The curved, ridged tachi took its classic form in the Heian provinces while the court refined its culture in the capital. Its patrons were the military nobility whose feuds ended in the Genpei War, and whose blades became heirlooms almost at once.
It has appeared, it has appeared! A katana by Hoju has appeared. In the very early, formative period of the Heian period when the nihonto originated, the Mogusa school existed in Mutsu Province (Aomori, Yamagata, Morioka, Miyagi). Today, almost no works remain, but in Hiraizumi—famous for the Chuson-ji temple and its golden pavilion, which flourished under the Oshu Fujiwara clan from the early Kamakura period to the Nanbokucho period—there exist extremely rare extant works of the old Hoju lineage like this katana. As this sword is appraised as a later-generation Hoju, it is an o-suriage mumei katana from around the Enbun era (1356) of the Nanbokucho period (670 years ago). The sugata of this sword was originally a long tachi of about 2 shaku 5 sun that has been shortened. It displays a sharp sugata with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba, featuring a unique, sharp kissaki resembling a kamasu-kissaki. The jigane is forged in itame-hada with a significant amount of masame-hada appearing. This is a characteristic of Hoju. The hamon is a notare-ba with deep nie and nioi, mixed with gunome; the ha is intricately midare, and many sunagashi appear within the ha. Since the boshi has plenty of ha remaining, it is clear that the sword originally possessed a unique and sharp kamasu-kissaki sugata, magnificently displaying its antiquity. The Edo-period koshirae adds further elegance to this sword. On this occasion, a connoisseur who has thoroughly enjoyed this piece has requested that it be passed on at a low price to someone who will cherish it in the future, so we are offering it at a special bargain price. This is a historically precious sword appraised as Hoju, nearly 700 years old, of which very few extant works exist. Please do enjoy it.
NihontoWatchmumei · Heian · nagasa 66cm · sori 1.3cm
Wakimono · Oshu
Among the swordsmiths said by old transmitted records to have worked in Ōshū (Mutsu and the wider northeast) from the Nara and Heian periods through the Kamakura age, the setsumei repeatedly observe that, of works actually surviving today, almost the only name that can be confirmed is Hōju (宝寿). The line is set within the Maikusa (Mokusa) sphere of Ōshū smiths, a group transmitted from the early Kamakura period onward; one tachi is described as a branch of the Maikusa smiths of Mutsu, and a Nanbokuchō entry pairs Hōju with Maikusa and, after Nanbokuchō, the Gassan group. The name itself was carried across a long span, from Kamakura through Nanbokuchō and into the Muromachi Ōei era, so that "Hōju" denotes a lineage rather than a single hand. A complicating thread runs through the corpus: one blade dated Enkyō 4 (1311) is signed Yamato-kuni-jū Tōmoto Hōju, raising the question of movement between Ōshū and Yamato, with the setsumei suggesting exchange of smiths through Shugendō mountain practice. Dated survivors anchor the chronology firmly, with inscriptions of Shōchū 2 (1325), Eiwa 2 (1376), Eitoku 2 (1382), and a run of Ōei years (5, 6, 12, 14, 22, 25). The shared hand the setsumei describe is an archaic northern one. The forging is itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, frequently with ō-itame, the grain standing up (hada-dachi) and at times an ayasugi-like or, near the edge, masame tendency; thick ji-nie gathers and bold chikei enter, the steel inclining to a blackish tone with a whitish cast, and shirake-utsuri rising in the ground. The temper is built on suguha and suguha-chō passing into ko-midare, or a shallow notare joined with ko-gunome and ko-notare; the habuchi shows frequent hotsure, kinsuji and sunagashi run vigorously, and a yaki-otoshi often drops the hardened edge at the machi.
The nioiguchi tends to shizumi and urumi, subdued and moist rather than bright, though certain pieces run brighter. The bōshi enters midare-komi or yakizume with hakikake, and the carvings, bonji over a sankō-tsuka-ken, are rustic yet carry an elegant taste. To recognize the hand, read the standing large-grained hada, the dark steel with whitish utsuri, and the quiet nioiguchi, set against the heroic koshizori tachi form. For kantei, the diagnostic cluster is the combination of standing ō-itame with bold chikei, blackish steel under whitish utsuri, yaki-otoshi at the base, and the subdued nioiguchi with hotsure, kinsuji, and sunagashi, the whole carrying a frankly provincial character that the setsumei treat as the lineage's signature. Signature study is itself a kantei tool: the two-character Hōju mei of the Eitoku-era Imperial Household tachi is read against an orikaeshi-mei example dated Eitoku, certified an Important Art Object, to date later works by the same chisel. Named survivors map the standing: two signed tachi in the Imperial collection, the kinzōgan-mei katana carrying a Hon'ami Kōchū origami of Kyōhō 7 (1722), the Shōchū 2 tachi held by Mitake Shrine, and an ubu mumei ōdachi transmitted as a hereditary treasure of the Murakami, the maritime warriors of the Seto Inland Sea. Ubu, signed, and dated Hōju, especially those not descending past early Nanbokuchō, the setsumei prize as reference material for an Ōshū tradition otherwise known largely through this one enduring name. Learn more →
The Heian period (794 to 1185)
The curved, ridged tachi took its classic form in the Heian provinces while the court refined its culture in the capital. Its patrons were the military nobility whose feuds ended in the Genpei War, and whose blades became heirlooms almost at once.
