UK Sword Register

No. 51

Type: Gendai Tachi

Sugata: Slim shinogi-zukuri, low tori-zori, much funbari and noticeably straight in the monouchi area, ko-kissaki, maru-mune.

Jihada: Very tight ko-itame mixed with ko-mokume.

Hamon: Ko-nie-deki with nioi, ko-midare based on suguha, which almost touches the ha-saki in places. Very narrow throughout but widening towards the kissaki. Some ashi. The boshi is in ko-maru with kaeri.

Nakago: Ubu with a hint of kiji-mono (pheasant’s thigh). One mekugi ana, ha-agari kuri-jiri, o-sujikai yasurime, signed in a cursive script on the tachi-omote, ICHI, CHOUNSAI HAYAMA ENSHIN SAKU KORE, and dated on the tachi-ura TAISHO GANNEN JUICHI GATSU HI (1912).

Nagasa: 69.7 cm. Moto-haba: 2.7 cm Saki-haba: 1.7 cm

This interesting tachi has a very ancient sugata as it tapers noticeably (from 2.7cm to 1.7 cm) towards the very small point and is virtually straight in the top 1/3^rd of the sword with a very small ko-kissaki. This is the sort of sugata to be found on a Heian or maybe the early Kamakura period tachi. Also the very narrow hamon in ko-nie and nioi looks soft and very old lending more to the ancient style of this sword, although it has fewer hataraki or activities than the genuine old works. The jigane however, although well and tightly forged looks bright and much newer and is the clue to the later production of this sword, which is confirmed by the date on the nakago. The sword also has the rarely encountered maru-mune (round back) and the kiji-mono or pheasant’s thigh shaped nakago. It may be seen that there are a number of unusual and interesting points to be seen in this tachi blade. Undoubtedly, with the very tight jihada and the narrow old looking hamon, the swordsmith Hayama Enshin was aiming to reproduce the workmanship of the old Awataguchi swordsmiths from Yamashiro province who were at their height in the Heian and earlier Kamakura period. The kiji-mono shaped nakago is another Awataguchi feature. However, the ko-kissaki and a noticeably low shinogi, not to mention the maru-mune, must have presented a number of challenging polishing problems and I do not think that the true character of the jihada is fully apparent on this sword.

Hayama Enshin was born in 1846 at Toyohashi in Shizuoka and died at the age of 75 on 14^th February 1920 (9^th year of Taisho). His real name was Suzuki Shogaku and he went up to Edo and worked with Suzuki Masao of the Yamaura Mon (Kiyomaro group). He sometimes signed Masahiro. He is credited as being one of the few swordsmiths to continue their trade throughout the difficult times after the prohibition on the wearing of swords in the early Meiji period. Swordsmiths such as Miyamoto Kanenori, Kasama Shigetsugu, Gassan Sadakazu and a few other stalwart souls including Hayama Enshin saved the Japanese sword technology at this difficult time. Both Gassan Sadakazu and Miyamoto Kanenori received the titles of Teishitsu Gigei’in (Imperial Arts and Crafts Experts) in April of Meiji 39^th year (1906). This title was created by the Emperor Meiji in order to preserve the traditional crafts of Japan, and was the equivalent of today’s so-called Ningen Kokuho or "Living National Treasure". Whilst Hayama Enshin is known to have been commissioned to make at least one sword for the Imperial Household (not necessarily the Emperor himself) he did not receive this title.

In spite of Imperial patronage, in order to make ends meet most swordsmiths often found it necessary to reproduce old styles of swords to satisfy the demands of the current weak market. It seems that some were also sometimes forced to make downright fakes of famous swordsmiths in order to survive. Hayama Enshin was known to make ken and warabite tachi as well as other ancient sugata and Awataguchi style blades like the one under discussion here. Hayama Enshin did not always adopt the semi-cursive style of calligraphy shown in the mei on this sword as other swords show a more conventional style of writing.

It seems that in the latter half of his career, Hayama Enshin used the so-called yotetsu or Western steel when forging blades, and during the Taisho period he is said to have pioneered a simplified method of sword making which produced a flawless jitetsu. With this he was able to produce the beautiful Awataguchi style jihada known as nashiji-hada. He seemed to have attracted a number of pupils as the demand for swords increased following the wars with Russia and China but he seems to have started making mass produced gunto at this time which disillutioned at least one of them.

Fujishiro rates Hayama Enshin as Chujosaku.

(I would like to thank my friends and colleagues on the token kenkyu-kai Internet discussion group for their input into researching the biography and working of Hayama Enshin).

Clive Sinclaire

Bexley, March 2001

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