After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchSummary This sword was signed by Kashu Yukimitsu (加州行光) in Kaga province (today’s Ishikawa Prefecture) during the Muromachi period (1445-1568). We assume that the sword is of exceptional quality because Yukimitsu belonged to the Fujishima school (藤島派), a well-known school, and because of the longevity of the name “Yukimitsu”,which lasted many generations during the Muromachi period. The first-gen Yukimitsu is said to have been active during the Kosho era (1455-1457) and was an apprentice of Fujishima Tomoshige. Also, the sword might have been originally owned by a Samurai who fought in many battles alongside high-class Samurais, as there were many battles during this period (Sengoku Jidai). About the Fujishima School The Fujishima school was a prestigious school that flourished in Kaga Province during the Muromachi period (1336-1573). It was founded in the early Nanbokucho Period by the first generation, Fujishima Tomoshige (藤島友重), and its name continued for several generations from the early Nanbokucho Period to the late Edo Period (early 14th century to late 19th century). The first generation Tomoshige is said to have been a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi, one of the most famous swordsmiths in Yamashiro Province (today’s Kyoto) from the late Kamakura Period to the early Nanbokucho Period. Tomoshige originally lived in Echizen Province (today’s Fukui Prefecture), but later moved to Kaga Province and founded the Fujishima school. Maeda Clan In the late Muromachi period, Maeda clan started to control Kaga domain. Maeda clan was originally a retainer of the Oda family, who ruled Owari province (today’s Nagoya area in Aichi prefecture). The Maeda clan was one of the most influential families in Samurai history. The first head of the Maeda clan was Toshie Maeda. He climbed the social ladder of Samurai society and became the feudal lord of Kaga Province (today’s Ishikawa prefecture). He had a vast rice fief that fed 100 million grown-up adults, which is called Hyakuman Goku. Toshie Maeda had a close tie with Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Since Tomoshige lived in this domain, he likely served the Maeda clan. It is appraised as a Hozon Token (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 this blade has what appears to be an Umegane (trace of restoration. There are also a couple of Kitae Kizu on the Mune (backbone of the blade) Fuchi-Kashira The motif of this Fuchi-Kashira is the Kikyou (桔梗, Japanese bellflower). Japanese bellflower is a small star-shaped flower and is one of the Aki-no Nanakusa (秋の七草, seven herbs of autumn). It is said its root has medicinal efficacy. The Kikyou pattern has often been used as a motif of Tanka (短歌, a kind of traditional Japanese poem) and pictures since the Heian period (794-1185). Its name was initially “Kichikou,” and it changed to “Kikyou” with time. It is said this flower was used for fortune-telling in the old days. This action is called Kikkyou-wo Uranau (吉凶を占う) in Japanese. The word Kikkyou (吉凶, good or bad omen) was associated with this flower’s name. “Kichikou” was compared to the word “Kichi Kou (吉更),” which means further good fortune. That is why this flower pattern is treated as a good omen design. Tsuka and Menuki We assume that the motif of this Menuki is the Aki-no Nanakusa (秋の七草, seven herbs of autumn). Aki-no Nanakusa is : bush clovers, pampas grass, arrowroot, dianthus, patrinia scabiosaefolia, boneset, and bellflower. The way these plants grow close together is atomospheric, but at the same time it represents the sadness of the passing of time and the impermanence of life. The term “Aki-no Nanakusa” was coined by Yamanoueno Okura(山上憶良), one of the poets featured in the “Manyōshū (万葉集),” the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry compiled in the 7th century. Within “Manyōshū”, there are two poems by Yamanoueno Okura, and from these poems, the seven plants came to be recognized as representative of autumn in Japan. Tsuba and Habaki The motif of this Tsuba is the same as the Fuchi-Kashira : Kikyou (桔梗, Japanese bellflower). Authentication Paper They authenticated the blade on December 14th in the 4th year of Reiwa (2022). They appraised it as Hozon Touken, the blade worth preserving for Japanese society.
