LONDON
ARMS FAIR MEETING
SEPTEMBER
25, 2004
(Transcript
and notes of a talk given by Clive Sinclaire)
INTRODUCTION
Firstly I would like to thank those who have so
generously allowed us to borrow their swords on this occasion so that we may
study and appreciate them. I know that you will bear this in mind when examining
the swords.
The swords here today range from the Kamakura period
to the end of the Tokugawa or Edo period. They are all of interest in different
ways and I hope to be able to talk about the history and development of the
Japanese sword, using these swords present to illustrate the passage of time. I
make no claim to originality in this, nor would I say that it is as
comprehensive as I would like, but there are undeniably interesting facets to
all the individual swords that are present here today.
In addition to those swords set out on the front
table here for appreciation, two further swords are offered for Kantei Nyusatsu
and I hope you will all take part in this.
Some of these oshigata used to illustrate these
notes, will already have been seen in the UK Sword Register, they are all from
the author’s files and he apologises for their indifferent quality.
The first sword we will examine is an example of the
Awataguchi school. This school was formed in the late Heian into the Kamakura
period where it is representative of the Yamashiro tradition. The Yamashiro
tradition is synonymous with Kyoto in Yamashiro province.
Arguably, the most graceful and elegant swords were
made in Yamashiro tradition at this time and this is considered as a reflection
refined taste of Kyoto nobility. Maybe this was also possible as such gentry
were unlikely to be involved in combat and could afford to indulge their tastes
with such grace and elegance.
Although there are no extant works by him, the
Awataguchi school is said to have been founded by Kuniie. However, it is known
for the work of six brothers, one of whom was this Kuniyasu, the maker of this
sword here today.
Yamashiro-den is renowned for the outstanding jihada,
which is a beautiful ko-mokume with thick ji-nie known as Nashiji-hada (pear
skin). On the jihada, chikei and yubashiri will also be found.
The hamon of Yamashiro-den is based on suguha,
predominantly in very bright ko-nie with many activities within it such as
kinsuji and inazuma. The boshi will also be suguha with ko-maru. Sometimes you
may find ko-choji included in the hamon, which
is probably a reflection of the strength and popularity of Bizen-den at this
time, ko-maru boshi
If the sword has a horimono it will often be a simple
ken and be centred on the blade and close to the ha-machi area, as may be seen
in the example here today. Bo-hi are also found.
Even though this present sword is slightly suriage,
you will see that it retains its tori-zori (also called Kyoto-zori) a further
Yamashiro-den characteristic. Please especially study the beautiful jihada on
this sword, which, because of its excellent condition and polish, is very clear
and easy to see.
Towards end of Kamakura period, the Awataguchi school
was overshadowed by the Rai school
who represented Yamashiro-den in Namboku-cho period.
(Awataguchi Kunitsuna was said to have moved to Kamakura and his son was Shintogo Kunimitsu who founded Soshu-den with Masamune)
The Yamato tradition was based in Nara in very early
times when Nara was the capital of the country (710-794) and its prosperity was
based on Buddhist temples of that area. These temples had many land holdings
throughout the country which enjoyed generous tax free status and it was the
monks of these temples who jealously guarded these privileges and who employed
many swordsmiths.
There were five main sub groups in Yamato-den Senjuin,
Shikkake, Taima, Tegai and Hosho, all of whom were affiliated to different
temples but few swords are seen before Kamakura period. Many of these swords
were not signed with smith’s
names as these smiths were considered as simple suppliers to the monastic
establishments. Sometimes, if there was any inscription at all, it would just be
Senjuin for example..
It would seem to me that few early Yamato swords are
encountered in the west and so maybe we are not too familiar with them. They
have certain characteristics that should make them identifiable such as a high
shinogi, wide shinogi-ji and often with niku. The Jihada nearly always has some
masame present somewhere or it may be a running itame. Also sometimes it would
seem that a Shirake utsuri may be seen.
The hamon in Yamato-den is mainly suguha, similar to
Yamashiro in nie-deki, vertical hataraki like kuchigai-ba, nijuba and uchinoke
are found, Boshi tend to be yakizuma,
kaen, or hakikake
The Yamato blade here today is of the Hosho school
which is quite rare. It is very easy to kantei as it is the only school in koto
times with pure masame-hada. Kunimitsu
was the founder in the mid-Kamakura period, but again there are no extant works,
and so Hosho Sadamune is accepted as the founder in practice (most Hosho school
smiths have SADA as the first character of their name).
As stated above, the jihada is a pure masame-hada
with jinie. (such a construction often leads to small tate-ware, which are
considered acceptable). It will be
noticed that the masame runs off at the mune close to the boshi and at the
hasaki near the ha-machi.
