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About the school

Ayanokoji School綾小路派

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, 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, an elegance calling Awataguchi Kuniyasu to mind, and from this the NBTHK appraises the smiths as going back earlier than the conventional view. 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, 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*; 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*, 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.

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