Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
It has appeared, it has appeared! A wakizashi by Sasaki Gen Ippine has appeared, of which almost no extant works remain because most were altered in later generations to Bizen Ichimonji meito and treated as daimyo-dogu. Ippine’s ancestors were Bizen Osafune tosho who, around the 2nd year of Entoku in the Muromachi period (1490, 533 years ago), joined the campaign alongside Bizen Osafune Katsumitsu under the orders of the 9th Shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa when the Muromachi Bakufu attacked the Rokkaku clan of Omi Province; he is a descendant of those swordsmiths who migrated to Goshu Sasaki. This Ippine is a wakizashi by the 2nd generation Sasaki Zenshiro Ippine, who is more highly evaluated than the 1st generation, from around the Genroku era of the Edo period (1688, 335 years ago). The sugata shows a wakizashi form with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba and little sori. The jigane is forged in itame-hada, displaying a bright and excellent jitetsu. The hamon has a deep nioi-kuchi with gunome fired at the moto, leading into a relaxed o-notare blade, manifesting nie-suji, sunagashi, and kinsuji within the ha; it aims for Soshu Masamune and is very well-made with a bright interior of the blade. Because it is a wakizashi that copied Masamune, it was fortunately preserved as Ippine zaimei without being made mumei in later generations. Having received this precious Ippine zaimei wakizashi from an old sukisha with the request to pass it on to the next generation at a low price, please by all means enjoy this wakizashi, which has been cherished since ancient times as an auspicious sword signifying that "business will only improve" (ippo).
NihontoWatchmumei · Muromachi · nagasa 53.4cm · sori 1cm
Shinto · Omi · around 1688-1704
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
1 piece on the market now
Shinto · Omi
48 pieces on the market now
The Ishido school (石堂) traces its root to Omi Province, where smiths surnamed Hioki and bearing names such as Ishido worked before the line dispersed across the country in the early Edo period. From that Omi stem grew four principal branches: the Fukuoka Ishido of Chikuzen, the Edo Ishido carried east by makers who had first gone up from Omi to Kyoto, the Osaka Ishido seeded by smiths who settled in the merchant city, and the Kishu Ishido working under the Kii daimyo. What bound these scattered workshops was a single, deliberate program: the recovery of the choji-midare of the old Ichimonji and Ko-Bizen, complete with the utsuri that the medieval Bizen masters had carried in their steel. The school's very name records this revival as a historical project rather than an imitation, for its smiths set out to recover the bright, reflection-bearing Bizen jigane that most shinto makers of the seventeenth century could no longer produce. Korekazu, Tsunemitsu, Moritsugu, and Tameyasu stand among the names by which the branches are known, alongside Bicchu no Kami Yasuhiro, who bridged the Kishu and Osaka lines, and Tatara Nagayuki of Osaka. The shared vocabulary of the school begins with the temper. Over a tightly forged itame, often a well-packed ko-itame mixing mokume and a little nagare-hada, the Ishido smiths cut a choji-midare crowded with double-flower juka-choji, fukuro-choji, large and small choji, gunome, and pointed elements, so the line shows pronounced height as it crests and falls. Ashi and yo enter in profusion, the work turning nioi-dominant with attached ko-nie, sunagashi running through and kinsuji appearing here and there. Beneath sits the surer half of the recognition: a well-forged itame carrying ji-nie in minute particles, across which stands a midare-utsuri.
Utsuri on a new-sword blade is rare and deliberate, and its recovery was the school's whole purpose, so a flamboyant choji standing over a clear irregular reflection is the first thing that separates an Ishido blade from any other shinto choji. The published sources name the school's two Bizen models directly: the Ichimonji-copy choji-midare and the Sue-Bizen-copy gunome with an opened lower contour, both worked in nioi-deki. Within these constants the branches diverge. Tsunemitsu of the Edo group holds his bright, height-varied juka-choji over a vividly standing reflection across every blade on record; Yasuhiro of the Kishu and Osaka lines tells himself by a saka-gokoro, a reverse slant in the choji and ashi most marked in his early work, and by the chrysanthemum crest of his titled years; Nagayuki of Osaka, reckoned the leading Bizen-den hand among the shinto makers, divides cleanly between his Ichimonji choji and a gunome modeled on Yosazaemon no Jo Sukesada, the boshi entering midare-komi, pointed at the tip, and turning back deeply. To kantei an Ishido blade is to read revived Bizen choji on a shinto ground: the flamboyant clove temper above, the midare-utsuri standing below, but a jigane whose nie and forging belong unmistakably to the new-sword period rather than to any true koto reflection. The recurring verdict the judges return to is that the best work recalls the old Ichimonji of classical times, brought vividly to mind by Tsunemitsu's Edo pieces in particular. Among the school's members the first-rank names carry the recognition: Korekazu and his fellows of the Fukuoka and Edo branches, Tsunemitsu by his standing utsuri and juka-choji, Yasuhiro at the junction of two branches, and Nagayuki at the head of the Bizen-den shinto hands. Provenance attaches to a portion of the school's record; Yasuhiro's broad pre-title wakizashi was transmitted in the Shimazu house of Satsuma, and one of his katana is recorded in the Imperial collection, while much of the wider Ishido output sits in the Juyo tier, more often kept than traded. A securely signed Ishido blade, showing the bright clove over a standing reflection, remains the document of how a shinto school brought the old Ichimonji choji back to life. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tsunemitsu常光 | 1648-1661 | 7 |
| Yasuhiro安廣 | 1661-1673 | 4 |
| Korekazu是一 | 1648-1652 | 2 |
| Ippo一峯 | 1688-1704 | 0 |
| Ippo一峯 | 1648-1652 | 1 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
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 wakizashi by Sasaki Gen Ippine has appeared, of which almost no extant works remain because most were altered in later generations to Bizen Ichimonji meito and treated as daimyo-dogu. Ippine’s ancestors were Bizen Osafune tosho who, around the 2nd year of Entoku in the Muromachi period (1490, 533 years ago), joined the campaign alongside Bizen Osafune Katsumitsu under the orders of the 9th Shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa when the Muromachi Bakufu attacked the Rokkaku clan of Omi Province; he is a descendant of those swordsmiths who migrated to Goshu Sasaki. This Ippine is a wakizashi by the 2nd generation Sasaki Zenshiro Ippine, who is more highly evaluated than the 1st generation, from around the Genroku era of the Edo period (1688, 335 years ago). The sugata shows a wakizashi form with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba and little sori. The jigane is forged in itame-hada, displaying a bright and excellent jitetsu. The hamon has a deep nioi-kuchi with gunome fired at the moto, leading into a relaxed o-notare blade, manifesting nie-suji, sunagashi, and kinsuji within the ha; it aims for Soshu Masamune and is very well-made with a bright interior of the blade. Because it is a wakizashi that copied Masamune, it was fortunately preserved as Ippine zaimei without being made mumei in later generations. Having received this precious Ippine zaimei wakizashi from an old sukisha with the request to pass it on to the next generation at a low price, please by all means enjoy this wakizashi, which has been cherished since ancient times as an auspicious sword signifying that "business will only improve" (ippo).