Offered by Samurai Museum
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Yamashiro-den · Kaga · around 1455-1457
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
Yamashiro-den · Kaga
16 pieces on the market now
Among the provincial lineages of the Hokurikudo, the Fujishima school took its name and its base from the village of Fujishima in Kaga province, where Tomoshige stands as founder and the name he set down passed through several generations from the close of the Nanbokucho period across the Muromachi and on into the early-modern Shinto era. The members place the chronological anchor with care: the earliest firmly dated work is a tanto of Oei 2 (1395), and the NBTHK finds nothing among the surviving blades that goes back earlier than Nanbokucho. Old documentary tradition reads the first generation as a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi of Yamashiro, alternatively of Kashu Sanekage or Rai Toshimune, but the published sources doubt each reading in turn, finding no stylistic tie to Rai Kunitoshi and a chronological impossibility with Sanekage; judging from the make and the nakago finish, they settle by elimination toward the Yamato tradition, close to the Yamato Shikkake hand. A tachi held at Atsuta Shrine and a two-character ken read as the oldest surviving piece bracket the early end of the line. The recognition of the school lives in its jigane. The members agree on a board-grained itame that mixes in mokume and runs to nagare, standing somewhat open (hada-dachi), the surface gathering ji-nie and chikei, the steel carrying a distinct blackish cast named kan'a-iro and tied directly to the northern provinces as hokkoku-hada; a faint whitish shirake-utsuri rises quietly against this dark ground rather than a bright Bizen reflection. Over that ji the school tempers a gunome-midare into which box-shaped (hako-ba), pointed and angular (togariba) teeth enter together with notare and ko-notare, the ashi running rather long, the ha nie-laden with sunagashi sweeping it and kinsuji entering, small tobiyaki and muneyaki scattered here and there.
The NBTHK reads the feel of it as a make in which Bizen temperament and Mino flavor coexist, the boshi running straight or midare-komi into a ko-maru, often swept with hakikake or running to yakizume. The members also mark the short blades apart: on the tanto the hand can quiet to a ko-itame and a narrow hoso-suguha or low ko-gunome with ko-nie, the nioiguchi sometimes clouding to urumi, the boshi turning jizo-like or returning deep, this the simplest face of the Yamato base while the dark steel keeps its northern mark. To kantei a Fujishima blade the eye works the conjunction rather than any single trait: the standing dark ji read together with the box-and-pointed midare and the constant sunagashi names the school where a clean Bizen choji or a true Yamashiro ko-itame would not. The members note works read variously toward an Aoe air, toward Naoe Shizu and Sekishu Naotsuna, the Mino and northern lines the school sits between, kin in feel to the Etchu and Echizen smiths of the same region. Among the membership Tomoshige carries the name and the standing; Fujishiro rates the founder Chu-jo saku and places others among the middle ranks of the koto smiths, and the most highly regarded work falls in the Oei generation while the Muromachi work survives most often. The single finest piece is a great spear (o-mi-yari) signed Fujishima Tomoshige and carved with a sanko-ken and the deity-name Myoken Daibosatsu, which the published sources judge not merely the best spear of the school but one of the representative famous spears of its age; surviving naginata by the line are noted as rare, their ubu-nakago valued as dating evidence. Provenance gathers around named houses recorded in the blades themselves, an Oei katana descended in the Inaba daimyo house and a tanto recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, heritage pieces in long-standing hands; yet the line is not among the unattainable names, and a Juyo Tomoshige remains a realistic if uncommon encounter for the patient collector, valued for the way a single dark-steeled blade carries the whole northern school in its ji. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tomoshige友重 | 1394-1428 | 15 |
| Tomoshige友重 | 1346-1370 | 5 |
| Tomoshige友重 | 1324-1326 | 5 |
| Fujishima藤島 | 1394-1428 | 4 |
| Yukimitsu行光 | 1340-1346 | 0 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
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.
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