The hamon is suguha in nie and has usual Yamato-den
hataraki mentioned above as a result of the unique construction.
This sword here today demonstrates clearly this
unique jihada and has a good sugata altogether. It also has a Honami kinpun mei
(gold lacquered inscription) attributing the blade to Hosho Sadamune.
Yamato-den had an influence on Kyushu swords and it
was from Yamato-den that Mino-den, which would gain great popularity in the
Muromachi period, was developed by Shizu Saburo Kaneuji.
3: MIHARA MASAIIE
Founded by Masaiie in Bingo province at the end of
the Kamakura period, the Mihara school shows strong Yamato-den influence and was
active throughout the Namboku-cho period. The school at this time is known as
the Ko-Mihara (early Mihara) school.
The beautiful tanto shown here today dates from this
time and school and is by Masahiro It is signed Bingo ju Masahiro. It is quite a
long and extended shobu-zukuri tanto and with its slight uichi-zori looks a
little older than it is. Similar sugata may be found in shinshinto times,
however, its relatively thin kasane and long fukura attest to this blade being a
Nambokucho period tanto rather than later. It has a narrow nie-deki suguha hamon
with a ko-maru boshi and long kaeri and traces of masame-hada close to the hamon
testify to its Yamato-den classification.
The Mihara school continued throughout Muromachi
period where it is known as Sue
(late) Mihara.
All smiths signed with the first characters of their name as MASA (e.g..
Masahiro, Masamitsu, Masanobu).
At this time Soshu and Bizen were the most popular
schools as well as hybrid Soden Bizen (Kanemitsu etc) and both Yamashiro-den and
Yamato-den were somewhat eclipsed.
3:
Tanto: Signed BISHU JU MASAHIRO (Ko-Mihara)
4: OEI PERIOD KANEMUNE
At end of Namboku-cho and the beginning of the
Muromachi period, there seems to be a reaction to the huge blades of that time
and as there was an increase in warfare on foot, the wearing of katana, came to
replace the wearing of the tachi.
Custom made katana with graceful Heian or early
Kamakura tachi shape but signed katana-mei were made in the first part of the
Muromachi period, the Oei period (1394-1428). These swords were narrow, graceful
but maybe also show slight saki-zori. Tanto were rather “stretched” and
long. This may be seen as a period of transition between tachi and katana and
swords began to be signed in the so-called katana-mei style.
The most famous swordsmiths of this time were a group
known as the Oei Bizen San Mitsu. These three “mitsu’s” were named
Yasumitsu, Morimitsu and Moromitsu) and they all worked in Osafune in the Oei
period.
The sword we have here, representing this
transitional period, is by a smith named Kanemune. It may be seen that this slim
blade with a deep zori and small kissaki, has the distinct appearance of a tachi
sugata although it is signed as a katana with a 2 character mei. Although the
hamon looks more like a Bizen style (choji-gunome) Kanemune is actually a Mino
swordsmith, and so I think this demonstrates the overwhelming popularity of
Bizen style at this time. The simple hi is probably ato-bori (carved later).
Of course, during the Muromachi period, many Kazu-uichi mono were produced,
especially Bizen Osafune
4: Katana signed KANEMUNE
From the Onin (1467-77) period for the next 100 years
or so there was civil war (Sengoku-jidai) and there was a huge demand for
swords, the production of which was still dominated by Bizen (esp. Osafune)
whilst Soshu-den in decline and there was increasing production in Mino).
Even old schools such as Nobukuni, who had moved from
Kyoto to Tsukushi in Buzen province around the Oei period, virtually forsook
their Yamashiro roots and were now
influenced by Bizen-den. (mainly adopting the nioi-deki)
This sword is a Tsukushi Nobukuni school blade in
hira-zukuri, dating from the middle Muromachi period, about 1480 – 1500. It is
difficult to say precisely which Nobukuni made this sword as the name was used
by many swordsmiths and even in Japan, there are insufficient records to clearly
attribute blades simply signed “Nobukuni” to particular swordsmiths. Many
swords have just the 2 character NOBUKUNI, but even those with longer mei
include Nobukuni as a kind of school or large family name through to Shinto
period.
The saki-zori clearly means this is an example of
Muromachi period workmanship, but the hamon is still in suguha, which by now was
adopted by all schools to some extent. The sugata of this particular blade gives
an impression of great sharpness.
At the beginning of the shinto period, the then head of the family, Yoshimasa, moved the school to Fukuoka in Chikuzen province and the school was patronised by Lord Kuroda Nagamasa. From this time they became known as the Chikuzen Nobukuni group and the character “Yoshi” was often incorporated in the mei together with “Nobukuni”.
