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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis blade is attributed to Den Ryokai (伝了戒), who was active during the late Kamakura period in Yamashiro province (today’s Kyoto). It is said that he was a son of Rai Kuniyuki (来国行) and a younger brother of Rai Kunitoshi (来国俊). Both of them are renowned swordsmiths throughout Samurai history. Ryokai founded his own school, and the apprentices were allowed to use Ryokai in their maker’s names. Ryokai’s son was Ryokai Hisanobu, who took over the school. And his apprentice Ryokai Yoshisada also run the school after Hisanobu. However, Ryokai Yoshisada had to evacuate Yamashiro province during the late 14th century because the battle between the south emperor court and the north emperor court became severe. And as a result, Kyoto city was burnt (the late 1300’s). We called it the Nanbokucho war when the Japanese imperial court was separated into two. Ryokai Yoshisada managed to escape and arrive in Kyushu island at Tsukushi province (today’s Fukuoka prefecture), looking for better opportunities. And, Yoshisada founded Tsukushi Ryokai school there. Among Japanese sword experts, Ryokai school in Tsukushi province is called Tsukushi Ryokai to distinguish it from the Ryokai school in Yamashiro province. Yamashiro Den Yamashiro province was famous for its sword-making style called YAMASHIRO-DEN. YAMASHIRO-DEN’s origin dates back to the Heian period (794 A.D) when the capital city was moved from Nara to Kyoto. The swordsmiths in Yamashiro province initially prospered by forging swords for court nobles and imperial families. Later on, they also forged swords for feudal lords after Samurai military government took control of Japan. There are so many renowned swordsmiths from this region. It is said that the founder of YAMASHIRO-DEN was Sanjo Munechika. And there were four prestigious main branches in this region. They are Sanjo, Rai, Nobukuni, and Awataguchi. It is appraised as a Tokubetsu Hozon Token (特別保存刀剣) issued by NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai:日本美術刀剣保存協会). *Please keep in mind that there are a couple of Kitae Kizu on the blade. Fuchi-Kashira The theme of this Chrysanthemum (菊, Kiku) and Peony (牡丹, Botan). A long time ago, the chrysanthemum was used as a medicine to obtain a long life in China, and it was brought to Japan with this thought in the Nara period (648-781). The chrysanthemum is one of the flowers that symbolize fall, and people have appreciated it very much since ancient times. As its petals form radially, the chrysanthemum has been likened to the sun. That is why this flower pattern is treated as the symbol of perpetual youth and longevity or good health. “Kiku no Gomon (菊の御紋)” is a kind of chrysanthemum pattern, and it has been used as the crest of the Emperor and the royal family in Japan, so it is well-known as a noble pattern. From the Kamakura (1185-1333) period to the Warring States period (1467-1615), the chrysanthemum crest was given as a reward from the Emperor back then to the warlords who made significant contributions. For example, Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358), who became the first Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, cooperated with Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇, 1288-1339) to dissolve the Kamakura Shogunate. And Takauji was given a chrysanthemum crest. In addition, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) was also given a chrysanthemum crest by Emperor Goyouzei. A theory says Hideyoshi was delighted and used this motif for furniture. At that time, the Emperor was regarded as God. Therefore, it was an irreplaceable honor for Samurais to receive the family crest from the Emperor. This is how the chrysanthemum pattern has a deep connection with Samurai culture. Peony represents happiness, wealth, nobleness, and gorgeousness. This flower pattern has been treated as a kind of good-omen motif; people regarded it as a rich harvest sign. Peony is called “Botan” in Japanese. When we write this flower’s name in Japanese, its second letter means mountain hermit medicine that would give us eternal youth. Based on the meaning of this letter, the peony pattern symbolizes eternal youth and longevity. This Fuchi-Kashira also features the Nanako-ji technique (魚々子地). Nanako-ji is a traditional Japanese metalworking method in which the surface of the metal is covered with a uniform pattern of extremely fine, raised dots. The name nanako means “fish eggs,” and as the name suggests, the surface resembles a field of tiny, round granules, much like roe. Tsuka and Menuki The motif of this Menuki is Chrysanthemum (菊, Kiku) and Peony (牡丹, Botan). Tsuba and Habaki Theme of this Tsuba is Chrysanthemum (菊, Kiku). Also, it was made of iron and has Fukurin (覆輪). This refers to the soft metal applied to the outer edge, or mimi (rim), of a tsuba (sword guard). To enhance its appearance, the edge was often covered with a thin sheet of gold, silver, or copper. In addition to its decorative purpose, this metal rim also helped prevent wear from friction against clothing—protecting both the tsuba from polishing and the garments from fraying. For these reasons, gold was commonly used as the material. This technique was also applied to other fittings such as sword mountings (koshirae), armor, and saddles for both decoration and reinforcement. Saya The surface of the Saya is decorated with Mushi-Kui-Nuri (虫喰塗り), a traditional technique where rice husk impressions are made on black lacquer, followed by the application of gold leaf. *Please keep in mind that there is trace of the restoration on this Saya. Authentication Paper They authenticated the blade on June 25th in the 2nd year of Reiwa (2020). They appraised it as Tokubetsu Hozon Touken, the blade especially worth preserving for Japanese society.
