（Token Bijutsu No.592）

 

Nihon Koto Shi

(History of Koto)

 

By Dr. Honma Junji

 

 (38)

 

(P.30)

15. Ko-Mihara and Hokke

(Succeeding to the previous period)

 

It is a commonly accepted theory that the founder of the Mihara school of Bingo Province was Masaie, who was active at the end of the Kamakura Period, followed by his younger brother Masahiro of the Nambokucho Period. There are few extant works of Masaie with production years of the Nambokucho Period. I conclude that a tachi with mei in two characters, which belongs to the Imperial Collection, is a work of the first generation and one owned by Mr. Hiyama, is a work of the second generation for the time being. There are some extant tachi by Masahiro, but no tachi with a production date. There is an oshigata of Masahiro with a production date of the Joji Era, in old sword directories. Also there is an extant tachi with the inscription of ‘Bishu’ in the omote and ‘Oan (Era)’ in the ura of which the chiselling style closely resembles that of  a tachi by Masaie that is listed in ‘Kozan Oshigata’ This is a work of the same age as Masahiro. ‘Kokon Mei Zukushi’ says that there is a tachi with a production date of the Meitoku Era, by a smith called Masanobu and this smith is a son of the 2nd Masaie. Also there is an extant tanto with a production date of Oan 7 by Masakiyo, who appears to belong to this school. I already described the workmanship of the Ko-Mihara school. They make tachi-sugata with high shinogi and wide shinogi-ji, forge dense ko-itame-hada with whitish jigane or itame-hada combined with masame, accompanied by ji-nie, and temper sugu-ha or sugu-ha mixed with a few midare when hotsure and sunagashi are seen. Masahiro and Masanobu favoured tempering sugu-ha mixed with a few midare, many hotsure and sunagashi are seen. There is a famous tachi nicknamed ‘O-Mihara’ that Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave it to Asano Yukinaga. This tachi has been attributed to Masahiro. In addition, there is a smith called ‘Sahyoe no Jo Masamitsu’. He is said to be a younger brother of Masaie and there is an extant tanto by him with a production date of the Bunwa Era. This tanto is listed in ‘Kozan Oshigata’. The hamon of the tanto is sugu-ha in ko-nie-deki. It is carved with a ken, bonji and a pair of ko-bashi (such horimono are very rare to see on the works of the Ko-Mihara school).

 

(Reference oshigata)

“MASAHIRO SAKU”

 

     “BISHU JU MASAHIRO”

 

             “MASAIE”

 

                     BISHU JU MASAIE SAKU”

 

(P.31)

‘Kokon Mei Zukushi’ list a certain numbers of smith’s names belonging to the Kokubunji school, as ‘Ashida-gun-mono’. Amongst them, the extant works of Kaneyasu, Yukiyoshi and Hokke Ichijo have been confirmed. It is said that Kaneyasu was a grandson of Kokubunji Sukekuni and a son of Kaneyuki, Yukiyoshi was a student of Sukekuni, and Hokke Ichijo is a grand-student of Sukekuni. Meanwhile, ‘Kokon Mei Zukushi’ says that Hokke Ichijo was a son of Masaie, but this theory is not acceptable.

 

(Reference oshigata)

Juyo Bijutsu Hin : Tachi Mei “BISHU JU (following characters are missing)”

                           “OAN (following characters are missing)”

 

(P.32)

There is also a smith named Ichijo Kaneyuki. It is speculated that smiths who use a character of ‘Kane’ in their smith names belong to the lineage of Hokke Ichijo. There is an extant work of Hokke Ichijo with a production date of the Oei Era. I have seen three tanto by Kaneyasu of which production age is attributed to the Nambokucho Period. They have a slightly wide mi-haba, their jihada is itame-hada combined with masame that stands out slightly, the hamon is gentle o-notare in nie-deki accompanied by ara-nie. They look older than the earliest work of Hokke Ichijo. The Itsukushima Shrine owns an o-dachi by Yukiyoshi who was active in the same age as Kaneyasu and its workmanship resembles that of Sukekuni and Ko-Mihara smiths.

