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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchYasushige belonged to the Bushu Shitahara school, located in today’s Tokyo. (Hachioji city) It is said that Yamamoto Norishige founded the school, and it thrived from the end of the Muromachi period to the late Edo period. Shitahara Kaji is the group of swordsmiths under Hojo clan’s auspicious, powerful feudal line during the late Muromachi period. Most of the Shitahara swordsmith’s real sir name was Yamamoto. After the Toyotomi clan destroyed the Hojo clan in the Azuchi Momoyama period, Shitahara started to serve the Tokugawa clan as Okakae Kaji, swordsmiths exclusively working for a specific feudal family. They kept forging for the Tokugawa clan until the end of the Edo period. Among the Bushu Shitahara group, Yasushige was one of the most famous ones. The maker’s name, Yasushige, lasted for several generations. While we can’t pin down which generation forged this blade, it was forged in Jyokyo era(1684-1688: early Edo period) according to NTHK authentication paper. There is a beautiful engraving on this blade. If you were to order this kind of engraving from a Japanese engraver today, it would cost approximately 10,000 USD. We assume whoever owned this blade in Samurai times must have been wealthy enough to order such intricate design on the blade. Fudo Myo-o (不動明王, acalanātha) is engraved at this part of the sword. Fudo Myo-o is one of the objects of worship in Buddhism. According to a theory, it is the incarnation of Dainichi Nyorai (大日如来, Mahāvairocana, the principal image of esoteric Buddhism). You would also find a dragon. It is called Kurikara Ryu (倶利伽羅龍); the figure in which a dragon wraps around the sword that Fudo Myo-o holds in his right hand to cut evil. Fudo My o-o’s sword has been considered to punish sin, cut off worldly desires, and achieve training. Fudo Myo-o is a motif with miraculous virtues. The dragon itself is also a highly popular design for the decoration of Samurai’s mountings. Initially, it is an imaginary creature that is found in ancient Chinese traditions or myths. It is a symbolic beast of auspicious signs. Its body is likened to nine animals: antlers are deer, the head is a camel, eyes are demons, the neck is a snake, belly is Mizuchi(mythical animal in Japan which looks like a snake and have a horn and four legs), scales are fish, claws are falcons, palms are tigers, and ears are cows. It was thought that the dragon would reign at the top of all animals because of its odd-looking appearance. In Japan, people appreciate the dragon design as an all-purpose auspicious pattern. This sword has a Hozon certificate issued by NBTHK. This authentication paper was only given to Japanese swords, worth preserving by Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai(the Society for the Preservation of the Japan Art Sword). And, it was also appraisied by NTHK, NPO Nihon Touken Hozon Kai. Horimono Horimono is an inscription or sculpture on Japanese swords. It has Sanskrit letters inscribed on both sides. The meaning is Fudo Myo-o(不動明王）, which is a protective god in Buddhism, particularly Japanese Shingon Buddhism. This god was also known as a god of wars. Samurai believed in the power of this god so they put decorations of this god on either armor or samurai sword. Other Details Fuchi-Kashira The wave pattern is engraved for this Fuchi Kashira. As waves’ movements continue endlessly, this design represents eternity, immortality, longevity, and birth, etcetera. Also, since tides change the shape and terrain of rocks repeatedly, some people hoped for a strong will. People used this pattern wishing for an indomitable spirit to re-challenge time and time without giving up. Tsuka and Menuki Fudo Myo-o (不動明王, acalanātha) is designed for this Menuki as well as Horimono part. As it is colored with gold, the contrast of white thread Tsukamaki Ito (a thread that coils the Tsuka) makes an elegant and sacred look. Tsuba and Habaki Circle-shaped iron Tsuba with Kozuka and Kougai holes Leaves are carved with the Sukashi-Bori (openwork) technique. It seems these leaves were originally inlaid with gold. Kozuka Kozuka is a small knife stored in Koduka Hitsu(groove of the sheath of the Japanese sword). Its motif might be the Kurikara Ken (倶利伽羅剣, the sword that Fudo Myo-o brings his right hand). The blade is wrapped around with a burning flame. It is said the Kurikara Ryu (倶利伽羅龍) changed its figure to this fire. Authentication Paper They authenticated the blade on Feb 19th in the second year of Reiwa(2020). They appraised it as Hozon Touken, the blade worth preserving for Japanese society.
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As written by the shop
Shinto · Musashi · around 1558-1570
Tōken Taikan top 60%
1 piece on the market now
Where Yasushige 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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Shinto · Musashi
7 pieces on the market now
The Shitahara group (下原) worked at Hachiōji in Bushū, the old province of Musashi, from the end of the Muromachi period and carried its forge on into the Edo period. The setsumei place the lineage among the swordmakers of Musashi in the kotō age and name Terushige, Yasushige, Hiroshige, and Chikashige as its leading hands, with the meikan recording Terushige across three generations: a shodai in Kyōroku, a nidai in Eiroku, and a sandai in Tenshō. " That same blade was made to order, in this case from Hagiwara Kaminao of Kōshū, marking the group as a working provincial forge serving its region. In the forging the setsumei return repeatedly to an itame-hada freely mixed with mokume that stands up rather than lying flat, the grain described as hada-datsu, often running to nagare near the edge and taking on an ayasugi-like, whorled or vortex-like cast in the jigane. The temper is a moderately undulating notare into which gunome enter, frequently in regular paired sequences, with pointed togariba, a chōji-like feeling at times, and ko-nie clinging along a nioiguchi that can settle into a subdued shizumi tone; sunagashi and ashi appear within the ha, and the bōshi tends to run midare-komi and turn back in maru. One katana sets gunome, ō-midare and angular elements into a notare, its bōshi sweeping off in hakikake.
The setsumei read this hand as a synthesis drawing on late Sōshū and the Muramasa line together with late Mino tendencies, which together account for the standing grain and the paired gunome. For kantei the markers are consistent: the risen mokume with its ayasugi turn, the regularly paired gunome, and a build suited to the uchigatana of the closing Muromachi years, often with pronounced sakizori and an extended chū-kissaki. Carving recurs, including bō-hi, bonji, gomabashi, and a deeply cut kurikara-ryū whose coiling tail the NBTHK singles out as characteristic. Named and dated pieces anchor the group: the Yamamoto Genjirō Terushige naginata, uncommon as a double-edged ryōba form, and a Terushige katana appraised between Eiroku and Tenshō that the register calls the hakubi of the school. The setsumei note that Shitahara work survives in number into the shintō period while outstanding examples remain few, which sets these designated blades apart within the lineage. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Terushige照重 | 1558-1570 | 2 |
| Terushige照重 | 1596-1615 | 1 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1558-1570 | 1 |
| Morishige盛重 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1661-1704 | 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.
The NTHK’s principal certificate, issued for a blade of considerable quality. It confirms a genuine signature, or, for an unsigned (mumei) work, records the judges’ attribution to a smith or school. The paper carries a detailed worksheet with a numerical point score.
The NTHK (Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai, the Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Sword) is the oldest of Japan’s sword-appraisal bodies, founded in 1910, decades before the NBTHK. After the death of its long-serving head it divided into two successor societies, the NTHK and the NTHK-NPO, both of which continue to hold shinsa. NTHK blade certificates are known for a detailed worksheet that records a numerical point score alongside the judges’ written opinion (fitting papers carry the judges’ opinion without a point score), and the society is especially respected for its attribution of unsigned (mumei) work.
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