Ryokai了戒
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Ryokai (Yamashiro) · Yamashiro · around 1288-1305
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 14%
1 piece on the market now
Ryōkai of Yamashiro Province founded the Ryōkai school, one of the Rai offshoots of the late Kamakura capital, and worked in the same years as Rai Kunitoshi: his surviving dated blades carry the era names Shōō, Einin, Kagen and Engen. The old account makes him a son or a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi, but the published sources note that the dated pieces place him almost level with Kunitoshi, so that he reads more naturally as a fellow disciple (aitedeshi); and if the 'two-character Kunitoshi' and Rai Kunitoshi are taken as different men, Ryōkai would instead be the son of the two-character Kunitoshi. Either way his is the Rai Yamashiro hand softened a degree, and the published record fixes the difference precisely, noting that with him 'the ji and ha can feel somewhat less forceful'[[c:1]] than Kunitoshi's. He is Jō-saku in Fujishiro's grading, the head from whom the Ryōkai line descends.
The hand the published descriptions assign him is a quiet one. Over a packed itame or ko-itame, often flowing toward masame and standing a little open, fine ji-nie adheres thickly and fine chikei enter, and a whitish shirake-utsuri stands in the ji. The temper is a calm chū- or hoso-suguha, mixing here a small ko-chōji, ko-gunome or ko-midare, with ko-ashi and yō entering, sometimes a Kyoto-style reverse ashi along the edge. Its distinguishing mark is the nioiguchi: it tightens and grows austere, and in places clouds into urumi, that moist, soft quality the published sources name again and again as a Ryōkai point. The judges set the contrast with the parent Rai exactly, writing that compared with Kunitoshi 'the nioiguchi is one degree tighter and the activity within the temper lonelier, breaking in places into urumi'[[c:2]]. The boshi closes sugu into a ko-maru, often brushed with a little hakikake.
The ji is where the school turns from Rai toward Yamato. The forging carries masame mixed into the itame, the published record observing that the jihada 'shows more masame tendency than in Rai Kunitoshi' and takes on a whitish cast, and the shirake-utsuri that rises with it is the first thing that separates a Ryōkai blade from its parent: where Rai keeps a clear, bright midare- or jifu-utsuri, Ryōkai stands a paler, drier shirake. On the finest tachi the steel shows ko-itame in a piled manner with chikei and a faint jifu-utsuri, the Kyoto refinement still legible beneath the school's drift; on the plainer katana the grain flows openly toward masame and the utsuri whitens further. Fine kinsuji and sunagashi run within a tight, bright nioiguchi, faint hotsure and kuichigai-ba fray the habuchi, and the boshi keeps to its ko-maru.
His work survives in two registers of the one manner. The signed pieces are slender ubu tachi and tantō, the mei a boldly cut two-character Ryō-kai set toward the mune above the first mekugi-ana; the tachi keep a high koshizori toward a small kissaki, the tantō run in uchizori with a thick kasane, the typical late-Kamakura Kyoto tantō, several carved with bonji and suken on the omote and gomabashi on the ura. Of one such tantō the published sources write that, complete in every part, it is 'altogether elegant'[[c:3]], a work that 'may well be called a representative work of Ryōkai'[[c:4]], adding that 'the signature too is of the archetypal type'[[c:5]]. The second register, and the bulk of the designated record, is ōsuriage mumei katana given to him on the hand: the wa-zori and Kyoto air recall Rai at first glance, but the tightening, sinking, clouding nioiguchi, the flowing masame and the shirake settle the attribution to Ryōkai. A small number of collaborative dated blades signed with his son Hisanobu also survive, the work close to the father's suguha, signed examples of the son being very rare.
The distinction the judges draw most often is the one against Rai itself, for the school stands so close to its parent that the two are confused at sight. The published record states it plainly: Ryōkai 'is often mistaken for Rai Kunitoshi'[[c:6]], the attribution then settled not by any single feature but by the softer ji and ha, the masame in the jihada, the whitish utsuri and the clouding line, since 'the nioiguchi has an urumi quality, and the ji carries more masame than Rai Kunitoshi'[[c:7]]. His own grounded tells separate him from the sister Enju school as cleanly: where Enju turns the boshi in a large, deep o-maru, Ryōkai closes sugu into a small ko-maru, and his suguha clouds into the urumi that Enju leaves bright. Downstream the Ryōkai name ran for several generations, his son Ryō Hisanobu next, and by the Nanbokuchō and Muromachi eras a Kyushu branch had formed, the Chikushi Ryōkai of Bungo and Buzen descended from the Kyoto line.
