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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchAccompanied by Juho Token Kenkyukai Kanteisho, koshirae remnants, karakuri shirasaya. The Shindo clan. His common name was Sukeemon. The first generation Nobukuni Yoshimasa was born as the son of the twelfth generation Chikuzen Nobukuni Yoshisada, and moved from Buzen Province (Oita Prefecture) to Chikuzen Province (Fukuoka Prefecture) together with his father, Yoshisada. It is said that he learned the Yamashiro-den from his father Yoshisada, and in later years traveled to Bizen Province to master the Bizen-den, but this incurred his father's wrath and led to his disinheritance, whereupon he passed the family headship to his younger brother Yoshitsugu (second generation) and established a branch family; he is renowned as the preeminent master of the Chikushu Nobukuni school, and signed as Heisuke Yoshisada and Heishiro at first, and as Yoshimasa in his later years. He died on December 4, Shoo 2. The second generation Yoshimasa was born in Genna 8 and died in Jokyo 5, August, at the age of sixty-seven. Like the first generation, he excelled at the Bizen-den and inherited the style of the first generation. The mei style of the second generation typically uses a slightly thicker tagane compared to the first generation, and while the first generation uses the character "saku" in the meibun, it is not seen in the second generation. This naginata is somewhat large and powerful with a flared point, and as expected of Yoshimasa who is hailed as the best of the Chikushu Nobukuni school, the sugata is extremely well-composed. The jigane is a finely forged and tight ko-itame with ji-nie and minute chikei, and the hamon is a skillfully tempered gunome with gunome choji and juka-style choji with a bright and clear nioiguchi; inside the ha, ashi and yo enter actively with kinsuji and inazuma-like activity, and from the monouchi to the fukura the midare increases in complexity, showing ever-changing scenery, while the boshi is midare-komi with a round kaeri; no tanren-kizu are observed, making this a masterpiece naginata that vividly demonstrates Yoshimasa's high level of skill. As it is currently in an old togi, slight rust about the level of discoloration can be seen in places, but even as it is, there is no major hindrance to appreciation. That said, precisely because it is a masterpiece, for those with the means, I would certainly like to see it undergo re-polishing and be submitted for simultaneous Tokubetsu Hozon Token shinsa. Although it is regrettable that it was cut, remnants of the koshirae tsuka are included. The shirasaya is an extremely elaborate construction with a karakuri mechanism, designed so that the mune side of the shirasaya opens when the toshin is pulled out and closes automatically when it is sheathed. One can see the wisdom of the sayashi devised to prevent unnecessary air from touching the toshin, making it a truly interesting and fascinating gem.
Offered by Toushin
2 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Yamashiro-den · Chikuzen · around 1661-1673
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
2 pieces on the market now
Where Yoshimasa 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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Yamashiro-den · Yamashiro
22 pieces on the market now
Few Kyoto houses bridged two traditions as deliberately as Nobukuni (信国), the Yamashiro-den lineage whose work runs from the Nanbokucho period through Muromachi and on, in a western branch, into the shinto age. The first generation, the smith the NBTHK counts as shodai, is the master of the Enbun, Koan and Joji years; the older registers placed a founding Nobukuni back in the Kenmu era, but the published sources set that legend aside, since no work survives so early and the style of the oldest dated blades connects directly with that of Sadamune. Two inheritances meet in him. By blood he belongs to the Ryokai line, recorded as son or grandson of Ryo Hisanobu and therefore of Rai descent; by training he is said to have studied under Soshu Sadamune, counted among the Sadamune Santetsu, the three brilliant pupils. The name then passed on: a change-of-generation Nobukuni with Eitoku, Shitoku and Meitoku dates stands at the close of Nanbokucho, and in early Muromachi come the so-called Oei Nobukuni, Saemon-no-jo and Shikibu-no-jo, conventionally the third generation. The published commentary keeps these hands apart and notes that several smiths of the same signature appear within the Nanbokucho period alone. Through Muromachi the line moved to Buzen and then Chikuzen, where it served the Kuroda house of Fukuoka as retained smiths and flourished as the Chikuzen Nobukuni group of Yoshisada, Yoshimasa, Yoshitsugu, Yoshikane and Shigekane. A single steel underlies the whole school. The jigane is an itame mixed with mokume that flows toward the ha and stands into masame, with thick ji-nie and chikei entering frequently; on the finer-forged pieces a streak-like nie-utsuri rises, and that masame-tinged surface is read as the visible token of the Ryokai pedigree.
Over it the temper divides into the manners the sources name together: a suguha expressing the Kyoto tradition, refined in ko-nie with fine hotsure and a niju-ba tendency, carried on tanto and ko-wakizashi; and a ko-notare mixed with gunome inheriting the Sadamune style, laid thick in nie, with kinsuji, sunagashi, hotsure and conspicuous yubashiri, on the most flamboyant pieces stringing into a two-tiered ha. From the late Nanbokucho succession into the Oei generation a third range enters, a gunome-led midare whose tell is paired gunome linked across the valleys by a low ko-notare into a yahazu, arrow-notch, profile, with muneyaki, tobiyaki and niju-ba on the liveliest blades. Above all stands the carving the sources call the house art, the horimono of bonji, kurikara, suken, gomabashi, sanko-ken and the invocation of Hachiman Daibosatsu, often layered one over another in kasanebori; few smiths of the age are so consistently identified by what they carved. The Chikuzen branch carried the masame-leaning itame forward and added a choji-midare with midare-utsuri, Yoshikane reaching toward Soshu-den with deep nioi and thick nie, Shigekane ranked highest in skill within his group and noted as a copyist of meibutsu who emulated Fudo Kuniyuki at the Hama Palace. To kantei Nobukuni is to read the Kyoto traces that part him from Sadamune: the nie-utsuri, the niju-ba, and the hada that drifts into masame along the ha. Within the long succession the shodai remains the touchstone, his dated work the standard against which unsigned blades and generation questions are resolved, the reversed left-form kuni marking the Oei Saemon-no-jo, the yahazu the daigawari hand. The best members rank Jo-jo saku under Fujishiro, and the carving reputation is the constant thread, distinguishing these blades from the plainer utilitarian grooving of contemporary Bizen. Provenance runs through the great houses: the Kuroda wakizashi once carried by Kuroda Nagamasa, a Hongan-ji meibutsu held to have been cherished by Rennyo Shonin, the signed Arao Nobukuni descended in the Asano of Geishu, pieces in the Sanada, Tosa Yamauchi and Tamura families, and a tachi bestowed on the Owari Tokugawa. Examples rest today in the Tokugawa Art Museum, the Kyoto National Museum, shrines such as Atsuta and Ise, and long-held private collections, with the Chikuzen smiths' shogunal-command pieces preserving the historical episodes that produced them. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Nobukuni信國 | 1356-1368 | 70 |
| Nobukuni信國 | 1383-1392 | 33 |
| Nobukuni信國 | 1394-1428 | 44 |
| Yoshikane吉包 | 1661-1686 | 6 |
| Masanobu正信 | 1356-1361 | 4 |
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.
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 siteAs 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.
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