NihontoWatchShōchō Era c.1428 · Early Muromachi Period · Koto · Yamato-den · 41.8 cm Nagasa · Kanteisho 2025 · Original Torokusho 1955 An exceptional early Muromachi-period Japanese sword attributed to the Tegai school (手掻派) of Yamato Province, one of the classical traditions of Yamato-den. Dating to approximately the Shōchō era (1428–1429), the blade belongs firmly to the Koto period and represents a refined example of the austere, functional and technically distinctive swordmaking tradition that developed around Nara. The blade is mumei, with no surviving signature, but is accompanied by a kanteisho issued in May 2025 by the Nihon Touken Hozon Kai, attributing the work to the Tegai school and dating it to the Shōchō era with a verdict of shōshin. It is also accompanied by its original Jūhō Tōken Rui Tōrokushō, issued by Fukushima Prefecture in January 1955, giving the sword an especially early documented registration history within Japan. With a recorded nagasa of approximately 41.8 cm, the blade sits directly at the boundary between a long tantō and a short wakizashi, a highly practical format historically suited to use as a secondary sidearm. The Tegai School (手掻派) The blade is attributed to the Tegai school of Yamato Province. Tegai formed part of the broader classical Yamato-den tradition and was historically associated with the Nara region. The school developed within the cultural environment surrounding the great temples and warrior-monastic institutions of ancient Yamato, and its swordsmiths became known for blades characterised by strong construction, disciplined geometry and restrained but highly functional temper patterns. The present attribution places the sword within one of the established classical Yamato lineages and gives the blade a particularly strong historical identity. Early Muromachi Period – Shōchō Era The accompanying kanteisho dates the sword to approximately the Shōchō era, 1428–1429. This places it in the early Muromachi period and firmly within the Koto era of Japanese swordmaking. Blades from this period retain the structural and stylistic characteristics of medieval Japanese swords produced for actual warrior use. The attribution is therefore significant not only in terms of school, but also because it situates the piece within a clearly defined historical moment more than five and a half centuries ago. The Blade (Tōshin) The blade presents a compact yet powerful profile appropriate to a long tantō or short wakizashi. Its recorded nagasa is approximately 41.8 cm, corresponding to 1 shaku 3 sun 8 bu. The proportions are particularly interesting because they place the sword directly between two conventional classifications. In practical terms, such a blade could function as a substantial secondary weapon while retaining the compactness expected from shorter sidearms. The curvature is restrained, giving the sword an elegant and purposeful profile. Hada – Itame with Masame-Nagare The kanteisho describes the hada as itame with masame-nagare. This combination is highly characteristic of Yamato-related work. The itame grain creates a gently flowing wood-like structure, while the longitudinal masame elements introduce straighter lines running through the steel. The resulting surface has a disciplined and traditional appearance, reflecting the forging characteristics historically associated with Yamato-den. Hamon – Suguha with Midare The temper line is described as suguha with a small admixture of midare. The principal structure is therefore straight and restrained, consistent with the conservative aesthetic traditionally associated with Yamato blades. Small irregularities within the line introduce subtle movement without disturbing the overall disciplined character. This combination of controlled suguha and restrained midare gives the blade a quiet sophistication rather than relying on highly flamboyant temper activity. Boshi The boshi is described as straight with a small rounded turn-back. This restrained continuation of the temper line into the point complements the overall Yamato-style character of the blade. Its compact return reinforces the controlled and functional nature of the sword’s heat treatment. The Nakago The nakago is unsigned and preserves a naturally aged surface consistent with an antique Japanese sword. It retains three mekugi-ana, reflecting changes in mounting over the course of its long history. The file marks are described as katte-sagari. The tang should be preserved exactly in its present state, as its patina and historical surface form an essential part of the blade’s age and authenticity. Mumei Attribution The absence of a signature does not diminish the historical significance of the blade. Many early Japanese swords survive today in mumei condition, particularly where tangs have been altered, shortened or remounted