Ryōkai is a smith of real standing whose designated work can still be encountered, though sparingly. Of his blades on the official record, five are Important Cultural Properties, among them the famed Akita Ryōkai tantō; four are Tokubetsu Jūyō and eighty-eight Jūyō, ninety-two across the Tokujū and Jūyō tiers. The Important Cultural Properties are patrimony, held and studied rather than traded, and most of the designated blades, signed or attributed, are kept in long-held public and private collections, among them the Tokyo National Museum, the Sano Art Museum and Monobe Jinja, with prewar Jūyō-Bijutsuhin pieces recorded against the Maeda and other houses. One tachi preserves a tradition that it was 'a sword worn by Miyamoto Musashi'[[c:8]], and his blades pass through the Isahaya, Date and Maeda families. Of the works whose whereabouts are recorded, only the Tokubetsu Jūyō and Jūyō tier reaches the market, and then rarely; a signed ubu Ryōkai tachi or tantō in particular is among the scarcer things a collector of Kyoto Kamakura work will meet, coming to hand only with patience.
Where Ryokai 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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Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro
8 pieces on the market now
The Ryokai school (了戒) took shape in the late-Kamakura capital of Kyoto, in Yamashiro Province, around the smith Ryokai, who worked through the era names Shoo, Einin, Kagen, Enkyo and Ocho at the turn of the fourteenth century. The old account makes him a son or a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi, and one version has him adopted into Kunitoshi's house; because his dated blades place him almost level with Kunitoshi, however, the NBTHK reads him more naturally as a contemporary (an aitedeshi, a fellow disciple) who formed his own line within the wider Rai circle. Whichever account one follows, his is the Rai Yamashiro hand softened by a degree, and from him the Ryokai name descended for several generations, his son Ryo Hisanobu (久信) following as the second master, with a Kyushu branch, the Chikushi Ryokai of Bungo and Buzen, forming by the Nanbokucho and Muromachi eras. What the members hold in common is a quiet manner read against, and just apart from, the Rai parent. Over a packed itame or ko-itame that flows toward masame and stands a little open, fine ji-nie clings and faint chikei enter, while a whitish shirake-utsuri rises in the ji; this paler, drier utsuri, against the clear midare- or jifu-utsuri of Rai proper, is the first thing that separates a Ryokai blade from its source. The temper is a calm chu- or hoso-suguha, mixing here a little ko-choji, ko-gunome or ko-midare, with ko-ashi and yo entering and sometimes a Kyoto reverse ashi; kinsuji and sunagashi run within a tight nioiguchi that grows austere and, in places, clouds into urumi, the moist soft quality the published sources name again and again as a Ryokai point. The boshi closes sugu into a small ko-maru, often brushed with a touch of hakikake. The school stands so close to Rai Kunitoshi that the two are confused at sight; the attribution settles not on any single feature but on the softer ji and ha, the standing masame, the whitish utsuri and the clouding line, the judges noting that compared with Kunitoshi the activity within the temper runs lonelier and the nioiguchi one degree tighter.
Against the sister Enju school the distinction is the boshi: where Enju turns a large deep o-maru and leaves the line bright, Ryokai closes a small ko-maru and clouds into urumi. The masame and the whitish cast carry the line a step toward Yamato and Yamato-den, and downstream toward Nobukuni and the Soshu-shaded work that followed. To kantei a Ryokai blade is to recognize the Rai air of wa-zori and refined steel, then to read the tells that part it from the parent: the jihada leaning to masame and standing where Rai stays smooth, the shirake in place of bright utsuri, and the tight, clouding nioiguchi. Among the members the founder, Ryokai, holds first standing, rated Jo-saku by Fujishiro and represented by slender ubu tachi and tanto signed with a boldly cut two-character mei, several carved with bonji and suken, alongside the bulk of his attributed record in osuriage mumei katana given to him on the hand; one such tanto the published sources call altogether elegant and a representative work, the signature itself of the archetypal type. Hisanobu, the second master, rated Jo-jo saku, carried the father's suguha on with little change, his rare signed tachi and kodachi prized as documentary evidence, one dated piece establishing through his given name that an earlier nationally designated tachi once read as the father's sole work is in fact a joint work of father and son; the remaining members and the later Kyushu generations continue the manner generically. Provenance follows the founder above all: blades passing through the Isahaya, Date and Maeda families, one preserving a tradition that it was a sword worn by Miyamoto Musashi, and the finest pieces held and studied in long-standing public and private collections including the Tokyo National Museum, the Sano Art Museum and Monobe Jinja. A signed ubu Ryokai blade in particular is among the scarcer things a collector of Kyoto Kamakura work will meet, coming to hand only with patience. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Ryokai了戒 | 1288-1305 | 103 |
| Yoshizane能眞 | 1469-1487 | 0 |
| Nobumasa信正 | 1345-1350 | 0 |
| Nobuyoshi宣能 | 1444-1449 | 0 |
| Noshin能真 | Early Muromachi | 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 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 siteReturns/exchanges limited to defects caused by shipping (except willful misconduct or gross negligence by the company); customers must contact within 72 hours of receiving the product.