a signed and dated Kokubunji Sukekuni comes to light only from time to time, a quiet but well-documented witness to the Yamato-influenced swordmaking of late-Kamakura Bingo.
Where Sukekuni 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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Yamato-den · Bingo
Phase: Ko-Mihara古三原· 1288–1393
2 pieces on the market now
Ko-Mihara (古三原) opens the Mihara story at its Bingo base, where a body of smiths gathered from the close of the Kamakura period and through the Nanbokuchō era. The setsumei treat the term as a chronological bracket rather than a separate workshop: works of this span are "collectively termed Ko-Mihara," with Masaie and Masahiro repeatedly named as the leading figures, and Masahiro held by tradition to be Masaie's son. The province's web of shōen estates tied to Kinai temples such as Tōji and Rengeō-in (Sanjūsangendō) drew the early smiths into regular contact with the central provinces, and the Yamato-den temperament that the records read in these blades is referred to that exchange. A second current runs alongside it: because some pieces show an Aoe manner, the appraisals also weigh influence from neighbouring Bitchū, as the Chikatsugu tachi of Shōhei 7 (1352) makes plain, sitting on the seam between Yamato bearing and Aoe surface. In the ji, the early hand keeps an itame-tending ground that takes on mokume, nagare, and a masame-like flow, with the grain inclined to stand (hada-dachi) and fine ji-nie set densely across it; a pale shirake-utsuri recurs as the most cited diagnostic, though the Masaie ōdachi of around Jōji instead shows a darkish steel with a midare-utsuri-like cast. The temper holds to a refined chū-suguha with ko-ashi and yō, the nioiguchi drawn tight or shizumi, the habuchi breaking into hotsure, kuichigai-ba, uchi-noke, and a nijūba suggestion, with fine kinsuji and sunagashi threading through.
The bōshi runs sugu, closing in yakizume, ko-maru, or maru with hakikake at the tip. The records keep these early works the cleaner pole of the school: a quiet, controlled Yamato manner whose forging shows "not the slightest looseness," set against the coarser, looser later Sue-Mihara of the closing Muromachi, where the disciplined suguha and tight ground give way. For kantei, the early phase reads as Yamato bearing without Yamato vigour: the nie of ji and ha runs weaker than in the Nara schools proper, the steel turns whitish, and the nioiguchi tightens, so a bright clean suguha with pointed bōshi can be mistaken at a glance for Aoe until the broad shinogi-ji, high shinogi, standing mokume, and hotsure with kuichigai-ba declare Mihara. Masaie and Masahiro divide on sugata: Masaie is the man of the bold ō-kissaki and the ōdachi, while Masahiro keeps ordinary chū-kissaki proportions and a freer, midare-gokoro edge with deeper kaeri, as in the Meibutsu Ō-Mihara cited by name. Because Yamato habit left few signed Mihara works, the early phase rests heavily on mumei and kinzogan attributions, several of them given to Masaie by Hon'ami Kōtoku, while dated and signed survivors stay scarce and so carry weight as reference material. Provenance threads through the great houses, the signed Masaie tachi presented to Emperor Meiji by the Shimazu family and another Masaie transmitted in the Date. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sukekuni助國 | 1321-1329 | 23 |
| Takamitsu高光 | 1319-1321 | 1 |
The Yamato schools grew up in the shadow of Nara’s great monasteries: Tegai took its name from a gate of Tōdaiji. Their austere masame and quiet suguha are a temple aesthetic, prized ever since for exactly that restraint.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
If, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.