over centuries of use. In such cases, attribution is based upon the blade’s physical characteristics, including shape, construction, grain, temper pattern and other stylistic features. The present sword has been attributed by kantei to the Tegai school of Yamato Province and dated to the Shōchō era. Kanteisho – Nihon Touken Hozon Kai, 2025 The sword is accompanied by a kanteisho issued in May 2025 by the Nihon Touken Hozon Kai. The document attributes the blade to the Tegai school and dates it to approximately the Shōchō era. The recorded verdict is shōshin. This modern appraisal provides important documentary support for the school attribution and historical dating of the piece. Original Japanese Torokusho – 1955 The sword is also accompanied by its original Japanese Jūhō Tōken Rui Tōrokushō. The registration was issued by Fukushima Prefecture in January 1955. This is a notably early registration date, only a few years after the post-war Japanese sword registration system was introduced. The survival of such an early torokusho gives the sword an important additional layer of documented modern Japanese provenance. The Koshirae The blade is mounted in an elegant and visually coherent koshirae of above-average quality. The decorative programme combines warm gold textile, silver fittings, dark lacquer and subtle green iridescence in a refined and highly balanced composition. The entire mounting follows a consistent floral and geometric vocabulary, creating a particularly sophisticated presentation. The Tsuka The tsuka is wrapped in warm gold-tan ito over pale samegawa. The tightly executed wrapping creates a series of regular diamond-shaped openings that reveal the lighter ray skin beneath. The combination of pale same and golden wrapping gives the handle an unusually luminous appearance compared with the darker colours more commonly encountered on Japanese sword mountings. The condition remains visually attractive and well integrated with the rest of the koshirae. The Menuki Gold-toned menuki are visible through the openings of the tsuka-ito. Their warm metallic finish complements the golden wrapping while adding subtle sculptural detail to the handle. Rather than dominating the composition, they appear discreetly between the alternating diamonds of the wrapping. The Fuchi and Kashira The matched fuchi and kashira are executed in silver-toned metal and decorated with finely modelled chrysanthemum motifs over a textured nanako ground. The repeated floral medallions create a sophisticated decorative rhythm. The chrysanthemum is one of the most enduring motifs in Japanese decorative arts and lends the mounting an elegant, formal character. The matching execution of both fittings reinforces the coherence of the entire ensemble. The Tsuba The tsuba is formed in iron in a rounded mokko-inspired shape. Its surface is decorated with delicate gold nunome-zōgan arranged in a repeating geometric pattern. The principal motif resembles interlocking hexagonal kikkō forms combined with radiating star-like or floral accents. The contrast between the aged iron surface and the fine gold inlay is particularly effective. The decoration is restrained enough to retain the martial character of the iron guard while still providing considerable visual refinement. Nunome-Zōgan Decoration The gold decoration on the tsuba is executed in a style associated with nunome-zōgan, in which fine precious-metal inlay is applied to a prepared iron surface. The technique allows extremely delicate lines and geometric forms to be created while preserving the dark visual character of the underlying iron. On this guard, the repeating geometric structure creates a sophisticated textile-like effect that harmonises exceptionally well with the fine wrapping and floral silver fittings. The Saya The saya is one of the most visually distinctive elements of the mounting. Its dark lacquered surface incorporates a striking green-black speckled finish with metallic inclusions that reflect green, violet and gold tones depending on the direction of the light. The effect is reminiscent of a night sky scattered with fine points of colour. This type of kawari-nuri finish gives the otherwise restrained mounting a rich but sophisticated visual depth. The decoration remains elegant rather than ostentatious and provides an exceptional contrast with the warm gold ito of the handle. The Kojiri The kojiri continues the silver decorative programme of the handle fittings. It is decorated with floral motifs and pierced scrollwork that echo the chrysanthemum ornament of the fuchi-kashira. This continuity from the handle to the end of the scabbard creates a strong sense of unity across the entire mounting. The silver-toned fitting also provides a clean visual termination to the dark, iridescent lacquer of the saya. The Sageo The saya