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.
This is a wakizashi made by Harimadaijo Fujiwara Shigetaka of Echizen province during the Shinto period. The blade features a well-forged steel and a vibrant hamon with abundant activity. It comes with a Hozon Token certificate and is mounted in a black lacquered koshirae.
Certificate reading — 銘 播磨大掾藤原重高 越前住
NihontoWatchmei · Shinto · nagasa 53.74cm · sori 0.92cm
Shinto · Echizen · around 1624-1644
Fujishiro Chu-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
3 pieces on the market now
The first-generation Harima Daijo Shigetaka was a disciple of the first-generation Echizen Yasutsugu, and among the smiths of the Echizen group he is regarded as possessing the highest level of skill. An extant wakizashi bearing a date of Genna 2 (1616) establishes his period of activity in the early Edo period. The line continued through several generations into the Bakumatsu, yet it is the shodai whose work most closely approaches the range of his master. While many Echizen smiths characteristically finish their tangs in ken-gata form, Shigetaka is distinctive in employing kurijiri, with the first generation tending toward a particularly shallow contour.
Shigetaka's forging presents tightly packed itame-hada mixed with mokume, with ji-nie adhering well and fine chikei entering; the steel frequently bears a darkened, "kane-colored" tone that the NBTHK setsumei note as especially noteworthy in comparison with typical Echizen work. His hamon characteristically favors suguha-cho with shallow notare, mixed with ko-gunome and somewhat pointed elements; ashi enter well, the nioi is deep with thick nie, and kinsuji and sunagashi appear throughout. The boshi typically forms ko-maru with a rather deep kaeri, showing hakikake at the tip. His manner of signing is compact and vertically tightened, executed with a thick chisel. The naginata-zukuri wakizashi modeled after the celebrated Meibutsu "Honebami Toshiro" is praised as one of his greatest masterpieces, demonstrating faithful utsushi technique and splendid horimono in the kinai-bori manner.
Surviving works by the shodai are not commonly encountered, and among them katana are particularly few; hira-zukuri wakizashi are comparatively numerous, while tanto include both hira-zukuri and kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri forms. The kanmuri-otoshi examples display an archaic manner suggesting an intention to evoke old Yamato precedents. Across his oeuvre, the refinement and compactness of the forging stands apart from ordinary Echizen production.
Shinto · Echizen
55 pieces on the market now
The Shimosaka name began not as a single hand but as a trademark shared by a band of Echizen smiths at the dawn of the shinto era, and the designated record gathers their work under that one signature rather than parsing it into individuals. The published sources read the early inscriptions, the generic Echizen no Kuni Shimosaka and the titled Higo Daijo Fujiwara Shimosaka, as the product of a group, of which the first-generation Yasutsugu served as the representative. Born in Shimosaka village of Sakata district in Omi, Yasutsugu moved to Echizen under the patronage of Yuki Hideyasu, signing in his early years Higo no Daijo Shimosaka before his Keicho 10 to 11 summons to Edo, where he forged before Ieyasu and Hidetada and received the character Yasu and the right to cut the Tokugawa hollyhock crest on his nakago. The titled signature was carried by several Echizen hands at once, and the texts list Yasutsugu, Sadakuni and Kanenori among the smiths whose chisel movement and brush intent are too alike to part on present evidence. From this band the Echizen Yasutsugu line descended, dividing after the second generation into the Edo and Echizen Shimosaka houses, and around it formed the deep relief carving the province made its own. The school is recognized first in its steel. The forging is itame mixed with mokume that stands and opens, often flowing into nagare, carrying thick ji-nie and fine chikei, the kane taking on the blackish cast the sources name outright as Echizen-gane; the same dark, standing jihada recurs from Yasutsugu through his son, through Sadatsugu, Shigetaka and the unnamed Shimosaka hands, and the commentary returns to it as the group's signature. Over it the hamon favors a suguha to chu-suguha or shallow notare into which linked gunome and ko-gunome mix, ko-ashi and yo entering, the nie thick and gathering unevenly into rough patches, kinsuji and sunagashi streaming through, the nioiguchi tending to a sinking shizumi.
