Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchIf Nobukuni and the Hasebe school represent Kyo-mono of the Nanboku-cho period, then Kyo-mono of the Muromachi period are represented by Sanjo Yoshinori and Heianjo Nagayoshi. According to the Meikan, Yoshinori already existed in the Kamakura period, but the oldest extant works are from the early Muromachi period, and those most commonly seen are works from the mid-Muromachi period onwards. Sanjo Yoshinori is said to be of the Heianjo Nagayoshi school, and produced works in Yamashiro, and later in Izumi and Echizen. His works are mostly wakizashi, with hamon in suguha or gunome-midare, and he favored carving hi. Meibun are signed as "Yoshinori saku," "Sanjo Yoshinori," "Heianjo Sanjo-ju Yoshinori saku," "Sanjo Yoshinori Izumi no Kuni saku," "Sanjo Fuse Fujiwara Yoshinori oite Echizen saku," "Heianjo Yoshinori saku," and so on. Examples of yari remain by Sanjo Yoshinori, and the same applies to the Heianjo Nagayoshi school and the Sengo school represented by Muramasa. This work is in hirasankaku-zukuri, with a jinjo mihaba and an elongated kerakubi, showing the typical sugata of a yari produced in the Muromachi period. Regarding the jigane, while yari and ken are generally often observed to have flowing masame, this work has a well-tightened ko-itame hada with fine ji-nie, chikei enters, and masame is not felt. The hamon is in suguha style with a slight notare-gokoro, ko-ashi enter slightly, ko-nie attaches well, kinsuji enters, sunagashi is present, and uchinoke in the style of yubashiri are mixed into the habuchi; the nioiguchi is bright in the Kyo-mono style. It can be seen that the carvings of the suken and rendai applied to the hirachi, as well as the meibun, are not worn down and are healthy. Traces of having received a sword blade are seen on the kerakubi, boasting of ancient military merit. Koto Jozaku Ryo-wazamono Sayagaki: "Sanjo Yoshinori saku, nagasa 1-shaku 2-sun 8-bu" There is a ware near the shinogiji of the lower half.
Offered by Tsuruginoya
2 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro · around 1469-1487
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 31%
2 pieces on the market now
Where Yoshinori 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.
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Yamashiro-den · Kyoto
11 pieces on the market now
The Heianjō school (平安城) of swordsmiths represents the principal lineage of Kyōto sword production during the Muromachi period. "Heianjō" is the classical name for Kyōto (Heian-kyō), and the school's smiths — resident in the Sanjō district of the capital — signed variously with the 平安城 (Heianjō) and 三条 (Sanjō) prefixes, a usage that has often caused them to be confused with the far earlier Sanjō school of Munechika. They are an entirely distinct, late group: its two representative masters, Heianjō Nagayoshi (平安城長吉, also read Chōkichi) and Sanjō Yoshinori (三条吉則, of the Fuse 布施 family), are counted as the leading makers of Muromachi-period Kyō-mono (Kyoto-made blades), carrying forward the capital's swordmaking after the Nanbokuchō-period Nobukuni and Hasebe lineages. Both names continued through several generations from the late Nanbokuchō era into the sixteenth century, and the smiths are known to have travelled to forge (desaku) in provinces such as Izumi, Mikawa, and Echizen during the late Muromachi period. The Heianjō style is dominated by a flamboyant hitatsura (full-temper) idiom adopted from Sōshū tradition: a foundation of large gunome-midare mixed with chōji, togariba, and yahazu-ba, with abundant tobiyaki and muneyaki spreading temper across the entire blade surface, nie adhering strongly, and sunagashi and kinsuji coursing through a bright, clear nioiguchi.
The finest examples are so accomplished that they are difficult to distinguish from late Sōshū (Sue-Sōshū) work. A quieter suguha- and ko-notare-based mode close to the Nobukuni tradition is also seen. High-quality horimono — kurikara, bonji, suken, and gomabashi — frequently accompany the blades. The school is not to be confused with the unrelated Heianjō-zōgan (平安城象嵌) inlay tradition of tōsōgu makers. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Nagayoshi長吉 | 1469-1492 | 15 |
| Yoshinori吉則 | 1469-1487 | 3 |
| Nagayoshi長吉 | 1449-1452 | 0 |
| Nobusada信貞 | 1346-1370 | 0 |
| Yoshinaga吉長 | 1381-1384 | 0 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
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.
NBTHK official sitePlease exercise cooling-off within 8 days of the item's arrival. (1) We cannot accept items that have been altered or worked on in any way (e.g. test cutting, polishing or other work, display at viewing meetings, photography, taking oshigata rubbings, use for appreciation, copying of books). (2) Return shipping is at the customer's expense. (3) Costs other than the item price (bank transfer fees, cash-on-delivery fees, installment fees, etc.) cannot be refunded. (4) For cash-on-delivery and similar payments, the refund is made after the payment has reached us. (5) We cannot accept a return when a trade-in item is involved. (6) Items delivered overseas cannot be returned or refunded (because of the time involved and, for swords, the surrender of the registration certificate and other circumstances).
¥450,000