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.
(Recorded in Kubikiri Asaemon Token Oshigata, Volume 2, P149) It has appeared, it has appeared! A famous meito recorded in the oshigata of the Yamano family—the Shogunate’s official tameshigiri practitioners of the Edo period—and later the Yamada family (Kubikiri Asaemon). In the 4th year of Jokyo (1687) (338 years ago), Yamano Kichizaemon-no-jo Hisatoyo used this sword to cut through two human bodies at the waist (the hardest part) with a single stroke. Later, in the 1st year of Kaei (1847) (178 years ago), Naito Keinosuke of the Mito Domain Shoinban (the Lord’s bodyguard) brought this sword to the Yamada family on behalf of the 10th Lord of the Mito Tokugawa, Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, to request a test as the Lord’s sashiryo. Upon testing, it cut through the wakige (the area across both breasts) in one stroke. The evaluation stated that the workmanship and sharpness are generally good, though a crack on the mune was repaired and there are some kizu within the hi. It notes, "I recall seeing this sword several years ago when it was presented by another Daimyo." While it is a strict evaluation without flattery for a sashiryo of the Great Daimyo Mito Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, that is precisely what makes this sword’s history so fascinating. Naito Keinosuke, who brought the sword, served as a study companion to Tokugawa Yoshinobu and later distinguished himself by suppressing the Tengu-to during the fierce civil war between the Tengu-to and the Shosei-ha (conservatives) in the Mito Domain. He became a professor at the Mito Kodokan, but was later imprisoned, escaped Mito amidst the chaos, and in the Meiji era became a government official in Yamagata Prefecture, a middle school principal in Gunma, and in Meiji 19, a professor at Tokyo University as a historian. The Echizen Yasutsugu family of this sword is a prestigious lineage of swordsmiths treated as samurai with a 400 koku stipend (equivalent to an annual salary of 80 million yen today) by Yuki Hideyasu. This sword is a precious work by Shimosaka Shirouemon, the third son of the famous Shogunate smith, Shodai Echizen Yasutsugu. After the Shodai Yasutsugu passed away in Genna 7 (1621) (404 years ago), the eldest son, Nidai Shimosaka Ichinojo Echizen Yasutsugu, succeeded him. Following the Nidai’s death in Shoho 3 (1646) (379 years ago), a succession dispute erupted because the Nidai’s son, Umanosuke, was still a child. Due to the intervention of the Hatamoto Abe Shirogoro with the Roju, stating "this is a lineage established by Gongen-sama (Ieyasu)," a reconciliation was reached. The Nidai’s son Umanosuke became the Edo Echizen Yasutsugu Sandai, while the Shodai’s third son, Shimosaka Shirouemon, inherited the Echizen residence and the Echizen Yasutsugu house, becoming the Echizen Yasutsugu Sandai in Echizen. His works exist from the Kanbun era (1661, 364 years ago) to the Enpo era (1680, 345 years ago). This sword exhibits a sugata with a thick motokasane and a distinct difference between the motohaba and sakihaba with sori. The jigane is forged in itame-hada, displaying abundant jinie and chikei, and the carving features a bo-hi. The hamon is an ambitious o-notare in nioi-deki with nie, mixed with gunome and many kinsuji. This sword was likely a special order for a Daimyo related to the Tokugawa family. On this occasion, an elderly collector has asked us to pass this famous meito, recorded in the Kubikiri Asaemon Token Oshigata, to the next generation at a low price. We are offering it at a special bargain. Please enjoy this historically precious meito, significant both in the history of swords and the history of the Mito Tokugawa family.
NihontoWatchmumei · Edo · nagasa 72cm · sori 1.7cm
Shinto · Echizen · around 1660-1673
Tōken Taikan top 14%
8 pieces on the market now
Where Yasutsugu 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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
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 |
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.
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 siteFor returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
¥2,600,000
(Recorded in Kubikiri Asaemon Token Oshigata, Volume 2, P149) It has appeared, it has appeared! A famous meito recorded in the oshigata of the Yamano family—the Shogunate’s official tameshigiri practitioners of the Edo period—and later the Yamada family (Kubikiri Asaemon). In the 4th year of Jokyo (1687) (338 years ago), Yamano Kichizaemon-no-jo Hisatoyo used this sword to cut through two human bodies at the waist (the hardest part) with a single stroke. Later, in the 1st year of Kaei (1847) (178 years ago), Naito Keinosuke of the Mito Domain Shoinban (the Lord’s bodyguard) brought this sword to the Yamada family on behalf of the 10th Lord of the Mito Tokugawa, Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, to request a test as the Lord’s sashiryo. Upon testing, it cut through the wakige (the area across both breasts) in one stroke. The evaluation stated that the workmanship and sharpness are generally good, though a crack on the mune was repaired and there are some kizu within the hi. It notes, "I recall seeing this sword several years ago when it was presented by another Daimyo." While it is a strict evaluation without flattery for a sashiryo of the Great Daimyo Mito Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, that is precisely what makes this sword’s history so fascinating. Naito Keinosuke, who brought the sword, served as a study companion to Tokugawa Yoshinobu and later distinguished himself by suppressing the Tengu-to during the fierce civil war between the Tengu-to and the Shosei-ha (conservatives) in the Mito Domain. He became a professor at the Mito Kodokan, but was later imprisoned, escaped Mito amidst the chaos, and in the Meiji era became a government official in Yamagata Prefecture, a middle school principal in Gunma, and in Meiji 19, a professor at Tokyo University as a historian. The Echizen Yasutsugu family of this sword is a prestigious lineage of swordsmiths treated as samurai with a 400 koku stipend (equivalent to an annual salary of 80 million yen today) by Yuki Hideyasu. This sword is a precious work by Shimosaka Shirouemon, the third son of the famous Shogunate smith, Shodai Echizen Yasutsugu. After the Shodai Yasutsugu passed away in Genna 7 (1621) (404 years ago), the eldest son, Nidai Shimosaka Ichinojo Echizen Yasutsugu, succeeded him. Following the Nidai’s death in Shoho 3 (1646) (379 years ago), a succession dispute erupted because the Nidai’s son, Umanosuke, was still a child. Due to the intervention of the Hatamoto Abe Shirogoro with the Roju, stating "this is a lineage established by Gongen-sama (Ieyasu)," a reconciliation was reached. The Nidai’s son Umanosuke became the Edo Echizen Yasutsugu Sandai, while the Shodai’s third son, Shimosaka Shirouemon, inherited the Echizen residence and the Echizen Yasutsugu house, becoming the Echizen Yasutsugu Sandai in Echizen. His works exist from the Kanbun era (1661, 364 years ago) to the Enpo era (1680, 345 years ago). This sword exhibits a sugata with a thick motokasane and a distinct difference between the motohaba and sakihaba with sori. The jigane is forged in itame-hada, displaying abundant jinie and chikei, and the carving features a bo-hi. The hamon is an ambitious o-notare in nioi-deki with nie, mixed with gunome and many kinsuji. This sword was likely a special order for a Daimyo related to the Tokugawa family. On this occasion, an elderly collector has asked us to pass this famous meito, recorded in the Kubikiri Asaemon Token Oshigata, to the next generation at a low price. We are offering it at a special bargain. Please enjoy this historically precious meito, significant both in the history of swords and the history of the Mito Tokugawa family.
NihontoWatchmumei · Edo · nagasa 72cm · sori 1.7cm
Shinto · Echizen · around 1660-1673
Tōken Taikan top 14%
8 pieces on the market now
Where Yasutsugu 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.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
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 |
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.
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 siteFor returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
¥2,600,000