5:
Katana
signed NOBUKUNI (Tsukushi Nobukuni) – Muromachi period
6: BIZEN KIYOMITSU
Towards end of Muromachi period (around the 1550’s)
in Bizen Osafune, Kiyomitsu began producing better swords with longer and more
dynamic sugata, with extended chu-kissaki and quite a wide mihaba. Still these
swords had Bizen-zori (koshi-zori) as well as some saki-zori and usually the
hamon was in suguha with nie and nioi, sometimes a faint utsuri may be detected.
It may be that these longer swords represented a change in fighting style, away
from the kattate-mono (single handed swords) made a few years earlier. Certainly
the longer nakago, apparent in this sword, allowed the sword to be used with a
two handed grip.
This sword signed Bizen Kuni Osafune Kiyomitsu saku and dated Eiroku 6th
year (1563) and is a typical example of the workmanship. Kiyomitsu is considered
to be one of the represented swordsmiths of the sue (late Bizen) school in the
Muromachi / Momoyama period. It is considered that the Kiyomitsu name may have
been a family name and that several smiths may have co-operated in the making of
a sword, similar to the Sukesada smiths in Bizen, Osafune. The best Kiyomitsu
blades have Chumon-mei (personal name included in the signature)
Swords of this length seem to be precursors of the
swords coming in the early (Keicho Shinto period), which were copies of the
suriage Namboku-cho period tachi. .
This particular blade was the property of the Otani
family, the patriarch of which was one of the two Japanese sensei (the other
being Koyzumi sensei) to bring judo to Europe in the early part of the 20th
century.
With the ending of the Sengoku-jidai and the
unification of the country under the Tokugawa after their success at the battle
of Sekigahara, there were many wide ranging changes in swordmaking. Gone was the
necessity to produce the vast number of blades to arm the warring factions and
greater emphasis could be placed on more artistic swords. The introduction of
new style hamon and the more ornate and decorative horimono, illustrate this
well. This new style, distinct from the Gokkaden, is known as shinto tokuden.
Swords were produced by independent swordsmiths in
the new castle towns and there were the three great cities of Kyoto (still the
Imperial capital) Osaka (the business and commercial capital) and Edo (the
shogunate capital). These three great cities all provided a ready market for a
swordsmith’s business.
Some swordsmiths were patronised by the daimyo of the
larger clans such as the Date in Sendai who patronised the Kunikane line and, of
course, the Nabeshima in Hizen province who patronised the Tadayoshi line for
many generations.
Here today, we have three swords, one from Kyoto,
Osaka and Edo respectively and a further example
of a retained swordsmith’s work.
Kyoto was always an important city in Japan and at
this time remained the Imperial capital and in many ways was the crucible for
the Shinto period of sword manufacture.
The genius of Umetada Myoju and Horikawa Kunihiro
produced many fine swords and attracted many students, including Kunikiyo (a
pupil of Kunihiro or maybe Kunitomo), an example of whose work is here today to
represent Kyoto Shinto.
Kunikiyo worked mostly in suguha and was allowed to
use Kiku mon, and is now nicknamed KIKU Kunikiyo. After he became established he
eventually became a retained swordsmith of the Matsudaira han and moved to Fukui
in Echizen province.
This sword has excellent strong sugata, and the
jigane is dark in colour. This example has a beautiful and very clear
“running” itame-hada that becomes masame in many places, which produces the
many kinsuji and sunagashi that can be seen, especially at the edge of the hamon
making it appear like Yamato-den. Also, rather than his more usual suguha, this
sword is notare-ba.
Kunikiyo, as seems to have been fashionable at this
time, experimented with Nambam-tetsu or foreign steel and the inscription on
this sword attests to the fact that it was used here. He was possibly influenced
by Yasatsugu group using Nambam Tetsu after he relocated to Echizen province.
You may notice when examining this sword that the
boshi is rather weak and difficult to see clearly. This may be the result of
fire damage at some time but be assured, that it is there!
I cannot finish with Kyoto Shinto, without mentioning
the Mishina school. This was part of the relocation of many Mino swordsmiths in
the early Shinto period and they came to dominate swordmaking in Kyoto,
continuing for many generations. The overshadowed Horikawa swordsmiths do not
seem to have survived past the first couple of generations or so (there was a
nidai Kunikiyo) and the reasons for this are not clear to me.
7:
KYOTO SHINTO: Wakizashi by Kiku Kunikiyo in Nambam Tetsu
8: OSAKA – SHINTO - Wakasa
(no) Kami Hiromasa
Although Osaka, being the commercial centre that it
was, may be perceived today as a dissolute city entirely populated by avaricious
merchants, some great swordsmiths lived there.
