The Shintō era was largely invented in Kyōto: Umetada Myōju’s workshop trained the movement, Horikawa Kunihiro raised a generation, and the Hon’ami appraisers, who held no forge, governed the meaning of famous blades.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis blade was signed by Omi no Kami Minamoto Hisamichi (近江守源久道) in August, the second year of the Kanpou era (1742). Judging from the year inscribed on the tang, we believed it was made by the third-gen Hisamichi. The swordsmith’s name Hisamichi lasted seventh generations. The third generation was especially active during the early-mid Edo period (1716-1748). The first-gen Hisamichi, his father, was born in the second year of the Kan-Ei era (1625) in Omi province (Shiga prefecture). He belonged to Mishina school, a prestigious school in Yamashiro province(today’s Kyoto prefecture). He studied sword forging techniques under the master, the second-gen Iganokami Kinmichi (伊賀守金道), one of the most famous swordsmiths in Yamashiro province during the early Edo period. The first-gen Hisamichi received the honorable title of Omi No Kami(近江守) in 1662 when he was 37 years old. The imperial court back then gave the title of Kami to those who were excellent at sword making. After receiving this title, the swordsmith added it to his maker’s name when he signed his swords, such as Omino Kami Hisamichi. The first-gen Hisamichi was also known as one of Gokaji. (five most prestigious swordsmiths in Kyoto). He was allowed to inscribe a chrysanthemum emblem, which is the symbol of the Japanese emperor. His sword forging technique was so great that the emperor permitted him to use this emblem, which was honorable for any swordsmith. The sword forged by him were also famous for their sharpness. He passed his excellent craftsmanship to the second-gen Hisamichi. And, he died at the age of 86 in 1711. The second Hisamichi was born in the third year of the Kanbun era (1663) as the son of the second-gen Rai Kimichi, who also belonged to Mishina school. He originally signed Hisatsugu (久次). He was eventually adopted by the first-gen Hisamichi and changed his maker’s name to Hisamichi. In the 15th year of the Genroku era, he received Omi no Kami title like his father. In the 7th year of the Kyoho era, the second-gen Hisamichi was ordered to stay in Edo City (Today’s Tokyo) to forge swords. The third-generation Hisamichi was born as the second son of the second-generation Hisamichi. The third-gen was ordered to visit Edo City by Tokugawa Yoshimune, the 8th-gen Shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate. He forged Utsushi of Konotegashiwa and Wakasa Masamune for Yoshimune. It is said that Yoshimune was pleased by the Utushi created by the third-generation Hisamichi. This fact indicates that the Edo government highly acknowledged his craftsmanship. The third-gen Hisamichi was also allowed to inscribe chrysanthemum emblem on the tang. During the Edo period, it was popular among high-class feudal lords to have an authentic Japanese sword made by renowned swordsmiths based on historically famous swords, such as Wakasa Masamune. This kind of work is called Utsushi. Since the fourth generation, Hisamichi served Date clan in Iyo province and lasted until the early Meiji period. It is appraised as a Tokubetsu Hozon Touken (特別保存刀剣) issued by NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai: 日本美術刀剣保存協会). Fuchi-Kashira The Ume (梅, Japanese apricot blossom) patterns are engraved on this Fuchi Kashira. Japanese apricot blossoms begin to bloom in winter when snow still covers its tree, so people think this flower tells the arrival of spring. This plant has been appreciated for a long time in Japan. People enjoy its adorable petal shape and scent and gracefully branched tree and compose many poems. As it comes out in the cold season, it symbolizes the power of perseverance and vitality. This Koshirae’s scabbard is decorated with flower motifs. If you focus on the Kojiri (鐺, the metal fitting that protects the tip of a scabbard), Sakuras (桜, cherry blossom) are designed. Silvery paint is applied to these flowers. One theory says that the god of grain exists in cherry blossoms. Therefore, this flower pattern has been treated as the symbol of a plentiful harvest. Tsuka and Menuki It seems a Tora (虎/寅, tiger) is the model of each Menuki. Golden paint is applied to here and there, and this coloring adds decorativeness to this work. As the saying goes, “A tiger travels a thousand miles in a day and returns a thousand miles.” It is said that with its strong vitality shakes off all kinds of disasters and leads to prosperous family fortunes. In addition, the tiger facing forward is said to be a “tiger of all directions.” It is drawn as if it is glaring at a foreign enemy to prevent disaster from approaching, and it has the meaning of an amulet and exorcism. This animal is known as a member of the Junishi (十二支, the twelve signs of the Chinese and Japanese zodiac). There are various theories about the details of the Junishi legend. Its rough outline is that the twelfth animals that arrived early at the feast that god held on New Year’s Day were nominated as the representatives for the year. Each animal has a rustic meaning, and the Junishi itself has been treated as a lucky charm in Japan. It is said that the devotion of people who believed in the mysterious power of animals was linked to the Junishi, and the custom of welcoming the god of the year by decorating animal figurines associated with the twelve zodiac signs of the year in the entrance or living room was born. Tsuba and Habaki This Tsuba’s design is composed of two crests. One is the Matsukawabishi (松皮菱/松川菱) pattern, and the other is the Tsurunomaru (鶴の丸) pattern. The Matsukawabishi design is a geometric pattern inspired by the bark of a pine tree. The design resembles a diamond with small diamonds added above and below it. The pine tree has been regarded as an auspicious symbol of longevity as hermits with divine powers lived in pine tree-made houses and ate pine trees. It is said that the pine bark rhombus was used in family crests to protect against evil spirits. About the Tsurunomaru pattern, its model is a Tsuru (鶴, crane). There is a proverb that says that cranes and turtles live a long life. It says cranes have even one thousand years lifespan. Therefore, cranes and turtles have been considered symbols of longevity for a long time. In this way, such good-luck animal and plant motifs were incorporated into this Tsuba’s design. Authentication Paper They authenticated the blade on Feb 5th in the 27th year of Heisei (2015). They appraised it as Tokubetsu Hozon Touken, the blade especially worth preserving for Japanese society.
