Sengoku Seki was an industry: smiths organized under their tutelary Kasuga shrine, arming the war bands of central Japan. Magoroku Kanemoto’s sanbonsugi and the finest Kanesada work prove quality survived inside mass production.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchBlade construction: Shinogi-zukuri with an Iori-mune. The difference in width between the base and the tip is minimal, giving the blade a powerful appearance. It has a broad Shinogi-ji in comparison of Hira-ji with a high Shinogi ridge, ample Hira-niku and the Shinogi-ji has been slightly pared down to produce a particularly robust construction, heavy on hands. The blade terminates in an elongated Chū-kissaki. Forging: The Jihada consists primarily of Itame mixed with Mokume, standing out distinctly with areas of flowing grain. Sparkling thick Ji-nie covers the surface, accompanied by well-developed darkish Chikei. The Shinogi-ji displays a prominent Masame-hada. Hamon: A lively undulating Notare composed of Gunome and Chōji. The Nioiguchi is bright and well defined, while the interior of the temper is filled with Nie, with Gunome ashi and long Nie-suji activities. Bōshi:The temper continues into the point in a Jizo profile, sweeping (hakikake) and returning rather deeply. Nakago: The blade has been Machi-okuri and Suriage. The tang heel is horizopntal Kiri. A distinctive Gohei-shaped notch is cut into the Ha side. There are two Mekugi-ana with ō-sujikai file marks. Both of Ha and Mune surfaces of the tang are flat. Below the second Mekugi-ana, on the Ohinogi-ji, is a slightly small but relatively long signature reading "Izumo-no-Kami Fujiwara Ujisada-saku" 出雲守藤原氏貞作. UJISADA 氏貞 was the younger brother of Wakasa-no-kami UJIFUSA 若狭守氏房. He first signed KANESADA 兼貞, later changing his name to UJISADA 氏貞, and signed blades as "Nōshū Seki-ju UJISADA" 濃州関住氏貞. Around Tenshō 3 (1575), he received the court title of Gon-no-Shōshō 権少将 later Sakonoe Gon-no-Shōshō 左近衛権少将 and around Tenshō 5 (1577) was granted the honorary provincial title Izumo-no-Kami 出雲守. He moved from Seki in Mino Province to Gifu, and later settled in Nagoya, where he also signed blades with inscriptions such as "Bishū Nagoya-ju Gon-no-Shōshō UJISADA"尾州名古屋住権少将氏貞. Dated works by UJISADA 氏貞 are known from Eiroku 8 (1565) through Tenshō 17 (1589). Blades bearing only the two-character signature "Ujisada" are generally undated. It is said that he served in close attendance upon Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 alongside his elder brother, Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa 若狭守氏房. A sword bearing the signature “Gon Shōshō, Izumo no Kami Fujiwara Ujisada, an auspicious day in the second month of Tenshō 9 (1581)” 権少将出雲守藤原氏貞 天正九年二月吉日 has been handed down through the descendants of Niwa Nagahide 丹羽長秀. According to the family's records, Ujisada 氏貞 forged two swords with exceptional care, presenting one to Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 and the other to Niwa Nagahide 丹羽長秀. His elder brother, Wakasa-no-Kami UJIFUSA 若狭守氏房 on a retainer of Oda Nobunaga 織田信長, it is said that he entered Nobunaga's service after the latter occupied Gifu in Eiroku 10 (1567) and remained in his employ until the Honnō-ji Incident in Tenshō 10 (1582). A famous anecdote concerns Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉(then known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō), who repeatedly sought to acquire a UJISADA 氏貞 sword owned by Tōdō Takatora 藤堂高虎. Hideyoshi is said to have pleaded to exchange it even for the entire Province of Ise, yet Takatora steadfastly refused. Owing to this story, the sword became celebrated under the name "Ikkoku Ujisada" 一国氏貞 ("Ujisada Worth a Province"). After the Meiji Restoration, that celebrated blade entered the collection of the noted collector Sudō Sōjirō 須藤宗次郎 and in 1942 it was designated an Important Art Object. Accompanied by a Black Roiro-nuri lacquered Saya Uchigatana Koshirae (Complete views of the koshirae: Omote (front) / Ura (reverse) / Detailed photographs of the sword fittings) Fuchi-kashira: Autumn grasses design; Shakudō Nanako ground, high-relief carving with gold iroe; unsigned, Owari school. Menuki: Autumn grasses design; Shakudō, sculptural carving (katabori) with gold iroe. Tsuba: Paulownia crests amid scrolling arabesque vines; round Iron ground, Ji-sukashi openwork; unsigned, Kyō-sukashi style. Tsuka: White Samegawa wrapping; Nando-iro silk braid in morotsumami-hishi-maki style. Gold foiled single layner Habaki, preserved in a plain wood mounting Shirasaya References Yoshiyuki Sugiura, Mino Tōkō Meikan Ribun Publishing, 2008 Takuo Suzuki & Yoshiyuki Sugiura, Muromachi-ki Mino-toko-no Kenkyu Ribun Publishing, 2006 Atou Iwata, Genealogy of Owari Swordsmiths Nagoya City Board of Education, 1984 Kunzan Honma & Masakuni Ishii, Nihontō Meikan Yūzankaku Publishing, 1975
Offered by Sanmei
4 on the market
Mino-den · Mino · around 1558-1592
Fujishiro Chu-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 31%
4 pieces on the market now
Ujisada is traditionally regarded as the son of the first-generation Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa of Seki in Mino province, and as the younger brother of the second-generation Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa. Active during the closing decades of the Muromachi period, with dated works spanning from Tensho 3 (1575) through Tensho 7 (1579), he occupied a distinguished position within the Sue-Seki group. He received the court title Izumo no Kami and signed variously as Sakon Shosho, Sakon Gonshosho, and Gonshosho. The sobriquet "Ikoku Ujisada" is said to have been bestowed in praise of the superb quality of his workmanship, an appellation reportedly arising when a discerning warrior requested one of his blades in preference to a sword from another province.