 

(Reference oshigata)

Juyo Bijutsu Hin : Tanto Mei “CHOSHU JU YASUYOSHI”

                            “SHOHEI 17 (NEN) 8 GATSU HI”

 

(P.33)

16. Nagato Sa

 

It is the commonly accepted theory that a son of Samonji, Yasuyoshi moved from Chikuzen Province to Nagato Province and then Akikuni became his student. ‘Kokon Mei Zukushi’ says that Akikuni was a student of Samonji. Yasuyoshi is also called Sa Yasuyoshi, therefore, this Samonji must mean Sa Yasuyoshi in ‘Kokon Mei Zukushi’.　There is no extant tachi of Yasuyoshi with a mei, but many tanto with mei exist. The theory that Yasuyoshi was a son of Samonji may be accepted, considering his workmanship. There is a possibility that there is another Yasuyoshi, who belongs to the Sa school, inferring from the extant tanto with the mei of Yasuyoshi in a different style.

 

(Reference photos and oshigata)

Juyo Bunka Zai : Tanto Mei “YASUYOSHI”

 

      “SA YASUYOSHI”

 

             “CHOSHU JU YASUYOSHI”

 

There are his extant tanto with a production date of Shohei 17, an oshigata with a production date of Shohei 10 in ‘Kozan Oshigata’ and an oshigata of the 2nd Yasuyoshi with a production date of the Eitoku Era, in a swordsmith directory. His tanto has the normal sugata of this period, the hamon is gunome-midare in nioi-hon-i and a small pattern, and the boshi has a pointed tip. His hamon is not so bright and jigane is not as clear as those of Samonji, but his best work could equal Samonji in quality. ‘Kozan Oshigata ‘ lists a tanto with the inscription of ‘Choshu Dogen Yasuyoshi Saku’ and it is a work of this Yasuyoshi, inferring from the chiselling style of the oshigata.

 

(P.34)

It is speculated that three generations of Yasuyoshi existed. There is a small tanto with a production date of Oei 1 and the hamon looks like that of the first generation, but the mei of small characters is done in different style. This Yasuyoshi is the same smith as the one with a production date of the Eitoku Era, in the swordsmith directory. There is a tanto with the mei of ‘Choshu Fuchu Ju Yasuyoshi’. The hamon is ko-notare and the jihada is pure masame-hada. The tanto maintains no characteristics of earlier generations. In addition, there is one more tanto with a production date of the Oei Era. This tanto is a work of the above Yasuyoshi. I suppose that all generations of Yasuyoshi lived in Fuchu of Nagato Province.

 

The Oei Era is the earliest production year of Akikuni, but there are his later works with production years of the Eikyo and Kakitsu, so there may be two or three generations of Akikuni. He tempers hamon based on gunome and occasionally sugu-ha with hotsure, but it is difficult to affirm his direct relation with 1st Yasuyoshi.

 

(Reference photos)

Juyo Bijutsu Hin : Katana Mei “(Orikaeshi-mei) CHOSHU JU AKIKUNI”

 

(P.35)

Swordsmith directories list a smith called Gyokan who was a son of Gyosai. I have seen three tanto by Gyokan. The hamon on them is in nie-deki. The boshi of two of them has long kaeri like that of the Sa school, but the other one becomes ko-maru-boshi. Incidentally Samonji tempers sugu-ha and ko-maru-boshi on occasions. One of them has a production date of the Shohei Era and so it becomes clear that he was active at the same time as 1st Yasuyoshi. The inscription of the production date proves that Gyokan is not a descendant of Akikuni. A mei of Gyokan describes that he lived in Iwakura. Incidentally an inscription of his mei says that Akikuni lived in Setozaki.

 

(Reference oshigata)

Juyo Token : Wakizashi Mei “CHOSHU IWAKURA JU GYOKAN”

                          “SHOHEI 11 NEN 3 GATSU HI”