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.
It has appeared, it has appeared! A katana by Hoju has appeared. In the very early, formative period of the Heian period when the nihonto originated, the Mogusa school existed in Mutsu Province (Aomori, Yamagata, Morioka, Miyagi). Today, almost no works remain, but in Hiraizumi—famous for the Chuson-ji temple and its golden pavilion, which flourished under the Oshu Fujiwara clan from the early Kamakura period to the Nanbokucho period—there exist extremely rare extant works of the old Hoju lineage like this katana. As this sword is appraised as a later-generation Hoju, it is an o-suriage mumei katana from around the Enbun era (1356) of the Nanbokucho period (670 years ago). The sugata of this sword was originally a long tachi of about 2 shaku 5 sun that has been shortened. It displays a sharp sugata with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba, featuring a unique, sharp kissaki resembling a kamasu-kissaki. The jigane is forged in itame-hada with a significant amount of masame-hada appearing. This is a characteristic of Hoju. The hamon is a notare-ba with deep nie and nioi, mixed with gunome; the ha is intricately midare, and many sunagashi appear within the ha. Since the boshi has plenty of ha remaining, it is clear that the sword originally possessed a unique and sharp kamasu-kissaki sugata, magnificently displaying its antiquity. The Edo-period koshirae adds further elegance to this sword. On this occasion, a connoisseur who has thoroughly enjoyed this piece has requested that it be passed on at a low price to someone who will cherish it in the future, so we are offering it at a special bargain price. This is a historically precious sword appraised as Hoju, nearly 700 years old, of which very few extant works exist. Please do enjoy it.
NihontoWatchmumei · Heian · nagasa 66cm · sori 1.3cm
Wakimono · Oshu
Among the swordsmiths said by old transmitted records to have worked in Ōshū (Mutsu and the wider northeast) from the Nara and Heian periods through the Kamakura age, the setsumei repeatedly observe that, of works actually surviving today, almost the only name that can be confirmed is Hōju (宝寿). The line is set within the Maikusa (Mokusa) sphere of Ōshū smiths, a group transmitted from the early Kamakura period onward; one tachi is described as a branch of the Maikusa smiths of Mutsu, and a Nanbokuchō entry pairs Hōju with Maikusa and, after Nanbokuchō, the Gassan group. The name itself was carried across a long span, from Kamakura through Nanbokuchō and into the Muromachi Ōei era, so that "Hōju" denotes a lineage rather than a single hand. A complicating thread runs through the corpus: one blade dated Enkyō 4 (1311) is signed Yamato-kuni-jū Tōmoto Hōju, raising the question of movement between Ōshū and Yamato, with the setsumei suggesting exchange of smiths through Shugendō mountain practice. Dated survivors anchor the chronology firmly, with inscriptions of Shōchū 2 (1325), Eiwa 2 (1376), Eitoku 2 (1382), and a run of Ōei years (5, 6, 12, 14, 22, 25). The shared hand the setsumei describe is an archaic northern one. The forging is itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, frequently with ō-itame, the grain standing up (hada-dachi) and at times an ayasugi-like or, near the edge, masame tendency; thick ji-nie gathers and bold chikei enter, the steel inclining to a blackish tone with a whitish cast, and shirake-utsuri rising in the ground. The temper is built on suguha and suguha-chō passing into ko-midare, or a shallow notare joined with ko-gunome and ko-notare; the habuchi shows frequent hotsure, kinsuji and sunagashi run vigorously, and a yaki-otoshi often drops the hardened edge at the machi.
The nioiguchi tends to shizumi and urumi, subdued and moist rather than bright, though certain pieces run brighter. The bōshi enters midare-komi or yakizume with hakikake, and the carvings, bonji over a sankō-tsuka-ken, are rustic yet carry an elegant taste. To recognize the hand, read the standing large-grained hada, the dark steel with whitish utsuri, and the quiet nioiguchi, set against the heroic koshizori tachi form. For kantei, the diagnostic cluster is the combination of standing ō-itame with bold chikei, blackish steel under whitish utsuri, yaki-otoshi at the base, and the subdued nioiguchi with hotsure, kinsuji, and sunagashi, the whole carrying a frankly provincial character that the setsumei treat as the lineage's signature. Signature study is itself a kantei tool: the two-character Hōju mei of the Eitoku-era Imperial Household tachi is read against an orikaeshi-mei example dated Eitoku, certified an Important Art Object, to date later works by the same chisel. Named survivors map the standing: two signed tachi in the Imperial collection, the kinzōgan-mei katana carrying a Hon'ami Kōchū origami of Kyōhō 7 (1722), the Shōchū 2 tachi held by Mitake Shrine, and an ubu mumei ōdachi transmitted as a hereditary treasure of the Murakami, the maritime warriors of the Seto Inland Sea. Ubu, signed, and dated Hōju, especially those not descending past early Nanbokuchō, the setsumei prize as reference material for an Ōshū tradition otherwise known largely through this one enduring name. Learn more →
The Heian period (794 to 1185)
The curved, ridged tachi took its classic form in the Heian provinces while the court refined its culture in the capital. Its patrons were the military nobility whose feuds ended in the Genpei War, and whose blades became heirlooms almost at once.
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.
