NihontoWatchThis tanto is signed by Sadatsugu from Bicchu province, with a date of Genko 3 (1333 AD). It features a wide body and a graceful form characteristic of late Kamakura to early Nanbokucho period tanto. The blade exhibits a beautiful itame hada with mokume and masame patterns, fine ji-nie, and a clear, soft suguha hamon with ko-ashi and kuichigai-ba.
NihontoWatchOffered by Choshuya
Bizen-den · Bitchu · around 1334-1338
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 5%
Sadatsugu is one of the most celebrated names of the Aoe school of Bitchu Province. Transmitted since the Kanchiin-bon Meizukushi as a smith selected among the ban-kaji appointed to serve Retired Emperor Go-Toba, Sadatsugu is accorded the highest valuation in the Shinkan Hiden-sho, recorded as "Bitchu objects, supreme: fifteen kan,"[[c:1]] and has thus long been regarded as first rank even among Aoe works. The name was carried on from the early Kamakura period through the Nanbokucho period, encompassing multiple generations. So great was the esteem attached to this lineage that the Hon'ami family developed a longstanding tendency, when encountering well-made unsigned Aoe works that display a typical manner and particularly fine workmanship, to render Sadatsugu appraisals in the sense of denoting an Aoe piece of superior quality.
The technical character of works attributed to Sadatsugu is firmly rooted in the Aoe idiom of the late Kamakura period. The forging presents itame-hada mixed with mokume in which the grain stands out finely; extremely fine ji-nie adheres, and vivid midare-utsuri appears conspicuously. The hamon is fundamentally suguha, mixed with choji, ko-choji, ko-gunome, and small gunome; a distinctive tendency toward saka-ashi can be observed throughout. In the lower half of the blade, the temper characteristically becomes irregular and lively, with ashi and yo entering vigorously, nioi predominating with ko-nie, and fine kinsuji and sunagashi running through a nioiguchi that is bright and clear. The boshi typically shows a shallow notare with an upward-tending rise, becoming pointed at the tip with a rather long kaeri, revealing a distinctive workmanship.
The scholarly significance of Sadatsugu attributions lies in their role as markers of the highest quality within the Aoe tradition. The NBTHK has repeatedly observed that the jihada, hamon, and boshi of these works "conspicuously manifest the distinctive characteristics of the Aoe group in the late Kamakura period," and that the reverse-slanting tendencies visible in the yakiba call to mind a precursor to the brilliant saka-choji midare that flourished in the subsequent Nanbokucho period. The internal scenery of the temper displays variety; the nioiguchi is bright and clear; and, combined with the robust form featuring thick kasane and abundant nikuoki, these works are consistently recognized as representative superior exemplars of the school.
Where Sadatsugu 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.
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Bizen-den · Bitchu
Phase: Sue-Aoe末青江· 1334–1500
19 pieces on the market now
Sue-Aoe names the closing chapter of the Bitchū tradition, the work made after the Aoe smiths reached the height of their powers in the Nanbokuchō era and then carried the lineage forward into Muromachi decline. The window is anchored by the hands the NBTHK repeatedly groups together as the representative smiths of the period: Tsuguyoshi (次吉), Tsugunao or Tsuginao (次直), and Moritsugu (守次), with Naotsugu (直次), Yoshitsugu (吉次), and a Sadatsugu (貞次) name carried down from the late Kamakura masters into this later age. Dated blades fix the chronology firmly, from a Moritsugu tantō of Enbun 3 (1358) and a Naotsugu in the Ryakuō years through Tsuguyoshi pieces of Teiji 2 (1363) and Kōan 2 (1362). These men succeeded the late-Kamakura-into-early-Nanbokuchō generation that produced Sadatsugu and the earlier Moritsugu, and they worked at the moment the Southern Court's fortunes were turning, after which the school thinned out. The very tail of the line surfaces in obscure later Bitchū hands such as Munesada and Sōtei of Kasaoka, dated Bunmei 13 (1481), whose lineage the records leave unknown and whose work the setsumei describe as nearly indistinguishable from late Bizen. Sugata is the first tell. Setsumei after setsumei records a wide mihaba with little taper from base to tip, thin kasane, sun-nobi proportion in the tantō and an extended chū-kissaki or outright ō-kissaki in the larger blades, the broad Nanbokuchō build that the earlier Aoe never carried. The jihada keeps the school signature of ko-itame mixed with mokume, finely standing, with mottled jifu and patches of sumihada drifting through the steel. Above all the period is read in its utsuri: streak-like suji-utsuri rises near the edge and stacks into the layered dan-utsuri the catalogues prize, seen plainly on the Tsugiyoshi tachi of Tokuju 21 and the dated Tsuguyoshi tantō of Juyo 58.
Two tempers divide the leading hands. Tsuguyoshi favors a tight, bright suguha with ko-ashi and saka-ashi; Tsugunao favors the flamboyant saka-chōji-midare with its reverse slant, ashi and yō pouring in, that matured around Enbun. Against this the Ko-Aoe of the mid-Kamakura ran ko-nie-deki with a subdued, shizumi nioiguchi over a refined chirimen-hada, while the late-Kamakura Chū-Aoe of Sadatsugu and Moritsugu stood between, the nie growing calmer and the reverse-slanting yakiba only beginning to foreshadow the later drama. Crucially the period remained nioi-deki where other provinces took up Sōshū nie, a holding distinction the setsumei mark out by name. For kantei the cluster reads together. A broad Nanbokuchō sugata, dan-utsuri over sumihada, ō-sujikai file marks on the tang, and a nioiguchi that is tight and clear point to this window rather than to Bizen of the same age; the choice between bright suguha and reverse saka-chōji then separates Tsuguyoshi from Tsugunao, while Naotsugu's forceful reverse-chisel mei and nezumi-ashi, and Moritsugu's kinsuji in a tight suguha, mark their own hands. The named masters carry strong provenance: a Tsugiyoshi wakizashi dated Enbun 2 descended in the Maeda family, a Yoshitsugu tantō passed to the Sakai of Himeji by gift of Tokugawa Ietsuna, and an ō-suriage den Tsuguyoshi katana ran through the Yanagisawa house with Hon'ami origami from Mitsuatsu. Honma's own remark singling out Tsugiyoshi and Tsuginao as the makers of the clearest chōji in tantō fixes their standing at the close of the Aoe story. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tsugunao次直 | 1345-1361 | 26 |
| Masatsune正恒 | 1213-1219 | 31 |
| Naotsugu直次 | 1288-1350 | 20 |
| Yasutsugu康次 | 1211-1213 | 10 |
| Kanetsugu包次 | 1211-1213 | 9 |
Bizen in the Nanbokuchō period
Sixty years of war between two courts drove blades long and broad, and Osafune met the demand: Kanemitsu and Chōgi led forges serving the provincial warriors who did the fighting, while Sōshū influence arrived with the armies to create Sōden-Bizen.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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 siteIf, due to our fault, the item differs significantly from its proper condition, the item may be returned. Cooling-off is within one week of the item's arrival.