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Shinto · Yamashiro · around 1716-1748
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The Mishina school (三品), one of the two dominant smithing groups of early Edo Kyoto beside the Horikawa, grew from the late-Mino workshop of Kanemichi of Seki, whose dated blades run through the Tenbun, Eiroku, and Tenshō eras. During the closing decades of the sixteenth century Kanemichi came up to the capital with his four sons and settled at Nishinotōin Ebisugawa, where the eldest, Iga no Kami Kinmichi, is recorded as having greatly raised the name of the line. The brothers, Kinmichi together with Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi, Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi, and Etchū no Kami Masatoshi, became known collectively as the Sanpin (三品) makers, and the published sources count Kinmichi head of the Kyō go-kaji, the five Kyoto smiths. From the second generation the house held a hereditary right to recommend smiths to the court for their titles and added that by-line to its signatures. The name continued under the same appellation to the end of the Tokugawa period, throwing off branches that included the Tango no Kami line working at Ōsaka into the Genroku years, though the published record consistently holds the founding generation the most outstanding of the line. Beneath every branch lies a shared vocabulary carried up from Mino-Seki. The jigane is the constant: an itame mixed with mokume that flows into nagare-hada and tends toward masame near the mune, the grain standing, with thick fine ji-nie and frequent chikei. Over it the Mino-derived gunome and togariba are refined toward a Kyoto manner, the nie strong and at times coarse, gathering unevenly, kinsuji and vigorous striped sunagashi running throughout. Two tells bind the house. The first is the Mishina bōshi, a notare or midare run-in pointed at the tip and swept with vigorous hakikake, the form Masatoshi shows at its clearest, described as if drawn from a picture. The second is sudareba, the bamboo-blind temper in which layered sunagashi and yubashiri stripe into parallel bands; Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi devised it, and the first-generation hand keeps it a free, semi-cursive disorder where his heirs would regularize it into a fixed lattice.
The lines diverge from that common ground. Kinmichi and his younger brother Masatoshi both excelled in a Shizu manner, the large midare of Mino grafted onto Sōshū nie, with Masatoshi the most versatile, ranging across Shizu, Mino sanbon-sugi, Yamato suguha, and Sōshū hitatsura. The later Ōsaka Tanba branch held to the sudareba alone, opening from a straight yakidashi, while the second Tango no Kami Kanemichi cast off the family chōji for a flamboyant tōran-style large gunome in alternating two-joined and three-joined groups, and a deep-nioi suguha read in the manner of Inoue Shinkai. To kantei Mishina is to read these two house marks first. The pointed, hakikake-swept bōshi and the striped sudareba, set over a standing itame that flows to masame, place a blade within the line before any signature is weighed; the sunagashi, far heavier than on a Bizen ji, is the very material from which the temper is built. Within the house the founding generation sets the standard. Fujishiro grades Kinmichi and Masatoshi Jō-jō saku, the Ōsaka Tanba shodai Jō-saku, and the second Tango no Kami Chū-jō saku, the sources judging the later Kyoto and Ōsaka generations markedly inferior to the founders as the manner thinned toward a single uniform pattern. Provenance on record runs through samurai and collector hands rather than great museums: a Kinmichi katana among the cherished swords of Tani Tateki, a Yoshimichi katana made for Naitō Kuroemon and another now in the Kyoto National Museum, Masatoshi blades passing through Oda Urakusai and the Imperial household, and a second Tango no Kami katana descending from the Aoyama wardens of Ōsaka castle. The brothers' blades are signed and knowable, dated examples rare, so the manner of the mei joins the workmanship in placing them; for the Ōsaka and Kyoto branches the cut of the character 守 separates one hand from the next. Most designated work is held rather than traded, so a signed founding-generation Mishina blade comes to light only from time to time, and with it the temper in which one of the most recognizable hamon of the Shintō era was first being worked out. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kinmichi金道 | 1596-1615 | 25 |
| Yoshimichi吉道 | 1596-1615 | 36 |
| Masatoshi正俊 | 1596-1615 | 29 |
| Kanemichi兼道 | 1681-1704 | 5 |
| Eisen来栄泉 | 1673-1688 | 3 |
Kyōto: the revival workshop
The Shintō era was largely invented in Kyōto: Umetada Myōju’s workshop trained the movement, Horikawa Kunihiro raised a generation, and the Hon’ami appraisers, who held no forge, governed the meaning of famous blades.
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.