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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchYondai Kyo-Tanba Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi = sudare-ba... The Shodai Kyo-Tanba, the Nidai Osaka-Tanba, and their school all have a strong image of sudare-ba, and collectors also tend to desire that style of work. However, the katana by Yondai Yoshimichi introduced here is not the family tradition sudare-ba, but notare-ba. It is a quite relaxed, sugu-cho notare. You say it is not particularly rare? ...That may be so. Even for a toko who specializes in choji, gunome, or even hitatsura, I think they almost certainly tempered suguha. If that is the case, notare-ba, which can be seen as a derivative of suguha, can also be said to be one of the hamon they would normally temper. But looking at actual extant swords, the reality is that notare-ba is surprisingly rare. Why is that? Is it difficult to show characteristics? Does it lack flamboyance? Is it halfway? Does it lack the steadiness of suguha? Was it not liked by samurai? ...If one were to list reasons, there is no end to the faults that could be found. Even if that is not the case, it does not seem to be a hamon that toko tempered by choice. It is just our shop's own speculation, but we think perhaps capturing the line (shape) of the notare is difficult. Depending on the shape of a slight line, it can become harsh or elegant; despite its simple appearance, it may be a very troublesome hamon. To put it simply, we wonder if notare-ba is a hamon where the quality of one's sense is directly revealed. (If there is an opportunity, I would like to ask a gendai tosho.) When looking at this sword from that perspective, how do you all perceive it? The heads of the large mountains of the notare do not feel intimidating or harsh. The valleys look the same, but are slightly different, appearing a bit narrowed compared to the heads. Even so, it seems to maintain a balance overall... if one does not think too deeply about the individual shapes, it is like a grand river flowing leisurely, and in its own way, I think it is a hamon with a calm, composed presence. The nioiguchi is soft and plump, with no muragumo on the habuchi and fine ko-ashi appearing, making it a fine work. However, there are no hataraki such as kinsuji or sunagashi. Conversely, if vertical hataraki like kinsuji and sunagashi were involved between the valleys of this hamon, it could transform directly into the sudare-ba that is Yoshimichi's synonym. In other words, it can be said that this hamon was made by intentionally avoiding the kitae that would become sudare-ba. I believe the slightly narrowed shape of the notare valleys is a keshiki that appeared unconsciously because of the characteristics of tempering the family specialty sudare-ba... thinking this way, this sword might be a chinpin in its own right. Furthermore, considering the nagasa, there is a high possibility it was a注文打 (chumon-uchi), and the kitae of the refined jihada is a hitotsu that makes sense.
Offered by Asahi Token
We couldn’t find current papers for this piece. Ask the dealer whether it has been, or can be, submitted to shinsa. — Hoshi
3 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Shinto · Yamashiro · around 1673-1681
Fujishiro Chu-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 76%
3 pieces on the market now
Shinto · Yamashiro
55 pieces on the market now
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.
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.
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¥800,000