Power sat in Kamakura, but taste was still made in Kyōto. The Awataguchi school’s pear-skin steel became a byword for perfection, and the Rai line supplied dignified tachi to the court, senior warriors, and the great temples alike.
This is a rare Juyo Token katana by the master swordsmith Kamakura Ayanokoji Sadayoshi. The blade is of the finest quality forging with a complex hamon packed with hataraki. It comes with shirasaya with lengthy sayagaki by Tanobe Sensei and koshirae with excellent quality matching shakudo fittings with gold kamon in an ishime ground.
京の綾小路には定利・定吉らが在住して鍛刀しており、銘鑑では定利の年代を文永頃とし、一説に、定利は来国行の近隣に居住し、互いに代作しあったとも伝えている。しかし、現存する定利・定吉に見る作風は、古京物の三条・五条派の作域を踏襲した感のある古様な趣のもので、刃文は乱れが間近く小模様に複雑に乱れ、焼頭にさらに小さな焼きが点続して二重刃風を形成し、匂口がうるみごころとなるなど、通説よりも年代が遡るものと鑑られる。 綾小路定吉は、銘鑑では定利の子で弘安頃の刀工とされ、現存する在銘作は稀有である。作風・銘振りとも定利に近似したもので、中には身幅の広い作も残している。 この刀は、身幅尋常で、中反りがついた姿形を呈している。鍛えは、板目肌が流れて、地沸がつき、地景が細かに入り、刃文は、広直刃調に、小互の目・小丁子・小乱れ・角ばる刃などをよく交えて、足・京逆足・葉が頻りに入り、刃沸がよくついて刃中刃境が働くなど、同工の極めは首肯できる。とりわけ刃中刃境の変化に溢れて味わい深く見どころの多い一口である。
NihontoWatchmumei · Kamakura · nagasa 70.7cm · sori 2.6cm
Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro · around 1278-1288
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 8%
1 piece on the market now
Ayanokoji Sadayoshi is recorded in the sword registers as the son of Ayanokoji Sadatoshi, a smith of the Kyoto Ayanokoji district whose working period is conventionally placed around the Koan era (1278-1288). The Ayanokoji smiths, including Sadatoshi and Sadayoshi, resided in a quarter near Rai Kuniyuki, and one tradition relates that Sadatoshi and Kuniyuki even produced substitute works for one another. However, the styles observed in extant works by both Sadatoshi and Sadayoshi carry an archaic flavor suggesting a continuation of the working range of the older Kyo-mono Sanjo and Gojo groups, indicating that these smiths should be appraised as earlier than the conventional chronology. Extant signed works by Sadayoshi are exceedingly rare, and both his workmanship and the manner of his signature closely resemble Sadatoshi's — in particular, the character "Sada" is cut large while the following character "Yoshi" is comparatively smaller, an arrangement characteristic of this school.
The hallmarks of Sadayoshi's work lie in the forging and temper. The kitae presents a tightly forged itame-hada, at times with a flowing tendency, bearing thickly adhering fine ji-nie and delicate chikei, which together impart a dense, slightly tenacious texture conveying an impression of softness. A distinctive nie-utsuri stands out in the ground. The hamon, based on a wide suguha, is well mixed with ko-gunome, ko-choji, ko-midare, and angular elements; ashi, Kyo-style saka-ashi, and yo enter in abundance. Most characteristic is the appearance of yubashiri, uchi-noke, and small tobiyaki intermittently along the crests of the temper, creating an effect reminiscent of a double temper — the nijuba-like scenery that the NBTHK identifies as a defining trait of the Ayanokoji group. The nioiguchi tends toward an urumi quality, a softened, slightly blurred character regarded as intrinsic to this school.
The NBTHK consistently describes Sadayoshi's works as possessing nuanced changes along the habuchi that convey an antique tone, with the internal activities of the temper and its boundary overflowing with variations and offering many points of appreciation. In both ji and ha, his blades clearly manifest the characteristic features of the Ayanokoji group while demonstrating a deeply flavorsome quality. The signed tachi preserved in the Imperial Household collection — with its ko-midare choji hamon showing kawazuko amid fine ko-nie and kinsuji — confirms the range of his artistry and stands as an invaluable reference for this exceedingly rare smith. Sadayoshi's position within the Ayanokoji lineage, inheriting and faithfully transmitting the archaic Kyo-mono aesthetic, secures his place as a smith of considerable scholarly importance.
Where Sadayoshi 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.
Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro
11 pieces on the market now
The Ayanokoji school (綾小路) takes its name from the swordsmiths who lived along Ayanokoji street in the Shijo quarter of Kyoto, and the published sources count it, with Awataguchi and Rai, among the three lineages of Yamashiro-den smiths of the Kamakura period. Its founder is Sadatoshi (定利), whose dating the old registers do not settle: the Noami Meizukushi places him around Hoji (1247-48) and the Kokon Kaji Meizukushi around Bun'ei (1264-75), while one tradition relates that he was on friendly terms with Rai Kuniyuki[[c:3]], the two even producing substitute works for one another as demand required. The registers list further names (Sukesada, Sadaie, Sueyuki, Tadaie, a second Sadatoshi written with different characters) yet of these only Sadatoshi survives in signed work, and within the school the sole other attested hand is his son Sadayoshi (定吉), recorded as working in the Kyoto manner near the home of Rai Kuniyuki. The make of everything extant carries an archaic cast that recalls the older Kyo-mono of the Sanjo and Gojo groups[[c:1]], an elegance calling Awataguchi Kuniyasu to mind, and from this the NBTHK appraises the smiths as going back earlier than the conventional view[[c:2]]. The shared Ayanokoji vocabulary rests first in the ground: a well-knit ko-itame, in places mixed with nagare or a slightly standing itame, with fine ji-nie lying thick, fine chikei, and a nie-utsuri that stands out, the jigane at its best taking on a moist, viscous quality. The classic tachi-sugata is slender, the taper from base to tip marked, the koshizori high with funbari, closing in a ko-kissaki. Across the school the temper is a small-pattern midare, a ko-midare mixed with ko-choji and ko-gunome over a suguha tone, the undulations close-set and intricately complex[[c:4]], with ashi and yo entering frequently, ko-nie adhering, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi running through; this is a Bizen-like, choji-laden temper laid upon a Yamashiro ji. Two further tells recur. Along the yakigashira, smaller patches of yaki with yubashiri, uchi-noke, and tobiyaki appear in dotted succession and build an effect akin to nijuba[[c:5]]; and the nioiguchi clouds softly, an urumi quality the published record names one of the school's viewing points.
The boshi continues the temper quietly with hakikake[[c:6]], at times taking a flame-like appearance, finishing yakizume, or entering midare-komi with a small ko-maru return. Sadatoshi anchors this manner, while Sadayoshi transmits it faithfully, his ground denser and more tenacious and his suguha-based ha mixing Kyo-style saka-ashi; a minority of Sadatoshi blades depart toward a brighter, urumi-free nioiguchi led by choji, a make the sources read toward the younger Kuniyuki. To kantei an Ayanokoji blade is to read its particular blend: the tightly packed small-pattern midare, the dotted nijuba effect along the yakigashira, and the softly clouded nioiguchi, set upon a fine ko-itame with conspicuous nie-utsuri. That combination separates the school from its Kyoto neighbors. Against Rai, the Ayanokoji ji is more archaic and its nioiguchi softer, where Rai runs brighter and clearer; against Ichimonji, the choji sits smaller and more intricate, carried on a suguha tone rather than the exuberant flamboyant choji of Bizen, and the Yamashiro forging keeps the ground close and nie-laden. The signed tachi bear a two-character mei with the character Sada cut large in a cursive manner and the second character smaller, set low on the nakago, a placement the sources note even where the signature avoids the groove; most signed blades are suriage, an ubu nakago is rare, and the o-suriage mumei katana are appraised by the same rules. Sadatoshi stands well above his school, Fujishiro grading him Jo-jo saku and Honma judging the National Treasure tachi in the Tokyo National Museum the finest of all he had examined, while Sadayoshi remains an exceedingly rare hand of scholarly weight. Recorded provenance runs through the Kishu Tokugawa, the Shimazu of Sadowara, the Maeda, the Matsudaira, and the Meiji statesman Ito Miyoji, with patrimony held by Hie Jinja and Ise Jingu; a signed Ayanokoji tachi comes to the market only rarely, and is a landmark for Yamashiro connoisseurship when it does. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sadatoshi定利 | 1232-1233 | 42 |
| Sueyuki末行 | 1303-1306 | 3 |
| Sadaie定家 | 1293-1299 | 0 |
| Sadatoshi定利 | 1334-1338 | 0 |
| Ieyasu家安 | 1327-1350 | 1 |
Yamashiro in the Kamakura period
Power sat in Kamakura, but taste was still made in Kyōto. The Awataguchi school’s pear-skin steel became a byword for perfection, and the Rai line supplied dignified tachi to the court, senior warriors, and the great temples alike.
A blade of top-grade workmanship and condition, formally judged to rank with a nationally recognized Important Art Object (Jūyō Bijutsuhin). Awarded only at the NBTHK’s competitive annual examination.