It is usually considered that the Osaka Shinto group
was founded by Kawachi (no) Kami Kunisuke and Izumi (no) Kami Kunisada, both of
whom had studied under Horikawa Kunihiro in Kyoto.
Many fine swordsmiths worked in Osaka such as Inoue
Shinkai and Tsuda Echizen (no) Kami Sukehiro. They excelled in fine nie-deki
hamon, often flamboyant but they were also brilliant at producing suguha and the
jihada is a fine ko-mokume. Almost all Osaka Shinto have a ko-maru boshi suguha
and rising yakidashi.
Other than the suguha, Osaka Shinto may be
characterised by new and very flamboyant hamon such as the toran-midare, which
is said to admirably reflect the brash and equally flamboyant nature of Osaka
This example of an Osaka Shinto sword is by a rare
smith named Wakasa (no) Kami Hiromasa and has toran midare hamon. The jihada is
more coarse than the top quality work of Osaka and the hamon has rather
irregular nie. Hiromasa was a pupil of Sukehiro and made many dai-mei blades for
Sukehiro, which is why work in his own name is rather rare. This sword dates
from around the Enpo period (1673-81)
(As an aside, this sword was assembled in Meiji
period, presumably for export, in a silver mounted, ito-maki tachi koshirae.
When the tsuka-ito was replaced, it became evident that the saya was originally
for a katana as there was the space for a missing kurikata. I am sure that the
dragon horimono was carved when this koshirae was put together, as it is on the
wrong side of the blade for a katana (and the blade is signed katana-mei) but
the correct side if it were a tachi. I mention this only to demonstrate that one
should not take everything for granted but look closely at everything!)
8: OSAKA
SHINTO: Katana signed WAKASA KAMI HIROMASA
9:
EDO-SHINTO (Yamato (no) Kami Yasusada)
If Kyoto was the capital of culture, Osaka the
capital of finance, then Edo was the martial capital of the Shoguns. Efforts
were made by the shoguns to foster and maintain a martial atmosphere in the
city, which became increasingly difficult as the peaceful Tokugawa period
progressed.
Therefore, as Edo attracted many samurai many good
swordsmiths also came to the city. These included Kaneshige, Hankei, Hojoji
Masahiro, Kotetsu, a branch of the Ishido school, the Shitahara school and
Yamato (no) Kami Yasusada, an example of whose work we have here today.
Yasausada, along with Kotetsu and Kaneshige may be
considered as representative Edo swordsmiths in the Kanbun period (1661-1673).
Swords from this period have a recognisable sugata that is a rather long nagasa,
very shallow zori and a comparatively small kissaki. It is said to be a sugata
that was influenced by the innovation of the shinai (a straight bamboo sword)
that was then being used in kendo.
A number of the swords by the above mentioned
swordsmiths have saiden-mei or the results of cutting tests. This particular
short sword by Yasusada has such an inscription that is in Kinzogan or gold
inlay. It states that it cut “Futatsu
Do Kiri Otoshi” (cut right through two waists) and the test was conducted
by Yamano Kanjuro. As this is only a short sword, this is an impressive cut.
9:
EDO SHINTO: Wakizashi with cutting test by Yamato Kami Yasusada
10: RETAINED SWORDSMITH Harima
Daijo Fujiwara Tadakuni
A fair number of powerful Daimyo employed swordsmiths
to serve the Han on a permanent basis. This secure employment allowed the smiths
to concentrate on their work with few distractions and the result was that many
fine swords were made. Often many generations retained this sinecure and were
given the recourses to develop good sword forging techniques.
Of particular interest to me personally are the
so-called Hizen-to. Working for the powerful Nabeshima Han of Saga in Hizen
province these swords are particularly interesting because so many swordsmiths,
tied by clan allegiance and family bonds, co-operated and helped each other. To
the Nabeshima, swords, amongst other things, were good business as they exported
their wares all over Japan. However, this co-operation also meant that many
swords were dai-mei and daisaku.
The representative of Hizen-to here today is by
Harima Daijo Fujiwara Tadakuni. Tadakuni worked for Ogi fief, a collateral or
branch family of the main Nabeshima han. The other names, with particular close
ties to the mainline Tadayoshi line, included Masahiro and Yukihiro as well as
Tadakuni .
This
sword was made about 1640 and is one the styles of sword made by Tadakuni.
