UK
Sword Register No. 103
Type: Shinto Katana
Nagasa:
66.4 cm
Moto-haba: 2.6 cm
Saki-haba: 1.8 cm
Sugata: A slender shinogi-zukuri katana, low iori-mune, shallow tori-zori and a small chu-kissaki.
Jihada: An indistinct but tight ko mokume itame, with a whitish shirake appearance.
Hamon: Composed of a small gunome-choji based on notare-midare in nie and nioi. Occasional togari, also small ashi and some sunagashi throughout. The pattern continues into the boshi, which has ko-maru and a short kaeri.
Nakago: O-suriage with four mekugi-ana and approximately 13cm of machi-okuri, kiri yasurime on the “new” part of the nakago.
This
sword has a noticeably slender shape and, in spite of the extensive suriage,
still retains a good length. The very shallow sori makes the blade appear to be
almost straight and together with tapering towards the small kissaki, clearly
indicate the Kanbun period (1661-73) as the time of manufacture. At this time,
it is said that the shape of swords was greatly influenced by developments in
kendo, where the straight shinai (bamboo practice sword) was being introduced
and used by the samurai when training in swordsmanship. Sometimes Kanbun-shinto
swords were very long and the testing of swords (tameshigiri) was also popular
during the Kanbun era.
The
somewhat untidy and irregular configuration of the hamon with the rather
featureless jihada, resembles that of Shinto workmanship from the Takada school
of Bungo province, usually referred to as “Fujiwara Takada” (all smiths
prefixed their names with Fujiwara,
hence Fujiwara Takada). It is to this group that the sword has been attributed
in shinsa. Founded in the koto period the Bungo Takada school was considered to
be artistically inferior but very practical, as they were both sharp and strong.
Bungo
province in Kyushu, was ruled by the Otomo clan for many generations, including
the famous Christian daimyo Sorin (Yoshishige, 1530-1587) who fought many
battles in Higo, Chikuzen and Buzen provinces and eventually against the Shimazu
in Satsuma province. With so much warfare, it was imperative that Sorin had a
regular and reliable supply of cheap swords and so Sorin looked to the Takada
smiths to preserve both him and his ancestors, including his son Yoshimune
(1558-1605). However, the clan’s fortunes declined when they were defeated by
the Shimazu.
Bungo
province was divided up into several smaller fiefdoms during the Shinto period,
of which the largest was the Nakagawa clan of Takada (over 70,000 koku). Some of
the Takada swordsmiths moved to the various castle towns but the majority
remained in Takada. It is said that samurai from Satsuma would cross the
mountains into Bungo to buy batches of swords from there, rather than buy the
more expensive swords from their own domestic swordsmiths. There may also have
been some interchange with other neighbours in Hizen province as, Bungo swords
with suguha hamon, strongly resemble Hizen-to. These facts seem to have
contributed to the reputation of the Takada swordsmiths as “wholesalers” in
the sword business!
This sword is accompanied by an attractive Efu-no-tachi koshirae that dates from the late Edo period. The entire sword is covered with the mon of the Takeda clan and was probably commissioned as a gift to a shrine, maybe to help persuade the gods to expel the Western barbarians from the country! In more recent times, it was featured on the front cover of the To-ken Society’s 1989 Taikai programme.
Clive Sinclaire
1st January 2010