is fitted with a braided cord in a warm tone closely matching the colour of the tsuka-ito. The sageo is tied in traditional fashion around the mounting. Its restrained colour contributes to the highly coherent palette of the ensemble, linking the handle wrapping visually with the scabbard. Condition The blade remains in a condition in which its overall geometry and principal characteristics can be clearly appreciated. Its hada, temper structure and overall profile remain visible and suitable for study. The nakago retains its natural historical patina and three mekugi-ana. The koshirae remains visually coherent, with the gold-toned wrapping, pale samegawa, floral silver fittings, iron tsuba with gold inlay and distinctive iridescent lacquered saya forming a particularly attractive ensemble. As expected from a sword dating to the early Muromachi period and its later historical mounting, natural signs of age and use should be understood as part of the object’s history. Collector’s Value This sword combines several qualities that make it particularly attractive to collectors of early Japanese blades. Foremost is its attribution to the Tegai school of Yamato Province, placing the blade within one of the classical traditions of medieval Japanese swordmaking. Its dating to approximately 1428–1429 places it securely within the early Muromachi period and the historic Koto era. At approximately 41.8 cm, its unusual length also gives the sword a particularly interesting physical identity, positioned between a long tantō and short wakizashi. The blade’s itame and masame-nagare structure, restrained suguha and characteristic Yamato-style construction reinforce the coherence of the attribution. Its documentary history is another important strength. The 2025 kanteisho provides a modern attribution to Tegai and a Shōchō-era dating, while the original Fukushima torokusho from January 1955 represents an unusually early example of post-war Japanese registration. The koshirae adds another independent layer of interest. Its silver floral fittings, warm gold wrapping, pale ray skin, iron mokko-form tsuba with delicate gold nunome-zōgan, and distinctive green-black iridescent kawari-nuri saya create one of the most visually elegant presentations for a sword of this compact format. A refined and historically significant early Muromachi-period Japanese sword attributed to the Tegai school of Yamato Province, dating to approximately the Shōchō era of 1428–1429. Combining a genuine Koto blade, characteristic Yamato-den workmanship, modern kanteisho, exceptionally early 1955 Japanese registration and a highly coherent koshirae with silver floral fittings, gold nunome-zōgan tsuba and iridescent kawari-nuri saya, this piece offers an outstanding balance of historical depth, documentary interest and visual sophistication.
Offered by Supein Nihonto
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Yamato-den · Yamato
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Outside the Tegaimon (転害門), the western great gate of Todai-ji, a lineage of smiths forged for the temple through the closing decades of the Kamakura period, and from that monastic ground rose the Tegai school (手掻), one of the five branches of the Yamato-den. The published commentary of the NBTHK names Kanenaga (包永) its founder, placing his activity around the Shoo era (1288 to 1293) while reading his own workmanship, and a tanto by an early hand of his circle dated Karyaku 4 (1329), as evidence of a beginning reaching back further into middle and late Kamakura. The school took its name from the gate by which it worked, and the long Nanto-ju and Tegai-ju signatures cut by its later smiths keep that Nara setting on record. Among the five Yamato traditions Tegai was the largest in scale, and as the Muromachi years advanced it appears to have absorbed the others so that it alone effectively continued, a span the surviving generations of Kanenaga, Kanekiyo (包清), Kanetsugu (包次), Kanetoshi (包俊), Kanesada (包貞), and Kanemasa (包真) carry from the late Kamakura into the Eisho and Kyoroku eras. A Tegai blade is read first in the steel and then along the edge. The forging is itame mixed with mokume that flows into nagare and inclines toward masame near the ha, standing open in a hada-dachi character, with thick ji-nie, chikei entering frequently, and at times a whitish shirake utsuri toward the mune. Over that ground runs a suguha base, seldom left plain, taking in shallow notare, ko-midare, and ko-gunome; the habuchi frays into hotsure, with uchinoke, kuichigai-ba, nijuba, yubashiri drifting into the ji, and sunagashi and kinsuji sweeping through. The boshi answers in kind, swept with hakikake and finishing yakizume or turning back in a small ko-maru. Within this shared vocabulary the corpus divides along the Ko-Tegai and Sue-Tegai axis.
