Two courts, sixty years of war, and the most dramatic silhouettes in the sword’s history: broad blades, extended points, true ōdachi later cut down into the majestic katana collectors prize. The Sōshū manner was the style of the age.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatch世界遺産の奥州平泉近郊で栄えた舞草・宝寿一派。最も古い鍛冶集団の一つながら源頼朝の平泉侵攻の結果、舞草・宝寿鍛冶の多くは山城や備前など全国各地へ移り衰退していった。古備前の正恒は舞草有正の子と云われ、また伯耆安綱と奥州鍛冶の類似性など、日本刀の草創期を語るうえで欠かせない存在。 本作は身幅とても広く豪壮で、重ねは0.8cmもある。凛とした太刀姿で反り高く、棒樋を深く掻いて体配もよい。一見直刃に見える刃文だがこれは刃取りが強いためで、実際には細かな小互の目刃文。完全な小沸出来で形成されなど奥州鍛冶の特徴が良く表れて、乱れた小互の目には太い銀筋が蠢くように働く。地鉄は板目肌に杢目が交じり、ここにも刃中の働きと同じような銀線が見え隠れし、地景や地沸も見て取れる。時代を考えると驚くほど健全で出来も良く、また、鑑定書には無銘極めでは珍しく「太刀」と書かれている。 付属の拵は黒呂鞘に黒柄巻とシンプルに仕立て、矢橋帰帆図鐔に波千鳥図縁頭など上品。是非お手にとってご覧頂きたい一振。特別保存刀剣鑑定書附。
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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 tachi recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection 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 recorded in Honma's inventory of 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 Nanbokuchō period (1333 to 1392)
Two courts, sixty years of war, and the most dramatic silhouettes in the sword’s history: broad blades, extended points, true ōdachi later cut down into the majestic katana collectors prize. The Sōshū manner was the style of the age.
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.
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