Of Japan’s roughly 2.5 million registered swords, only 12,307 (about 1 in 203) have ever attained Jūyō.
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 sitePrice on request
This is a rare Juyo Token katana by the master swordsmith Kamakura Ayanokoji Sadayoshi. The blade is of the finest quality forging with a complex hamon packed with hataraki. It comes with shirasaya with lengthy sayagaki by Tanobe Sensei and koshirae with excellent quality matching shakudo fittings with gold kamon in an ishime ground.
京の綾小路には定利・定吉らが在住して鍛刀しており、銘鑑では定利の年代を文永頃とし、一説に、定利は来国行の近隣に居住し、互いに代作しあったとも伝えている。しかし、現存する定利・定吉に見る作風は、古京物の三条・五条派の作域を踏襲した感のある古様な趣のもので、刃文は乱れが間近く小模様に複雑に乱れ、焼頭にさらに小さな焼きが点続して二重刃風を形成し、匂口がうるみごころとなるなど、通説よりも年代が遡るものと鑑られる。 綾小路定吉は、銘鑑では定利の子で弘安頃の刀工とされ、現存する在銘作は稀有である。作風・銘振りとも定利に近似したもので、中には身幅の広い作も残している。 この刀は、身幅尋常で、中反りがついた姿形を呈している。鍛えは、板目肌が流れて、地沸がつき、地景が細かに入り、刃文は、広直刃調に、小互の目・小丁子・小乱れ・角ばる刃などをよく交えて、足・京逆足・葉が頻りに入り、刃沸がよくついて刃中刃境が働くなど、同工の極めは首肯できる。とりわけ刃中刃境の変化に溢れて味わい深く見どころの多い一口である。
NihontoWatchmumei · Kamakura · nagasa 70.7cm · sori 2.6cm
Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro · around 1278-1288
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 8%
1 piece on the market now
Ayanokoji Sadayoshi is recorded in the sword registers as the son of Ayanokoji Sadatoshi, a smith of the Kyoto Ayanokoji district whose working period is conventionally placed around the Koan era (1278-1288). The Ayanokoji smiths, including Sadatoshi and Sadayoshi, resided in a quarter near Rai Kuniyuki, and one tradition relates that Sadatoshi and Kuniyuki even produced substitute works for one another. However, the styles observed in extant works by both Sadatoshi and Sadayoshi carry an archaic flavor suggesting a continuation of the working range of the older Kyo-mono Sanjo and Gojo groups, indicating that these smiths should be appraised as earlier than the conventional chronology. Extant signed works by Sadayoshi are exceedingly rare, and both his workmanship and the manner of his signature closely resemble Sadatoshi's — in particular, the character "Sada" is cut large while the following character "Yoshi" is comparatively smaller, an arrangement characteristic of this school.
The hallmarks of Sadayoshi's work lie in the forging and temper. The kitae presents a tightly forged itame-hada, at times with a flowing tendency, bearing thickly adhering fine ji-nie and delicate chikei, which together impart a dense, slightly tenacious texture conveying an impression of softness. A distinctive nie-utsuri stands out in the ground. The hamon, based on a wide suguha, is well mixed with ko-gunome, ko-choji, ko-midare, and angular elements; ashi, Kyo-style saka-ashi, and yo enter in abundance. Most characteristic is the appearance of yubashiri, uchi-noke, and small tobiyaki intermittently along the crests of the temper, creating an effect reminiscent of a double temper — the nijuba-like scenery that the NBTHK identifies as a defining trait of the Ayanokoji group. The nioiguchi tends toward an urumi quality, a softened, slightly blurred character regarded as intrinsic to this school.
The NBTHK consistently describes Sadayoshi's works as possessing nuanced changes along the habuchi that convey an antique tone, with the internal activities of the temper and its boundary overflowing with variations and offering many points of appreciation. In both ji and ha, his blades clearly manifest the characteristic features of the Ayanokoji group while demonstrating a deeply flavorsome quality. The signed tachi preserved in the Imperial Household collection — with its ko-midare choji hamon showing kawazuko amid fine ko-nie and kinsuji — confirms the range of his artistry and stands as an invaluable reference for this exceedingly rare smith. Sadayoshi's position within the Ayanokoji lineage, inheriting and faithfully transmitting the archaic Kyo-mono aesthetic, secures his place as a smith of considerable scholarly importance.
Where Sadayoshi 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.
Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro
11 pieces on the market now
The Ayanokoji school (綾小路) takes its name from the swordsmiths who lived along Ayanokoji street in the Shijo quarter of Kyoto, and the published sources count it, with Awataguchi and Rai, among the three lineages of Yamashiro-den smiths of the Kamakura period. Its founder is Sadatoshi (定利), whose dating the old registers do not settle: the Noami Meizukushi places him around Hoji (1247-48) and the Kokon Kaji Meizukushi around Bun'ei (1264-75), while one tradition relates that he was on friendly terms with Rai Kuniyuki[[c:3]], the two even producing substitute works for one another as demand required. The registers list further names (Sukesada, Sadaie, Sueyuki, Tadaie, a second Sadatoshi written with different characters) yet of these only Sadatoshi survives in signed work, and within the school the sole other attested hand is his son Sadayoshi (定吉), recorded as working in the Kyoto manner near the home of Rai Kuniyuki. The make of everything extant carries an archaic cast that recalls the older Kyo-mono of the Sanjo and Gojo groups[[c:1]], an elegance calling Awataguchi Kuniyasu to mind, and from this the NBTHK appraises the smiths as going back earlier than the conventional view[[c:2]]. The shared Ayanokoji vocabulary rests first in the ground: a well-knit ko-itame, in places mixed with nagare or a slightly standing itame, with fine ji-nie lying thick, fine chikei, and a nie-utsuri that stands out, the jigane at its best taking on a moist, viscous quality. The classic tachi-sugata is slender, the taper from base to tip marked, the koshizori high with funbari, closing in a ko-kissaki. Across the school the temper is a small-pattern midare, a ko-midare mixed with ko-choji and ko-gunome over a suguha tone, the undulations close-set and intricately complex[[c:4]], with ashi and yo entering frequently, ko-nie adhering, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi running through; this is a Bizen-like, choji-laden temper laid upon a Yamashiro ji. Two further tells recur. Along the yakigashira, smaller patches of yaki with yubashiri, uchi-noke, and tobiyaki appear in dotted succession and build an effect akin to nijuba[[c:5]]; and the nioiguchi clouds softly, an urumi quality the published record names one of the school's viewing points.
The boshi continues the temper quietly with hakikake[[c:6]], at times taking a flame-like appearance, finishing yakizume, or entering midare-komi with a small ko-maru return. Sadatoshi anchors this manner, while Sadayoshi transmits it faithfully, his ground denser and more tenacious and his suguha-based ha mixing Kyo-style saka-ashi; a minority of Sadatoshi blades depart toward a brighter, urumi-free nioiguchi led by choji, a make the sources read toward the younger Kuniyuki. To kantei an Ayanokoji blade is to read its particular blend: the tightly packed small-pattern midare, the dotted nijuba effect along the yakigashira, and the softly clouded nioiguchi, set upon a fine ko-itame with conspicuous nie-utsuri. That combination separates the school from its Kyoto neighbors. Against Rai, the Ayanokoji ji is more archaic and its nioiguchi softer, where Rai runs brighter and clearer; against Ichimonji, the choji sits smaller and more intricate, carried on a suguha tone rather than the exuberant flamboyant choji of Bizen, and the Yamashiro forging keeps the ground close and nie-laden. The signed tachi bear a two-character mei with the character Sada cut large in a cursive manner and the second character smaller, set low on the nakago, a placement the sources note even where the signature avoids the groove; most signed blades are suriage, an ubu nakago is rare, and the o-suriage mumei katana are appraised by the same rules. Sadatoshi stands well above his school, Fujishiro grading him Jo-jo saku and Honma judging the National Treasure tachi in the Tokyo National Museum the finest of all he had examined, while Sadayoshi remains an exceedingly rare hand of scholarly weight. Recorded provenance runs through the Kishu Tokugawa, the Shimazu of Sadowara, the Maeda, the Matsudaira, and the Meiji statesman Ito Miyoji, with patrimony held by Hie Jinja and Ise Jingu; a signed Ayanokoji tachi comes to the market only rarely, and is a landmark for Yamashiro connoisseurship when it does. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sadatoshi定利 | 1232-1233 | 42 |
| Sueyuki末行 | 1303-1306 | 3 |
| Sadaie定家 | 1293-1299 | 0 |
| Sadatoshi定利 | 1334-1338 | 0 |
| Ieyasu家安 | 1327-1350 | 1 |
Yamashiro in the Kamakura period
Power sat in Kamakura, but taste was still made in Kyōto. The Awataguchi school’s pear-skin steel became a byword for perfection, and the Rai line supplied dignified tachi to the court, senior warriors, and the great temples alike.
A blade of top-grade workmanship and condition, formally judged to rank with a nationally recognized Important Art Object (Jūyō Bijutsuhin). Awarded only at the NBTHK’s competitive annual examination.
Of Japan’s roughly 2.5 million registered swords, only 12,307 (about 1 in 203) have ever attained Jūyō.
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 sitePrice on request