Mostly these smiths made swords in about three different styles and qualities
depending on whether it were to be exported, sold privately or reserved for the
Lord’s own use. However, most have certain characteristics in common, these
being a thick nioi-guchi in nie, a reasonably tightly forged jihada, ko-maru
suguha boshi. All did work in suguha, at some time or another but it seems that
those outside of the main Tadayoshi line were able to express themselves more
freely with more adventurous hamon.
This sword has an unusually large but beautifully
uniform and clear jihada. It’s sugata hints at the Kanbun-shinto shape
mentioned above. Please also notice the thick wide nioiguchi and even ko-nie, as
well as the thick ashi in the chojiba hamon. Similar work may be seen in some
Masahiro swords!
As with many shinto swordsmiths, the majority had
titles such as the Harima Daijo on this sword.
10: RETAINED SWORDSMITH: Katana signed HIZEN JU HARIMA DAIJO FUJIWARA TADAKUNI
11: SHINSHINTO Suishinshi Masahide
By late 1700’s there were few swordsmiths working,
and the shogunate was under great pressure both from within the country and from
abroad as foreign ships began to test their isolation policy. They desperately
tried to revive martial spirit of samurai without whom, their military
government was meaningless.
In the latter quarter of the 18th century,
the Osaka-shinto style of swords was popular and they were considered to be the
best swords. However, capturing the mood of the time, a swordsmith named
Masahide promoted Fukkoto or return to Kamakura period styles.
Masahide attracted many students (over 100) because
of his ideas. Personally he was skilled in Bizen-den and Soshu-den but early
swords may also be seen in Osaka-shinto.
This sword is in early Bizen style with small
choji-midare in nioi. The jihada, in common with many shinshinto blades, is very
small and tight but a faint utsuri appears. It also has an elegant and slender
shape, koshi-zori and an attractive but not typical horimono. This is the kind
of sword favoured by Masahide in his later days and also adopted by the 2nd
generation, of whom this sword is an example.
Masahide’s best pupil was Naotane
11: SHINSHINTO: Katana signed SUISHINSHI MASAHIDE
KORE O SAKU, and dated Bunsei 2nd year
12: YAMON NAOKATSU
As shinshinto progressed the threat from outside
Japan grew and the shogunate was faced with the movement to restore the Imperial
family to direct rule. There was a great deal of disturbance in the country
including peasants and farmers protesting for land and economic reforms.
Swords became wider and longer with o-kissaki in
imitation of Namboku-cho period blades, but many of these seemed to be very
heavy and impractical. Often such swords were favoured by the supporters of
Imperial restoration or those who were historically anti the Tokugawa and are
such swords are known as Kinno-to (Emperor supporting swords!) This nagamaki
illustrates the late shinshinto features well and is of very large proportions,
with a wide mihaba and o-kissaki. It is heavy and rather clumsy and would seem
to be very difficult to use. However, it is well made and has a hamon is a Bizen
style slanted kata-ochi-gunome. It was made by Yamon Naokatsu (2nd
generation) late in the Bakumatsu period, probably about 1860. Naokatsu, like
his father, was skilled in the Bizen style. Yamon Naokatsu died in 1884 at the
age of 50.
Naokatsu’s (Jiro Taro) father was a pupil of
Naotane. The well known forger, Kajihei, was also a pupil of Jiro Taro Naokatsu.
12:
Nagamaki; Mumei but attributed to Yamon Naokatsu
As mentioned before, a number of retained smiths
continued for many generations to work for the same clan. This last sword is by
hachidai (8th generation) Tadayoshi of Hizen province (see Tadakuni)
who demonstrates how they maintained consistent quality in Hizen, as his
workmanship and quality is not too dissimilar from early generations. As with
most Hizen-to, and certainly all of the main Tadayoshi line, the signature is to
be found on the haki-omote (tachi-mei). The five character signature, Hizen Kuni
Tadayoshi, is known as the Tadayoshi goji-mei.
You
can see that the sugata of the sword is quite slim, has tori-zori and is
altogether a tachi style sugata rather than the broader katana suguha. In common
with other mainline Hizen-to, the blade displays a wide nioi-guchi on its ko-nie-deki
suguha hamon. The suguha boshi, typically ends in ko-maru with some kaeri. Of
particular note on this sword, is the outstanding ko-mokume jihada, liberally
sprinkled with ji-nie and known as Konuka-hada (rice grain hada).
I
think this is a good sword to end with as it is graceful tachi sugata and suguha
hamon are inspired by the Rai school of Yamashiro den.
So we started this talk with the beauty of early Yamashiro-den and finish
with the beauty of late Yamashiro-den, separated by some six centuries.
13:
Katana by hachidai Tadayoshi, signed HIZEN KUNI TADAYOSHI
Clive
Sinclaire.