（Token Bijutsu No.556）
Nihon Koto Shi
(History of Koto)
By Dr. Honma Junji
(10)
(P.40)
6. Yamato Go-ha
(Five Major Schools of
Yamato smiths must have been active in the Nara Period but there is no their signed extant work between the Heian and the beginning of the Kamakura Periods except a tachi with the signature of ‘Senjuin’. Entering the late Kamakura Period, Tegai Kanenaga, Taima Kuniyuki, Hosho Sadayoshi and Shikkake Norinaga eventually made their appearances and they demonstrated their own individual workmanship and founded each school. Old swordsmith directories say that Norihiro was the founder of the Shikkake school but no extant work by him has been confirmed. A theory says that Sadamune was the founder of the Hosho school but I withhold my judgement on this theory. A tachi with the signature of ‘Sadatsugu’ exists.
(Reference photos)
Kokuho (National Treasure) : Tachi Mei “NOBUYOSHI”
(Owned by the NBTHK)
(P.41)
This blade looks older than Sadayoshi and
Sadamune but his name is not found in any of the swordsmith directories,
despite the fact that it shows the distinct workmanship of the Hosho school. Yamato smiths form five major schools adding the
Senjujin school, which includes Yukinobu and Shigehiro of the end of the Heian Period,
to the Tegai, the Taima, the Hosho and the Shikkake schools. Though, no extant
works of Yukinobu and Shigehiro with their signatures have been confirmed,
though there are extant works of Shikkake Norinaga with dates of the Shochu and
Gentoku, and of Hosho Sadayoshi with dates of the Bunpo and Genkyo. Tegai
Kanenaga and Taima Kuniyuki left no extant dated works. There is a tachi with a
date of the Einin by Aritoshi who is said to be a smith of the Taima school and
its workmanship looks more classic than that of Kanenaga and Kuniyuki. It is
speculated that Kanenaga and Kuniyuki were active at same time or the middle of
the Kamakura Period. Ryumon Nobuyoshi who is said to belong to the Senjuin school was also active in the middle of the
(Reference photos and oshigata)
Kokuho : Tachi “KUNIYUKI” “KUNIYUKI” “SENJUIN”
(Taima school, owned by the NBTHK) “KANNAGA”
(P.42)
There are extant works with just the school
names of ‘Senjuin’ and ‘Taima’. Also old directories say that there are smiths
who signed just ‘Todai-ji’ and ‘Kofuku-ji’. Several different Chinese characters
are used for the name of ‘Tegai’ and the school name suggests their close
relation with the
(Reference oshigata and photos)
“SADATSUGU”
“YAMATO (NO) KUNI SHIKKAKE JU NORINAGA SAKU”
“YAMATO NORINAGA SAKU” “NOBUYOSHI” “NOBUYOSHI”
Juyo Bunka Zai: Tachi Mei “YAMATO NORINAGA SAKU”
(Important Cultural Asset) (Owned by the
(P.43)
The characteristics of Yamato swords are as follows; high shinogi, wide shinogi-ji, tanto with no sori and thicker kasane in hira-zukuri and kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri, masame-hada or running itame-hada with thick ji-nie, sugu-ha with hotsure and sunagashi, narrow hamon in the lower part and wider hamon in the upper part (in thick nie-deki), and boshi with hakikake and yaki-tsume or short kaeri (tanto in kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri normally have a long kaeri). The Hosho school forges conspicuous and pure masame-hada that differentiates it from other Yamato schools. With the passage of time, peculiar characteristics of each school came to be diluted. It can be said that nie is most emphasised in the work of Soshu swords, followed by Yamato and Yamashiro swords, though it is not the case for Yamato swords of the Muromachi Period. The Hosho school employs higaki-yasuri on their nakago, and the Tegai school does taka-no-ha or higaki-yasuri. Other smiths from Yamato schools also employ these yasuri-me on their nakago finish.
(Reference photos)
Juyo Bunka Zai (Important Cultural Asset) : Tachi Mei “KANENAGA”
(P.44)
(Reference photos)
Kokuho : Tanto Mei “TAKAICHI ( ) JU KINGO
“( ) KYO 4 NEN 10 GATSU 18 NICHI”
(Meibutsu ‘Kuwayama Hosho’)