NihontoWatchmumei · Muromachi · nagasa 53.4cm · sori 1cm
Shinto · Omi · around 1688-1704
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
1 piece on the market now
Shinto · Omi
48 pieces on the market now
The Ishido school (石堂) traces its root to Omi Province, where smiths surnamed Hioki and bearing names such as Ishido worked before the line dispersed across the country in the early Edo period. From that Omi stem grew four principal branches: the Fukuoka Ishido of Chikuzen, the Edo Ishido carried east by makers who had first gone up from Omi to Kyoto, the Osaka Ishido seeded by smiths who settled in the merchant city, and the Kishu Ishido working under the Kii daimyo. What bound these scattered workshops was a single, deliberate program: the recovery of the choji-midare of the old Ichimonji and Ko-Bizen, complete with the utsuri that the medieval Bizen masters had carried in their steel. The school's very name records this revival as a historical project rather than an imitation, for its smiths set out to recover the bright, reflection-bearing Bizen jigane that most shinto makers of the seventeenth century could no longer produce. Korekazu, Tsunemitsu, Moritsugu, and Tameyasu stand among the names by which the branches are known, alongside Bicchu no Kami Yasuhiro, who bridged the Kishu and Osaka lines, and Tatara Nagayuki of Osaka. The shared vocabulary of the school begins with the temper. Over a tightly forged itame, often a well-packed ko-itame mixing mokume and a little nagare-hada, the Ishido smiths cut a choji-midare crowded with double-flower juka-choji, fukuro-choji, large and small choji, gunome, and pointed elements, so the line shows pronounced height as it crests and falls. Ashi and yo enter in profusion, the work turning nioi-dominant with attached ko-nie, sunagashi running through and kinsuji appearing here and there. Beneath sits the surer half of the recognition: a well-forged itame carrying ji-nie in minute particles, across which stands a midare-utsuri.
Utsuri on a new-sword blade is rare and deliberate, and its recovery was the school's whole purpose, so a flamboyant choji standing over a clear irregular reflection is the first thing that separates an Ishido blade from any other shinto choji. The published sources name the school's two Bizen models directly: the Ichimonji-copy choji-midare and the Sue-Bizen-copy gunome with an opened lower contour, both worked in nioi-deki. Within these constants the branches diverge. Tsunemitsu of the Edo group holds his bright, height-varied juka-choji over a vividly standing reflection across every blade on record; Yasuhiro of the Kishu and Osaka lines tells himself by a saka-gokoro, a reverse slant in the choji and ashi most marked in his early work, and by the chrysanthemum crest of his titled years; Nagayuki of Osaka, reckoned the leading Bizen-den hand among the shinto makers, divides cleanly between his Ichimonji choji and a gunome modeled on Yosazaemon no Jo Sukesada, the boshi entering midare-komi, pointed at the tip, and turning back deeply. To kantei an Ishido blade is to read revived Bizen choji on a shinto ground: the flamboyant clove temper above, the midare-utsuri standing below, but a jigane whose nie and forging belong unmistakably to the new-sword period rather than to any true koto reflection. The recurring verdict the judges return to is that the best work recalls the old Ichimonji of classical times, brought vividly to mind by Tsunemitsu's Edo pieces in particular. Among the school's members the first-rank names carry the recognition: Korekazu and his fellows of the Fukuoka and Edo branches, Tsunemitsu by his standing utsuri and juka-choji, Yasuhiro at the junction of two branches, and Nagayuki at the head of the Bizen-den shinto hands. Provenance attaches to a portion of the school's record; Yasuhiro's broad pre-title wakizashi was transmitted in the Shimazu house of Satsuma, and one of his katana is recorded in the Imperial collection, while much of the wider Ishido output sits in the Juyo tier, more often kept than traded. A securely signed Ishido blade, showing the bright clove over a standing reflection, remains the document of how a shinto school brought the old Ichimonji choji back to life. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tsunemitsu常光 | 1648-1661 | 7 |
| Yasuhiro安廣 | 1661-1673 | 4 |
| Korekazu是一 | 1648-1652 | 2 |
| Ippo一峯 | 1688-1704 | 0 |
| Ippo一峯 | 1648-1652 | 1 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
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.
