三池

Phase 1 · The Chikugo Miike School (三池) · 1050 – 1500

29 smiths · 1 Kokuhō · 2 Jūbun · 1 Jūbi · 1 Tokujū · 5 Jūyō

Major smiths

• Mitsuyo (光世) — Mainline · 1074-1077. Kokuhō, Tokujū. Miike Denta Mitsuyo was a swordsmith who resided at Miike in Chikugo Province. The founder is identified as a renowned master of the late Heian period, whose representative work is the celebrated *meibutsu* Odenta, transmitted in the Maeda family. "Mitsuyo" was not a single individual: the same name was successively borne from the Kamakura period into the Muromachi period. Across all eras, signed works are exceedingly few. The school's traditional style effectively comes to an end with the Nanbokucho period; in the Muromachi period, little of its former character remains. From the time of the Odenta onward, the Miike style shares traits common to early Kyushu workmanship. The forging is *itame* that flows conspicuously, at times inclining toward *masame*, with *ji-nie*; *shirake-utsuri* (whitish utsuri) is characteristic. The *hamon* is predominantly *suguha-cho* in *ko-nie-deki*, with a tendency toward *hotsure* and elements of *kuichigai-ba*, showing a *nioiguchi* with a *shizumi* (subdued) inclination. The *boshi* runs straight and returns in *ko-maru*. An individuality of the school can be observed in its preference for carving wide, comparatively shallow *bo-hi*, often accompanied by auxiliary *soe-hi*, executed in *kaki-nagashi* or *kaki-toshi*. The blade form characteristically shows a wide *mihaba* with a compact kissaki forming an *ikubi* (boar's-neck) appearance. The NBTHK characterizes even later-generation works as preserving the traditional manner in both *ji* and *ha*, and notes the school's stylistic continuity from the Heian through the Nanbokucho period. Across the corpus, the Miike school occupies a distinctive position among early Kyushu traditions, unified by the flowing grain, subdued nioiguchi, and broad sculptural grooves that define its identity from the time of its celebrated founder onward.
• Mitsuyo (光世) — Mainline · 1293-1299. Jūbun, Jūyō. Miike in Chikugo gives its name to a school of smiths, and the published sources open on its founder: Denta Mitsuyo, a renowned master of the late Heian period, whose representative work is the Meibutsu Odenta transmitted in the Maeda house. They are equally plain about how little of the founder's own hand remains. Of authentically signed work, "none exists today apart from the single Meibutsu Odenta"[[c:1]], and the later blades signed Mitsuyo are judged the work of smiths who inherited the name. Mitsuyo, the record states, "was not a single individual"[[c:2]]: the same name was borne in succession from the Kamakura period into the Muromachi. The published sources describe one school manner running through that succession, and they class it as "common to early Kyushu work"[[c:3]]. The itame mixes mokume and flows conspicuously, standing somewhat, with ji-nie adhering. The commentary dwells longest on the surface of that jigane, calling it a texture "sticky and, in a sense, very soft to the eye"[[c:4]]. On one katana it inclines to a whitish cast, and on the signed wakizashi a shirake-utsuri rises. The temper is built on suguha in ko-nie. It runs as a slender hoso-suguha on the hira-zukuri wakizashi and as a chu-suguha with ko-gunome mixed in on the broad katana. Sunagashi and yo enter, and in places nijuba, hotsure and kuichigai-ba appear. The school formula adds that the nioiguchi tends to settle into a subdued cast, though on one katana the record calls it bright and clear. The boshi runs straight to a ko-maru, or on one katana ends in a yakizume, with a slight hakikake. What the published sources single out as the school's own is the groove. "Its preference for carving wide, comparatively shallow bo-hi" is where "the individuality of the school can be discerned"[[c:5]]. The katana carry the bo-hi run out on both faces, and the wakizashi pairs it with a soe-hi. An earlier commentary lists the same three marks, a flowing itame, a suguha-based temper and a broad, shallow and skilful bo-hi, and concludes that across the generations "the workmanship shows a traditional manner"[[c:6]]. Because the name spans three centuries, the published sources order the work by manner and by attestation rather than by date. The two o-suriage katana carry no original signature. One bears a gold-inlaid Mitsuyo that the commentary reads as an attestation "by such authorities as Hon'ami Kochu"[[c:7]]. The other bears a large gold-powder Miike Mitsuyo with a red note that a Kanbun 1 origami of Hon'ami Koon once valued it at seven mai of gold. That blade, the text judges, does not reach back to the late Heian, yet its jihada, hamon and carving show the school's traits, so that "the gold-powder attestation is appropriate"[[c:8]] and the work belongs broadly to the end of the Kamakura period. The signed wakizashi is a wide, sunnobi hira-zukuri piece whose two characters are cut large with a thick chisel, one of the later blades signed Mitsuyo. Five designated works stand on record: two Important Cultural Properties and three Juyo. The Important Cultural Properties are preserved in temple and shrine keeping. One is a hira-zukuri tanto signed Mitsuyo, held at Honmyoji in Kumamoto, forged in itame and tempered in suguha. The other is the mumei katana attributed to Miike Mitsuyo at Kunozan Toshogu, kept with a Momoyama-period koshirae and inscribed "Myojun denji Sohaya no tsurugi utsusu nari"[[c:9]], which the record renders as the Sohaya no Tsurugi handed down by Myojun, a copy. The three Juyo blades, two of them attested by the Hon'ami house, are the part of his record that may change hands, and with so few on record a Mitsuyo comes to market only rarely.
• Mitsuyo (光世) — Mainline · 1390-1394. Mitsuyo (also read Kosei) was a smith of the Miike school lineage, originally rooted in Chikugo Province. By the Nanbokucho period, later generations of this line had dispersed to various provinces, and at least one branch relocated to Aki Province. A dated tanto bearing the inscription "Aki no Kuni ju" with a Meitoku 2 (1391) date provides direct documentary evidence of this migration. The NBTHK regards this relocation as a matter of considerable historical significance and describes such works as "extremely valuable material" for understanding the school's geographic diffusion. The dedicatory inscriptions appearing on certain Aki Province works -- naming figures such as Sanechika and Minechika -- remain unidentified, adding a layer of provenance interest to these pieces. Mitsuyo's characteristic forging is *itame-hada* flowing toward *masame-gakari* with a standing grain tendency, enlivened by *chikei* and the presence of *ji-nie*. The temper is consistently a narrow *suguha* or *hoso-suguha* in *ko-nie-deki*, with a slight *hotsure* tendency and minimal *ashi*; *kinsuji* enters within the hardened edge. The *boshi* characteristically shows *hakikake* turning to *ko-maru*. Blade forms range from *hira-zukuri* tanto with *uchi-zori* and somewhat thick *kasane* to broader, thinner pieces with shallow curvature consistent with Nanbokucho-period proportions. Carvings include *bonji* above *koshi-hi* and *katana-hi* with *suken* in relief. The NBTHK appraises Mitsuyo's workmanship as "superior" and judges it "on par with later Miike school work," situating these pieces squarely within the established technical and aesthetic standards of that lineage. Imperial provenance -- transmission through the Katsura-no-miya family -- attests to the esteem in which certain examples have been held. Within the broader Miike tradition, Mitsuyo represents the school's continued vitality during the Nanbokucho era and its capacity to maintain a refined, *suguha*-based idiom even as the lineage extended into new provincial workshops.
• Mitsuyo (光世) — Mainline · 1334-1338. Jūbi, Jūyō. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Hidehiro (秀弘) — Mainline · 1053-1058. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Kuninaga (國永) — Mainline · 1120-1124. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.