The boshi is the steadiest tell, running to a ko-maru swept in hakikake and turning back long, with a Sanpin-flavored reminiscence of the Mishina and Echizen-Seki inheritance. Yet the house is not uniform: Sadakuni works an austere suguha over an unusually refined ji with little of the blackish mokume, Sadatsugu fires the brightest, most choji-laden midare of the circle, and the third generation cleans the forging and brightens the nioiguchi toward his Edo contemporaries. Binding the registers is the carving, the deep Echizen-bori and Kinai-bori of kurikara, Fudo Myoo, bonji and gomabashi set in relief within the hi, which Sadakuni may have first supplied to Yasutsugu's blades. For the collector the school rewards reading by register rather than by a single famous holding. Yasutsugu is its summit, rated Jo-jo saku, retained smith to the shogunal house, whose Sadamune and Toshiro copies (the Namazuo, the lost Oyako, the Shishi) show his own Echizen hand under the model, and whose best katana carry the possession inscriptions of his patron Honda Hida no Kami Narishige and provenance in the Echizen and Kishu Tokugawa houses. The second generation follows so faithfully that his finest blades part from the father chiefly by the form of the character tsugu; the Edo third generation continues the suguha and ko-notare manners with a straight yakidashi and a Hojoji affinity. Around them the specialists define the edges of the idiom: Sadakuni and his quiet suguha with a pair of tanto in the Imperial Collection, Sadatsugu with his Narishige-crested cutting-test blades, and Shigetaka, the most skilled of Yasutsugu's pupils, whose chestnut-tailed kurijiri nakago and Kinai carving (the Honebami and Hossho copies among his masterworks) name him at a glance and whose finest work approaches the master. A signed Shimosaka blade, whether a titled Yasutsugu beneath the aoi-mon, a named piece by one of the band, or a Higo Daijo pre-Yasutsugu register, comes to market only from time to time, valued as the wellspring from which the Echizen Yasutsugu line and its carving tradition arose. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Yasutsugu康繼 | 1596-1615 | 73 |
| Yasutsugu康繼 | 1624-1644 | 27 |
| Yasutsugu康繼 | 1661-1673 | 8 |
| Sadakuni貞國 | 1596-1615 | 11 |
| Shigetaka重高 | 1596-1615 | 6 |
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.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
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 siteReturns accepted within 3 days of delivery for defective items or significant discrepancies; customer bears return shipping and bank fees.
This is a wakizashi made by Harimadaijo Fujiwara Shigetaka of Echizen province during the Shinto period. The blade features a well-forged steel and a vibrant hamon with abundant activity. It comes with a Hozon Token certificate and is mounted in a black lacquered koshirae.
Certificate reading — 銘 播磨大掾藤原重高 越前住
NihontoWatchmei · Shinto · nagasa 53.74cm · sori 0.92cm
Shinto · Echizen · around 1624-1644
Fujishiro Chu-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
3 pieces on the market now
The first-generation Harima Daijo Shigetaka was a disciple of the first-generation Echizen Yasutsugu, and among the smiths of the Echizen group he is regarded as possessing the highest level of skill. An extant wakizashi bearing a date of Genna 2 (1616) establishes his period of activity in the early Edo period. The line continued through several generations into the Bakumatsu, yet it is the shodai whose work most closely approaches the range of his master. While many Echizen smiths characteristically finish their tangs in ken-gata form, Shigetaka is distinctive in employing kurijiri, with the first generation tending toward a particularly shallow contour.
Shigetaka's forging presents tightly packed itame-hada mixed with mokume, with ji-nie adhering well and fine chikei entering; the steel frequently bears a darkened, "kane-colored" tone that the NBTHK setsumei note as especially noteworthy in comparison with typical Echizen work. His hamon characteristically favors suguha-cho with shallow notare, mixed with ko-gunome and somewhat pointed elements; ashi enter well, the nioi is deep with thick nie, and kinsuji and sunagashi appear throughout. The boshi typically forms ko-maru with a rather deep kaeri, showing hakikake at the tip. His manner of signing is compact and vertically tightened, executed with a thick chisel. The naginata-zukuri wakizashi modeled after the celebrated Meibutsu "Honebami Toshiro" is praised as one of his greatest masterpieces, demonstrating faithful utsushi technique and splendid horimono in the kinai-bori manner.
Surviving works by the shodai are not commonly encountered, and among them katana are particularly few; hira-zukuri wakizashi are comparatively numerous, while tanto include both hira-zukuri and kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri forms. The kanmuri-otoshi examples display an archaic manner suggesting an intention to evoke old Yamato precedents. Across his oeuvre, the refinement and compactness of the forging stands apart from ordinary Echizen production.
