The twentieth century nearly killed the craft twice: wartime distortion, then the occupation ban. The NBTHK’s founding in 1948 and licensed forging from 1953 rebuilt the sword as an art, crowned by Living National Treasures and the mukansa rank.
Weight (excluding saya): 1170g It has arrived—a masterpiece by the famous Mukansa tosho, Hizen no Kuni Ju Yoshihiro, who has replicated the Ichimonji Norimune made famous even in Touken Ranbu. Yoshihiro’s real name is Seto Yoshihiro. Born in Showa 21 (1946) in Itoshima District, Fukuoka Prefecture. After graduating from Kurume University, he became a highly skilled craftsman under the tutelage of the Ningen Kokuho (Living National Treasure) Sumitani Masamine. He has won the Kanzan-sho (Special Prize) at the Shinsaku Meito-ten, as well as numerous Excellence Awards, Doryoku-sho, and Encouragement Awards. He is one of Japan’s representative master swordsmiths. This sword is a masterpiece replicating the Bizen Ichimonji Norimune. The sugata exhibits a grand, magnificent form with a distinct difference between the motohaba and sakihaba. The jigane features an itame-hada that appears well-forged, resembling the texture of a koto. The horimono consists of skillfully carved bo-hi. The hamon replicates the Kamakura period Ichimonji Norimune; it is a nioi-deki with abundant nie, featuring a high-reaching gunome choji-ba. It is tempered with a classic feel, including many tobiyaki in the ji, and the ha-chu is filled with sunagashi, kinsuji, and nie-suji, creating a wonderfully spirited blade. The modern koshirae further adds splendor to this sword. His master, the Ningen Kokuho Sumitani Masamine, devoted his life to the study of Kamakura period swords. Yoshihiro has also succeeded here in reproducing the jigane of ancient Kamakura blades, creating a sword that looks remarkably antique, further enhanced by a koto-style togi (polishing). On this occasion, an elderly connoisseur has entrusted us with this masterpiece Ichimonji Norimune utsushi by the Mukansa smith Yoshihiro, requesting that it be passed on to the next generation at an affordable price. As owning a sword by a Mukansa tosho is a dream for sword enthusiasts, we are offering it at a special, low price. Please enjoy this exceptional piece.
NihontoWatchsigned · Gendaito · nagasa 73.1cm · sori 2cm
Shinto · Hizen
109 pieces on the market now
The Hizen school began with a single domain commission. In Keicho 1 (1596) the Nabeshima of Hizen ordered Hashimoto Shinzaemon, the smith who would sign Tadayoshi, up to Kyoto with the carver Munenaga; there he entered the gate of Umetada Myoju and studied forging while Munenaga learned the chisel. The two returned to the province in Keicho 3 (1598), and Tadayoshi settled in the castle town below Saga, where under the domain's patronage the line grew into the dominant sword-making house of Kyushu. His own work runs from Keicho 5 (1600) to his death in Kan'ei 9 (1632); in Genna 10 (1624) he received the court title Musashi Daijo, changed his name to Tadahiro, and shifted his clan name from Minamoto to Fujiwara, so that the late Musashi Daijo blades are the founder under a second name. From him the house became a true generational institution: his son the second-generation Omi Daijo Tadahiro carried it forward as its most prolific hand, the third-generation Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi returned its highest finish, and a Tosa no Kami branch took the founder's signature when he set it aside. Around this main line grew a circle of disciples and collateral hands, the waki-Hizen or Soba-Hizen smiths, several of them, like Yoshiie and Hironori, working as daisaku substitute makers whose own signed pieces are therefore scarce. The school's signature is its steel. Over a ko-itame forged so tightly it shows no slackness, fine ji-nie gathers in minute particles until the surface takes on the rice-bran konuka-hada (also written komenuka-hada) that no other school produces, fine chikei entering throughout and the ji notably clear and bright.
The orthodox temper laid upon it is a chu-suguha or hiro-suguha, sometimes tinged with a shallow notare and ko-gunome, the nioiguchi deep with finely clustered ko-nie and tightened to a bright clarity, the boshi running straight to a quiet ko-maru. The founder aimed this suguha toward the Rai school yet departed from it, his nioiguchi tighter and his forging carrying more vigor; the third generation refined it to what the published sources call the strongest and most precise hand of the first three generations. Against that calm register the house also worked a showier one, the Hizen choji-midare mixing gunome, long ashi, kinsuji and sunagashi, a manner the published sources already find more often in the founder's late Musashi Daijo work than in his Tadayoshi years, and one the second generation made his own. The branches pushed further from the suguha standard: Tadakuni of the Ogi domain ran sunagashi more conspicuously than any other Hizen hand and reached toward old Ichimonji in his o-choji; Masahiro and Yukihiro favored a flamboyant long-ashi choji over the calm main line; and the Iyo no Jo Munetsugu line worked apart in the Soshu-den, building a midareba on notare with a pointed togariba and a jihada that tends to stand and tone slightly blackish. A collector seeks Hizen-to first for that steel, and reads it the same way the appraiser does: a bright suguha lying over a clear, tight konuka-hada identifies the school before the signature is consulted, and the quiet ko-maru boshi on the ura-signed tang confirms the main-line practice. Generation and branch are then told within that frame, the third generation's powerful sugata recalling not his father but his grandfather, the waki-Hizen hands set apart by their irregular temper, their sujikai file marks and a sashi-ura signature, the Munetsugu line by its Soshu togari. The main line, made in real numbers across so long a span, reaches the market more readily than any Kamakura master, so a papered example is within reach of a patient collector, while the founder's own work and the finest konuka-suguha of the third generation come to open hands only from time to time. Provenance runs back through the house the school served, blades recorded to Nabeshima Katsushige and Nabeshima Naomoto and passing onward to the Owari Tokugawa, the Satake and the Imperial families; documentary inscriptions sharpen the picture further, a Myoju soemei attesting the founder's discipleship, Umetada carving adding flowers to brocade on his late blades, and the gold-inlaid cutting tests of Yamano Kanjuro and Yamano Ka'emon, rare on Hizen work, naming the edge as well as the hand. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tadayoshi忠吉 | 1596-1632 | 156 |
| Tadayoshi忠吉 | 1660-1686 | 61 |
| Tadahiro忠廣 | 1633-1693 | 133 |
| Masahiro正廣 | 1624-1655 | 30 |
| Tadakuni忠國 | 1648-1652 | 32 |
Shōwa to the present: destruction and revival
The twentieth century nearly killed the craft twice: wartime distortion, then the occupation ban. The NBTHK’s founding in 1948 and licensed forging from 1953 rebuilt the sword as an art, crowned by Living National Treasures and the mukansa rank.
We could not find an authenticity certificate on the seller’s listing. Japanese swords and fittings are normally papered by the NBTHK (or the NTHK). Without one, the attribution is the seller’s own assessment and has not been independently verified — treat it with caution and ask the dealer about certification before buying.
For 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.