In the usual style of this smith, one finds a forging texture showing a combination of tight ko-itame with a masame-inclined character, and a temper that forms a gently undulating, shallow and broad notare, into which hako-shaped elements are mixed -- features that well display the characteristics of the Sue-Seki group and in particular of the Ujifusa line. His works range from katana exhibiting large notare that hardens into o-midare with tobiyaki assuming a minayaki-like character, to tanto bearing notare mixed with gunome in which slight ashi and yo enter with a tightening nioiguchi, according well with the transmitted manner of his master. Among tanto, many works bear skillfully executed carvings, placing "grass" kurikara or horimono such as gomabashi with rendai -- a hallmark of the line.
Across the body of designated works, the NBTHK repeatedly observes that Ujisada's blades "clearly display the characteristic features of this smith" and that the workmanship in both ji and ha is excellent. His finest pieces are distinguished by brightness and clarity in the steel -- both jihada and temper described as saeru -- to such a degree that one designated example is characterized as giving an impression that could be mistaken for a superior work by Kotetsu. The consistent presence of dated inscriptions among his surviving works adds documentary value to an oeuvre that stands as a representative achievement of late Seki craftsmanship.
Where Ujisada 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
Mino-den · Owari
16 pieces on the market now
Rooted in Owari province at the boundary between the kotō and shintō eras, the Ujifusa line carried Mino-den forging into the late Momoyama and early Edo decades, working under the Tokugawa establishment of Owari at Nagoya. The setsumei here cover several hands of the group. Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa and Hida no Kami Ujifusa stand as the reference points against which the others are read. Echigo no Kami Fujiwara Ujitsune, recorded in the Meikan and the Mino-tō Taikan as the second son of Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa, first signed Ujishige, received the Echigo no Kami title in Genna 6 (1620), and died at Nagoya in Meireki 2 (1656). Ujisada, who took the court title Izumo no Kami and signed Sakon Shōshō and Sakon Gonshōshō, is transmitted as a son of the first-generation Ujifusa and younger brother of the second-generation Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa; one of his tantō carries a date of Tenshō 5 (1577). The shared hand begins in the kitae: a dense itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, carrying ji-nie and, in the fuller work, fine chikei. The temper draws on the Mino-den vocabulary, a notare mixed with gunome, ko-gunome in tsure, large gunome, and pointed togari-leaning forms, the notare often taking angular turns (kado-gakari).
Ko-ashi and yō enter; nie attaches, at times slightly coarse and unevenly applied, with kinsuji and sunagashi in the lower body and tobiyaki and muneyaki scattered through, so that some blades verge on hitatsura and minayaki. The nioiguchi can incline toward shizumi. The bōshi is tempered deeply and far down (yakisage) with hakikake, the point sometimes drawn into a sanpin-style sharpness on one face and an ō-maru on the other. Ujitsune's signed katana reads as a near-textbook gathering of these traits; Ujisada's tantō tightens the nioiguchi (shimarigokoro) toward his master's manner. For kantei, the angular notare, the patchy nie, the shizumi-inclined nioiguchi, and the sanpin-pointed bōshi with long yakisage mark the Wakasa no Kami group; the larger work adds broad mihaba, ō-kissaki, and thick kasane. Carving belongs to the record: a "grass" kurikara and gomabashi with rendai appear on Ujisada's tantō. The Ujitsune katana, by a smith the setsumei call a scant producer, is named his representative work, holding coherence across a great nagasa. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Ujifusa氏房 | 1596-1615 | 16 |
| Ujifusa氏房 | 1571-1592 | 9 |
| Ujifusa氏房 | 1624-1644 | 0 |
| Ujitsune氏恒 | 1596-1615 | 1 |
| Ujisada氏貞 | 1558-1592 | 7 |
Mino in the Muromachi period
Sengoku Seki was an industry: smiths organized under their tutelary Kasuga shrine, arming the war bands of central Japan. Magoroku Kanemoto’s sanbonsugi and the finest Kanesada work prove quality survived inside mass production.
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 siteFor a return, please contact us within 7 days of the item's arrival. If specification changes such as dimensions were made at the customer's request, a return cannot be accepted. Shipping and transfer fees are the customer's responsibility.
¥1,500,000
Certificate reading — 銘 出雲守藤原氏貞作