The founder's hand, the Ko-Tegai prime, carries the strongest nie among Yamato works, round and lustrous, over a bright and clear jigane, with many tachi holding a dignified, high-toned bearing; the Meibutsu Konotegashiwa Kanenaga even tempers omote and ura differently. The later Sue-Tegai generations part company, the steel turning whitish, the nioiguchi tightening toward ko-nie, and the temper broadening at the last toward ogunome and a hitatsura tendency near Muramasa, as in the late Tegai-ju Kanekiyo blades. To kantei a Tegai blade is to place it within Yamato and then along its own line. Against Senjuin, Shikkake, Taima, and Hosho, all working the same standing masame-inclined grain under fraying suguha, Tegai is told by the strength and brightness of its nie; Honma noted of the first generation a sparkle at times recalling Awataguchi Hisakuni, and one Tokubetsu Juyo tachi was read as rivaling the upper Soshu masters. Where Hosho runs a near-pure masame and a plain edge, and where Shikkake Norinaga strings his ko-gunome into connected rows, Kanenaga holds the suguha-cho through its shallow notare and lets yubashiri, uchinoke, and nijuba play above the habuchi with unusual freedom; the Rai suguha of Yamashiro, by contrast, runs clean over a close ko-itame. Rated Jo-jo saku by Fujishiro, Kanenaga stands at the head of the school, his signed tachi (the character Kane compressed, the second vertical of Naga drawn out long) unusually numerous for so early a smith, though most survive suriage and the o-suriage mumei attributions ride on the quality of the nie. The provenance is deep, running through shrines, the Tokugawa, Date, and Hachisuka families and, formerly, the Imperial Family, with recorded holders including the Tokyo National Museum and the Tokugawa Art Museum. The later names hold mainly to the Juyo register and to private and designated hands, valued as fixed reference points for the Yamato-den, where the founder's bright, heavy nie over standing Yamato steel remains the measure by which the whole school is judged. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kanenaga包永 | 1288-1312 | 66 |
| Kanekiyo包清 | 1362-1370 | 8 |
| Kanetsugu包次 | 1317-1333 | 4 |
| Kanetoshi包俊 | 1381-1384 | 4 |
| Kanekiyo包清 | 1429-1441 | 3 |
Yamato in the Muromachi period
The monasteries that had sustained Yamato lost ground through the Muromachi period, and the schools thinned with them; Sue-Tegai kept the old masame manner alive in quantity. The burning of Tōdaiji’s Great Buddha hall in 1567 closed the temple age.
The NTHK’s principal certificate, issued for a blade of considerable quality. It confirms a genuine signature, or, for an unsigned (mumei) work, records the judges’ attribution to a smith or school. The paper carries a detailed worksheet with a numerical point score.
The NTHK (Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai, the Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Sword) is the oldest of Japan’s sword-appraisal bodies, founded in 1910, decades before the NBTHK. After the death of its long-serving head it divided into two successor societies, the NTHK and the NTHK-NPO, both of which continue to hold shinsa. NTHK blade certificates are known for a detailed worksheet that records a numerical point score alongside the judges’ written opinion (fitting papers carry the judges’ opinion without a point score), and the society is especially respected for its attribution of unsigned (mumei) work.
14-day return if items arrive damaged or in unexpected condition; customer bears return shipping + insurance; items returned in original condition with all accessories; antique armour non-returnable; only regular priced items refundable; shipping costs non-refundable.
€3,600