NihontoWatchNihontoWatch鑑定書内容:財)日本美術刀剣保存協会 特別保存刀装具[N.B.T.H.K]Tokubetsu Hozon Tousougu 神吉派は春日派に属する肥後鐔工であり、初代寿平忠光が安永七年(1728)に肥後藩命により林三代藤八門下で林家秘伝の錆付法を伝授され、肥後藩細川家の鍵工に抱えられたことに始まる。家系は忠光を初代として深信、楽寿と続く。祖先は丹後国田辺の出身で、細川家に随従して豊前を経て肥後に来住した。神吉二代目の深信は、初代寿平忠光の長男として天明六年(1786)に生まれた。はじめ国平と名乗り、文政四年(1821)父の没後に寿平と改名した。嘉永四年(1851)八月一日に六十六歳で没し、戒名を以信院宗得日入信士という。二代目深信の鐔には在銘も多く遺されているが、いずれも茎孔に上4つ下7つの隠鏨が施されていることから、その作者は明らかとなる。深信の作品は、いささかの誇張もなく誠実そのもので、実に品格が優れていると云える。一般に丁寧な作が多く、とりわけ透鐔に優れている。本作は東京国立博物館美術誌「MUSEUM 157号」、佐藤寒山編「肥後金工大鑑」に所載され、熊本県立美術館で開催された「第三回 熊本の美術 肥後の金工」(加島 進慣習)にも出典された古来有名な作品で、切羽台を甲羅に見立てた蟹の容姿を地透で表した見事な傑作で、同図が尾張鐔に見られるため、その意匠の注文を受けた特注品であると云われている。
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Higo · Higo
Where Fukanobu 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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Higo · Higo
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The Kamiyoshi (神吉) school is the fifth of the celebrated Higo kinko lineages, established in Higo Province under the patronage of the Hosokawa house during the mid-to-late Edo period. According to the NBTHK setsumei, the progenitor of the Kamiyoshi line was Kamiya Jinzaemon[[c:1]], who is said to have become a craftsman when Hosokawa Tadatoshi entered Higo. The school's formal artistic lineage, however, traces directly to Hayashi Matashichi (又七), founder of the Hayashi school. In the time of Juhei Tadamitsu — also known as Masatada (正忠) — the family received by domain order the transmitted traditions (soden) of the Hayashi house and devoted itself to reviving the manner of the Kasuga school (春日派), that is, the Hayashi school. Born in Horeki 4 (1754), Masatada initially studied tsuba making under Zenshichi, a pupil of the second-generation Nishigaki Kanshiro, before entering the school of the third-generation Hayashi Tohachi by official command. He thereafter became an appointed craftsman (kakae-ko) to the Hosokawa family, and from his house emerged the school's two greatest masters: his son, the second-generation Fukanobu (深信, 1786--1851), and his grandson, the third-generation Rakuju (楽寿, 1817--1884). The collective style of the Kamiyoshi school is anchored in the conscious revival of Hayashi-school aesthetics, rendered through a vocabulary of refined iron plate work, controlled openwork, and gold inlay of exceptional sophistication. Their iron plates display the purplish patina (murasabi) characteristic of Higo tsuba — described repeatedly in the setsumei as possessing a viscous, lustrous quality (nettori to shite tsuya ga ari) with subtly uneven surface clusters (jiso) that impart an elegant charm (gashu). The school is distinguished by several signature technical achievements: gama-hada (蟇肌, "toad-skin"), a distinctive surface texture devised and perfected by Rakuju; kareki-zogan (枯木象嵌, "withered-tree" inlay), a gold inlay technique extending from the plate onto the rim; and kuzubishi (葛菱, kudzu-diamond) and uzumaki (渦巻, whirlpool) motifs rendered in gold nunome-zogan. Rakuju's gold inlay was praised across multiple setsumei as approaching the level of the founding master Matashichi himself — the recurring epithet "a second coming of Matashichi" (Matashichi no sairai) appears as a fixed formula in the NBTHK appraisals.
The Kamiyoshi family further employed a distinctive punched-chisel treatment (uchikomi-tagane) above and below the nakago-ana — characteristically two strikes above and three below for Rakuju — enabling attribution of unsigned works by both Fukanobu and Rakuju. Favored design motifs include warabite (蕨手, bracken-hand) openwork, shadow butterflies (kage-cho sukashi), rain-dragons (uryu), auspicious clouds (zuiun), and tomoe forms, all drawn from the Hayashi-school repertoire. Fukanobu's works are consistently characterized as sincere and dignified (seijitsu de hinkaku no sugureta sakufu), never resorting to eccentricity or novelty, while Rakuju brought a more forceful and inventive energy to these inherited forms. The Kamiyoshi school occupies a place of singular importance within the Higo kinko canon as the lineage that most faithfully preserved and reinvigorated the Hayashi tradition into the late Edo period. That Juhei Tadamitsu is referred to as "the Kamiyoshi grandfather" and Juhei Fukanobu as "the Kamiyoshi father" — both epithets defined in relation to Rakuju — testifies to the commanding stature of the third-generation master within this lineage. Fukanobu, though fewer signed works survive, produced pieces of such accomplishment that the NBTHK describes his finest tsuba as the hakubi (白眉, "crowning achievement") among his oeuvre — notably a yatsu-warabite design in imitation of Matashichi with gold sayagata inlay and the Hosokawa kuyo-mon (九曜紋) crest. The father-and-son collaborative works (gassaku) by Fukanobu and Rakuju further demonstrate the school's integrated mastery. Rakuju's late works, produced after decades of striving toward the example of Matashichi, are described as having attained an elevated and refined quality (kosho na sakuhin). Several pieces are recorded as former possessions of the Hosokawa family itself, and the recurrence of the patron name Ogi Masakuni (荻昌国) in commissioned inscriptions attests to the school's intimate relationship with prominent supporters. In the NBTHK's assessment, the finest Kamiyoshi works approach the level of the Hayashi school's founding master — a judgment that secures the school's legacy as the most distinguished heir to the Matashichi tradition. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Rakuju楽寿 | — | 13 |
| Fukanobu深信 | — | 3 |
| Masatada正忠 | — | 1 |
A Hozon-certified fitting of notably superior craftsmanship and condition, often with signature or workmanship of high reference value.
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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