After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchOrdering Number: 25392Tachi in Shirasaya (22nd NBTHK Juyo Token)Signature: Morihiro守弘Sayagaki: Echizen Chiyozuru MorihiroBlade Length: 2 shaku 3 sun 9.5 buWritten in September, Showa 49 (1974)Written by KunzanChukoto: Jyo Saku: EchizenWe divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku.This work is ranked as Saijyo Saku for the smith Morihiro.Blade Length: 72.6 cm (28.58 in)Curvature: 2.1 cm (0.83 in)Mekugi Hole: 2Width at Base (Motohaba): 3.06 cm (1.20 in)Width at Tip (Sakihaba): 1.90 cm (0.75 in)Thickness of rim (Kasane): 0.84 cm (0.33 in)Sword Weight: 845 gEra: Nanbokucho periodShape: Standard width, thick kasane, and deep curvature.A mostly ubu piece with signature engraved in tachi-mei style.Jigane: Itame hada with flowing grain pattern, standing out with ji-nie.There is a Kitae Ware(forging crack) near the habaki, but it is mostly hidden beneath the habaki.Hamon: Made in nie-deki, deep nioikuchi with small gunome-midare, including ashi and yo, with active kinsuji and sunagashi.The boshi is midare and yakitsume.Features: Morihiro was a son of Chiyozuru Kuniyasu, also residing in Kaga and known as Kamo Saburo.This sword is recorded in Kantō Hibi-shō Zoku (p.127 copy included) and Koto Taikan (p.609 copy included).This work features a high koshizori and firm shape.Jihada includes chikei and fine ji-nie.The hamon is small gunome-midare with well-inserted ashi.A bohi with kakudome is carved on both sides.The nakago is mostly ubu, with rounded mune and shallow katte-sagari yasurime.The clearly cut two-character signature is a hallmark of swords from the Nanbokucho period in northern Japan.There are several works by Morihiro with different mei styles, suggesting this may be by the first generation, while others might be second generation.This piece shows a faint utsuri and has mitsumune.It is a dignified work with a solid signature, deep curvature, and slightly extended kissaki—an excellent piece that we highly recommend.Kantō H
越前には来国安の弟子と伝える千代鶴国安なるものが貞治頃にいて千代鶴派の祖となった、守弘はこの国安系の刀工 で銘鑑によれば初代を応永頃、二代を嘉吉頃としているが、現存するものには応永る溯るものと思われるものがあり、そ の作風は互の目調の乱れ刃で地刃共によく沸えて来風とは趣を異にしている。この太刀も互の目調の乱れ刃で沸がよくつ いた作であるが銘振が多少相異している。 恐らく代の少し下ったものであろう。
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Yamashiro-den · Echizen · around 1394-1428
Tōken Taikan top 21%
1 piece on the market now
Where Morihiro 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 · Echizen
9 pieces on the market now
The Chiyozuru lineage took root in Echizen Province during the Nanbokuchō period, and the setsumei consistently trace its origin to Rai Kuniyasu (来国安). He is said to have been born in Yamashiro Province, with one tradition holding him a grandson of Rai Kunisue; he later moved to Echizen, where the meikan place him around the Jōji and Sadaji eras (ca. 1362 to 1368). A parallel tradition, recorded on the signed tachi attributed to Morihiro, names Chiyozuru Kuniyasu[[c:1]] as a disciple of Rai Kuniyasu and the founder of the line. From this root descend the smiths the blades document: Morihiro (守弘), placed in the Kuniyasu line across two generations, the first set in the Ōei era (1394 to 1428) and the second in the Kakitsu (1441 to 1444) and Bun'an (1444 to 1449) eras; and Mitsuyuki of Tsuruga[[c:2]], recorded as a student of Echizen Kuniyuki and known from a rare Kakei-dated tantō. The Yamashiro inheritance runs through the whole group, even as the workmanship moves away from the Kyoto homeland into a provincial Hokuriku register. Two stylistic strands run through the corpus, and recognizing the hand means reading where a given blade falls between them. The Rai-derived work, seen in the katana attributed to Rai Kuniyasu, shows itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, the grain tending to stand (hada-dachi) with thick ji-nie and frequent chikei; the steel carries a whitish or, in places, slightly blackish cast that the setsumei read as a provincial inflection of Yamashiro.
The hamon on these is a chū-suguha mixed with ko-gunome, the edge breaking into hotsure, kuichigai-ba, and nijūba, with ashi, yō, kinsuji, and sunagashi running through and a bright nioiguchi; the bōshi enters midare-komi or shallow notare-komi, turning in ko-maru with hakikake, at times vigorous enough to give a flame-like (kaen) impression. The Morihiro strand turns toward a gunome-based midareba with a chōji tendency, tobiyaki, and muneyaki, the forging moving toward masame near the edge; the setsumei mark this gunome-toned, nie-laden manner as differing in character from the Rai style and proper to the later line. For kantei, the setsumei set the diagnostic problem plainly: a Chiyozuru blade can at first glance resemble the orthodox Yamashiro Rai work, particularly around Rai Kunimitsu, yet careful reading of the standing grain, the whitish or blackish jigane, and the rustic activity in the bōshi beyond what the Kyoto homeland shows directs the attribution to Echizen. The boldest Nanbokuchō pieces, wide in mihaba with ō-kissaki and muneyaki, invite comparison with Hokuriku contemporaries such as Etchū Tametsugu (越中為継), but the character of ji and ha keeps them within the Chiyozuru fold. Signed examples anchor the line: Morihiro tachi and a Kakitsu 1 (1441) dated wakizashi carrying his Tōzaemon no Jō name, and the Mitsuyuki tantō whose Kakei date makes it documentary material of high value, dated works of the group being extremely scarce. The Morihiro tachi of Jūyō-Bijutsuhin standing is recorded in the Kōzan Oshigata, Kokon Kajibikō, and Kantō Zuiroku. Across the corpus the line holds a distinct place among Nanbokuchō and early Muromachi Hokuriku smiths, carrying a Yamashiro pedigree into a workmanship the appraisers read as its own. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kuniyasu國安 | 1345-1350 | 4 |
| Ieyoshi家善 | 1487-1489 | 0 |
| Kagemori景守 | 1394-1428 | 0 |
| Munemitsu宗光 | 1441-1444 | 0 |
| Iemasa家正 | 1492-1501 | 0 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
A blade of top-grade workmanship and condition, formally judged to rank with a nationally recognized Important Art Object (Jūyō Bijutsuhin). Awarded only at the NBTHK’s competitive annual examination.
Of Japan’s roughly 2.5 million registered swords, only 12,348 (about 1 in 202) have ever attained Jūyō.
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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