UK Sword Register.
No. 83 (10 = 41).
Type: Shinto naginata
Nagasa: 35.3 cm Machi-haba: 2.3 cm Saki-haba: 4.0 cm
Sugata: Naginata-zukuri including naginata-hi and iori-mune
Jihada: A masa-gokoro itame-hada.
Hamon: In nie with some togari-ba, the tops of which are almost forming tobiyaki, with some choji-like inclusions, resembling toran-midare, a long rising yakidashi in the machi area where the hamon ends in yakiotoshi 2.2 cm up from the hamachi. The boshi is suguha with a slightly pointed ko-maru and slight hakikake, with kaeri.
Nakago: Ubu, with one mekugi-ana, o-sujikai yasurime, signed on the haki-omote;: Kiku-mon, SHINANO (no) KAMI FUJIWARA NOBUYOSHI and on the haki-ura, NAMBAM TETSU SAKU KORE
This blade has a pronounced saki-zori, a feature of naginata in the early / mid shinto period and a long yakidashi near the machi and under the naginata-hi. The hamon shows some Mino influence with the togari but also includes a number of choji. Its overall appearance resembles, especially in the upper part of the blade, toran-midare. This together with the yakidashi, might indicate Osaka-shinto workmanship, possibly influenced by the work of Tsuda Echizen (no) Kami Sukehiro, who is credited with the invention of toran-midare hamon. Such a style is said to have reflected the flamboyant atmosphere of the city of Osaka at that time, but it is unusual to see yakiotoshi just before the hamachi. The inclusion of the reference to Nambam Tetsu is also interesting and with the interest in foreign things at that time, was something of a fashion. The Nambam Tetsu Saku Kore inscription seems to have been carved by a different hand or chisel to that of the main inscription, which in itself, has a characteristically untidy appearance.
Two generations of Nobuyoshi had the title Shinano (no) Kami. The shodai lived in Heianjo in Yamashiro province (Kyoto) and worked between the KANEI AND Kanbun periods. His son, the second generation, whose personal name was Takai Kinsaburo, moved from Yamashiro to Osaka and is recorded as working in the Enpo era. A third son of the shodai, also a swordsmith, became a lay priest and was called Tomonobu and was entitled Echizen (no) Kami. Both the shodai and the nidai carved kiku on there nakago at times.
Although this piece has no modern certification of authenticity, if genuine and inferring from the Osaka appearance of the workmanship, there seems to reason to think this piece is by the nidai Nobuyoshi, who may have been exposed to Sukehiro or Shinkai.
Fujishiro rates all three generations as Chujosaku whilst the shodai is also wazamono (sharp). However, in Fujishiro’s opinion, the sandai exceeds both the shodai and nidai in terms of skill of workmanship. He also states that the nidai changed the Fujiwara in his mei to Minamoto in later works.
This sword blade has only appeared in a To-ken Programme in printed form and has been updated for this website.
Clive Sinclaire
Bexley, February 2007