Shinto · Echizen
55 pieces on the market now
The Shimosaka name began not as a single hand but as a trademark shared by a band of Echizen smiths at the dawn of the shinto era, and the designated record gathers their work under that one signature rather than parsing it into individuals. The published sources read the early inscriptions, the generic Echizen no Kuni Shimosaka and the titled Higo Daijo Fujiwara Shimosaka, as the product of a group, of which the first-generation Yasutsugu served as the representative. Born in Shimosaka village of Sakata district in Omi, Yasutsugu moved to Echizen under the patronage of Yuki Hideyasu, signing in his early years Higo no Daijo Shimosaka before his Keicho 10 to 11 summons to Edo, where he forged before Ieyasu and Hidetada and received the character Yasu and the right to cut the Tokugawa hollyhock crest on his nakago. The titled signature was carried by several Echizen hands at once, and the texts list Yasutsugu, Sadakuni and Kanenori among the smiths whose chisel movement and brush intent are too alike to part on present evidence. From this band the Echizen Yasutsugu line descended, dividing after the second generation into the Edo and Echizen Shimosaka houses, and around it formed the deep relief carving the province made its own. The school is recognized first in its steel. The forging is itame mixed with mokume that stands and opens, often flowing into nagare, carrying thick ji-nie and fine chikei, the kane taking on the blackish cast the sources name outright as Echizen-gane; the same dark, standing jihada recurs from Yasutsugu through his son, through Sadatsugu, Shigetaka and the unnamed Shimosaka hands, and the commentary returns to it as the group's signature. Over it the hamon favors a suguha to chu-suguha or shallow notare into which linked gunome and ko-gunome mix, ko-ashi and yo entering, the nie thick and gathering unevenly into rough patches, kinsuji and sunagashi streaming through, the nioiguchi tending to a sinking shizumi.
The boshi is the steadiest tell, running to a ko-maru swept in hakikake and turning back long, with a Sanpin-flavored reminiscence of the Mishina and Echizen-Seki inheritance. Yet the house is not uniform: Sadakuni works an austere suguha over an unusually refined ji with little of the blackish mokume, Sadatsugu fires the brightest, most choji-laden midare of the circle, and the third generation cleans the forging and brightens the nioiguchi toward his Edo contemporaries. Binding the registers is the carving, the deep Echizen-bori and Kinai-bori of kurikara, Fudo Myoo, bonji and gomabashi set in relief within the hi, which Sadakuni may have first supplied to Yasutsugu's blades. For the collector the school rewards reading by register rather than by a single famous holding. Yasutsugu is its summit, rated Jo-jo saku, retained smith to the shogunal house, whose Sadamune and Toshiro copies (the Namazuo, the lost Oyako, the Shishi) show his own Echizen hand under the model, and whose best katana carry the possession inscriptions of his patron Honda Hida no Kami Narishige and provenance in the Echizen and Kishu Tokugawa houses. The second generation follows so faithfully that his finest blades part from the father chiefly by the form of the character tsugu; the Edo third generation continues the suguha and ko-notare manners with a straight yakidashi and a Hojoji affinity. Around them the specialists define the edges of the idiom: Sadakuni and his quiet suguha with a pair of tanto in the Imperial Collection, Sadatsugu with his Narishige-crested cutting-test blades, and Shigetaka, the most skilled of Yasutsugu's pupils, whose chestnut-tailed kurijiri nakago and Kinai carving (the Honebami and Hossho copies among his masterworks) name him at a glance and whose finest work approaches the master. A signed Shimosaka blade, whether a titled Yasutsugu beneath the aoi-mon, a named piece by one of the band, or a Higo Daijo pre-Yasutsugu register, comes to market only from time to time, valued as the wellspring from which the Echizen Yasutsugu line and its carving tradition arose. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Yasutsugu康繼 | 1596-1615 | 73 |
| Yasutsugu康繼 | 1624-1644 | 27 |
| Yasutsugu康繼 | 1661-1673 | 8 |
| Sadakuni貞國 | 1596-1615 | 11 |
| Shigetaka重高 | 1596-1615 | 6 |
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.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
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 siteReturns accepted within 3 days of delivery for defective items or significant discrepancies; customer bears return shipping and bank fees.