Other smiths

• Masayo (正世) — Mainline · 1058-1065. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Mike (三家) — Mainline · 987-1596. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Moritsuna (守綱) — Mainline · 1120-1124. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Motozane (元眞) — Mainline · 1074-1077. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Naga (永) — Mainline · 1113-1118. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Nagaie (永家) — Mainline · 1211-1213. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Norimitsu (典光) — Mainline · 1573-1592. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Sukenaga (助永) — Mainline · 1394-1428. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Tenta (典太) — Mainline · 1394-1428. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Tenta (典田) — Mainline · 1074-1077. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Tenta (典太) — Mainline · 1074-1077. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshimasa (利正) — Mainline · 1132-1135. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshimasa (利正) — Mainline · 1521-1528. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinao (利直) — Mainline · 1532-1555. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinari (利成) — Mainline · 1113-1118. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinari (利成) — Mainline · 1225-1227. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinobu (利信) — Mainline · 1334-1338. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinobu (利信) — Mainline · 1428-1429. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinobu (利延) — Mainline · 1094-1096. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinobu (利延) — Mainline · 1169-1171. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinobu (利延) — Mainline · 1332-1334. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Toshinobu (利延) — Mainline · 1429-1441. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.
• Yoshiyuki (吉行) — Mainline · 1094-1096. Smith of the Chikugo Miike School.