KURIHARA HIKOSABURO – AKIHIDE
Amongst the relatively large number of people making swords in the traditional manner during the early Showa period, gendai-to (modern swords) as they are generally referred to, Kurihara Hikosaburo, whose art name was Akihide, is one of the most important. On November 18th Christie’s in London offered a sword by Akihide for sale. This was a rare "special order" blade, part of the Ron Gregory collection and ordered by a General of the Japanese Imperial Army, a certain General Takehara Saburo. Christie’s catalogue description, is as follows:-
309
A SPECIAL ORDER GENERAL’S SWORD WITH A TAMESHIGIRI
Mei: KURIHARA AKIHIDE KORE O SAKU, TAKEHARA SHOGUN MOTOME NI OITE, SOBUDAI-SHITA NI OITE, DATED SHOWA JUSHISHI-NEN, JUICHI GATSU, KITCHIJITSU (DECEMBER 1942) AND KIRI-AJI SAIJO NAKAYAMA HIROMICHI KORE TAMESU
The blade honzukuri, iorimune, koshi zori with chugissaki, ko-itamehada with ji-nie, gunome hamon of nioi with ashi, midare komi boshi, ubu nakago, inscribed Takehara shogun motome ni oite (ordered by Lt General Takahara at Sobudai-shita) kiri-aji saijo Nakayama Hiromichi kore tamesu (cutting tested by Nakayama Hiromichi as the best quality) 26¼ in (66.5 cm), in a service mounting with red zigzag tassel of General Officer and documentation and photographs, 20th century.
The blade was ordered by LT. General Takehara Saburo and tested by Nakayama Hiromichi.
£1,000-£1500 US$1,700-2400,
Euro 1,600-2,300
Ignoring the incorrect dating (juichi gatsu is November and not December) the sword was estimated at between £1500 and £2000, which was an altogether very low estimate of its value and demonstrates Christie’s lack of expertise in this area. It was quite fiercely contested in the room especially by a certain bidder who was a well-known UK Kendo practitioner. It actually made £6,800 under the hammer, which with buyer’s commission, VAT etc meant that it was a shade under £8,000 to clear the room. This was not surprising as the person who performer the cutting test was a very famous and respected Kendo sensei from the late Meiji period through to the Showa period. Nakayama Hiromichi sensei (more often the Hiromichi is read as Hakudo) was especially influential in helping to form modern Kendo, as it is known today and refining the Kendo no Kata that was a synthesis of several old school’s Kata from ancient times. Born in February 1873 he came from the Shinto Munen Ryu and became Hanshi in May 1920. He was on the committees for the enactment and amendment for Dai Nihon Teikoku Kendo Kata in 1917 and 1933. He was known to have tested many swords and his standards were very exacting in his search for good blades. He died on 14th December 1958. In his excellent book LOOKING AT A FAR MOUNTAIN, Mr Paul Budden has several photographic reproductions of Nakayama sensei, including one of him demonstrating Iai in the presence of the Showa Emperor in 1940.
Kurihara Hikosaburo, or Akihide, founded a Japanese sword-making academy in Akasaka in Tokyo known as the To-ken Denshujo (Japanese Sword Forging Institute). An extraordinary gentleman, Kurihara Hikosaburo was also a member of the Diet or Japanese parliament. He was a great sword lover but entered into politics and a story is told that in 1922, during a fierce political debate in which Kurihara was coming off second best in the Diet, he threw a live snake at his opponent! I have been unable to discover whether or not his reptile-assisted argument carried the day. However, he attracted many swordsmiths to both work and learn at the Denshujo and he seems to have been a respected and well-known swordmaker himself. Blades by him are all signed "Akihide" (although Hawley records a signature, presumably of the same man, that reads 'Dai Nihon Kurihara Hikosaburo Tsukuru Kore' with a further note stating that he worked in Manchuko as well as Tokyo - HIK9). A good number of the Denshujo swordsmiths included the character "Aki" in their art names and many of the present day swordsmiths trace their lineage back to members of the Denshujo. Coincidentally, the day after the sale at Christie’s, Sotheby’s sold a fine blade by Akimune, one of Akihide’s best pupils.
Kurihara Hikosaburo invited the famous Ikkansai Kasama Shigetsugu, arguably the most accomplished swordsmith of the time, to become the chief instructor of the Denshujo in Showa 7th year (1932), an invitation that was accepted. However, it appears there was something of a personality clash between these two highly charged characters and things did not really work out very well for Shigetsugu. It seems that Kurihara Hikosaburo enjoyed the process of Yaki-ire (the quenching of the blade to produce the Hamon or hardened edge) and maybe was not so good or keen to do the arduous work of actually forging the blade. It was not to Shigetsugu's liking to have some of his fine blades finished in this manner and this no doubt became a bone of contention. Further, the Denshujo was not organised on a firm financial basis and had problems fulfilling its obligations, which included paying Shigetsugu's salary on time. Probably a combination of these circumstances led to Shigetsugu attending the institute less and less frequently until, by the summer of Showa 10th year (1935) he ceased attending altogether. This rift between Kurihara and Shigetsugu meant that Shigestugu was largely excluded from the Denshujo records of that period. Kurihara was a very public and loud voice in the sword circles and virtually ignored Shigetsugu after this time. This even went to the extent of almost completely excluding Shigetsugu from Kurihara's publication "Nihonto Oyobi Nihon Shumi", a monthly magazine record of all the sword happenings from 1936 to 1945. Especially surprising when one considers that Shigetsugu had been the chief instructor of the Denshujo! On his part Shigetsugu did not enter any of the swordmaking competitions which Kurihara organised and this combination of circumstances may account for him not being too well known today by many modern Western sword students.
A close associate of Kurihara’s was the infamous Toyama Mitsuru, the leader of the "Black Dragon Society". This was probably one of the largest and best known of the right wing ultra nationalistic patriotic societies that flourished in the highly charged post Meiji period of Japan’s recent history. Toyama Mitsuru, an accomplished swordsmen and martial artist himself, was also a great patron of Japanese swordsmiths. Even as an old man in his seventies, Toyama assisted Akihide in the arduous work of the Sakite or hammerman.
It will be seen that Akihide was well connected at high levels in Japan’s pre-war society and that many orders for swords were placed by these people. He is even known to have made swords for both Hitler and Mussolini although their whereabouts is not known at the present time, as well as many high ranking military personnel and at least one Prime Minister of Japan. However, as mentioned above, even when his name appears on the nakago as the maker, it does not necessarily mean that he made the sword completely or indeed at all. It is not uncommon for a sword to be made by a pupil and bears the "master’s" signature or even be signed by the pupil with the master’s name and title. Such swords are not considered as forgeries, but are accepted as Dai-saku and Dai-mei respectfully.
Clive Sinclaire
Chairman: To-ken Society of Great Britain
Copyright ©2000 Clive Sinclaire. All rights reserved.
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