Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatch平安時代から続く豊後鍛冶は、九州に於いては薩摩に並んで古くから作刀が盛んで、豊後国高田地区(現大分市鶴崎近辺)で栄え、特に室町期から江戸初期に掛けて最盛を迎えました。 古刀期の作に平姓を銘切るものが多いことから、それらを平高田と称し、新刀期以降は藤原姓を銘切るようになったことから、藤原高田と汎称します。 古来より実用刀としての評価が高い一派で、武用刀として数多の武将に愛用されました。 本作は新刀高田派の名工・貞行による薙刀であり、薙刀としては極めて珍しい片切刃造を成した、注目すべき逸品です。小板目に杢目を交えた地鉄はよく練れ、地沸がついて細やかな地景を伴い、冴え冴えとした精美な地肌を呈します。刃文は匂口明るく、互ノ目を基調に互ノ目丁字や丁字を交えた変化に富む乱れ刃を焼き上げ、刃中には足・葉が盛んに入って砂流かかり、見る者を飽きさせません。鋩子は緩やかに乱れ込み、先丸く返っており、全体に古雅な趣を漂わせる出来口です。 特筆すべき鍛錬疵は見当たらず、出来の良さと作域の珍しさを兼ね備えた貴重な一振と言えましょう。余力のある方には、ぜひ然るべき研磨を施し、特別保存刀剣鑑定の受審をお勧めいたします。 なお、製作年代は江戸前期と見做されますが、古刀期にも藤原姓を銘切る同名鍛冶が存在する点は、鑑賞上の興味を一層深める要素となっています。
NihontoWatchOffered by Toushin
The listing mentions papers that aren’t in our records yet. Current NBTHK and NTHK shinsa papers are the independent check we rely on, so it’s worth asking the dealer for a clear photo of the certificate. — Hoshi
30 on the market
As written by the shop
(Translation unavailable)
Bizen-den · Bungo
30 pieces on the market now
In Bungo Province on Kyushu, the early Kamakura masters Sadahide and Yukihira appeared and then, for a span, distinguished makers ceased; the setsumei repeatedly mark this gap before the line that became the Takada school took hold. The school was founded in the Nanbokuchō period by Tomoyuki, who arose at Takada Manor (Takada-shō) and signed in the long form "Hōshū Takada-shō Fujiwara Tomoyuki," with dated work surviving from the Shōhei (1349) and Jōji eras into the 1360s. Beside him the registers place Tokiyuki, said to be his son or disciple, and Masayuki, thought to belong to a separate line, whose Kentoku 2 (1371) tantō carries Southern Court dating and a Kurikara relief following the example of Yukihira. From these Nanbokuchō roots the lineage ran continuously through Muromachi and on into the shintō era. The naming itself tracks the periods: Nanbokuchō smiths prefixed Fujiwara; from Muromachi they signed Taira and shared the characters 盛・守・鎮・統, so the group is broadly called Taira-Takada (Heike or Hira-Takada); late in the line they returned to Fujiwara, and that stream, carried into the Edo period, is distinguished as Fujiwara-Takada. Named Muromachi hands in the setsumei include Taira Naomori (a ken dated Ōnin 3, 1469), Taira Nagamori, Takada Tatemori (Meiō 10, 1501), Taira Shizunori, and Fujiwara Shinkiyo. Across the blades a consistent vocabulary recurs. The jihada is itame mixed with mokume, frequently tending toward standing grain (hada-dachi) and, in the early work, drifting toward masame or nagare; ji-nie and chikei appear, the steel often carries a darkish kanagu tone with patches of jifu, and a whitish shirake-utsuri (sometimes a faint midare-utsuri) stands out conspicuously.
The temper runs from suguha and chū-suguha mixed with ko-gunome up to gunome-midare, with nie adhering and ashi and yō entering; kinsuji and sunagashi run through, and in fuller-tempered work tobiyaki, muneyaki and hitatsura develop (as in Nagamori's Eishō wakizashi). Founder-period Tomoyuki work is recognized by angular gunome spaced at wide intervals, an overall subdued (shizumi) impression, strong shirake with jifu, and a manner the setsumei liken to Sue-Sa and the Samonji group; the school as a whole shows Bizen-leaning utsuri, Yamato-tinged masame and nagare, and at its summit, in Shizunori, work judged to take Rai Kuniyuki as its model. Branch and period read off the signature prefix and the shape: deep curvature with an arched, upturned profile through mid-Muromachi, then broader blades with shallower sori and an extended chū-kissaki in the later phase. " Among the smiths the setsumei single out Nagamori as the most accomplished of the Heike-Takada, a suguha specialist with notably good jigane and skilled horimono, his name carried across several generations and dated freely in the Eishō and Daiei eras; one of his blades was bestowed by Shimazu Tsugutoyo of Kagoshima on the retainer Honda Chikaaki, and Tatemori is rated near him. The line reached into early shintō through Kunifusa, a disciple of Shizumasa of Takada who moved to Uwajima in Iyo, served Date Hidemune, and worked in a Horikawa manner. Provenance runs through the descriptions: Masayuki's tantō was transmitted in the Shōnai Sakai family with a Hon'ami Kōchū origami of Kyōhō 6 and recorded in the Kōzan oshigata and Umetada Meikan, and Nagamori's tachi survives with a maki-e and raden scabbard. The cutting-oriented robustness of the work, weighty in hand with thick kasane and a sturdy build, reflects the taste of an age of warfare, and these blades served as practical arms across Kyushu. The setsumei are candid that Takada has drawn a generally low evaluation in the field, and several of the registered pieces are framed expressly as answering that judgment, restoring the standing of a long lineage on the strength of its best surviving work. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tomoyuki友行 | 1350-1367 | 15 |
| Kunifusa國房 | 1615-1624 | 5 |
| Akiyuki鑑行 | 1532-1555 | 0 |
| Kagenari景也 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Chikayuki及行 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
As a rule we do not accept returns, except when we have sent a different item from the one ordered or when there is a significant discrepancy between the description and the item. If you wish to return an item, please contact us within 3 days of its arrival and then send it back.
¥495,000