Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatch(Showa 41 Tokubetsu Kicho Token) It has appeared, it has appeared; currently, with the luxurious members of the "Hachioji Hachioji-kai" from Hachioji such as the talent Hiromi, Kitajima Saburo, Yumin, Roland, Fuwa-chan, Takahashi Minami, Iikubo Haruna, Funky Kato, Takahashi Hiromu, Kamikawa Takaya, and Nishijima Hidetoshi, Tokyo Hachioji is showing great activity and is burning with excitement. From the local swords of Hachioji that have continued since the Muromachi period, a precious meiwakizashi in hira-zukuri by the first generation Bushu-ju Yasushige has appeared, the head of the Shimohara smiths which lasted for 12 generations until Meiji, starting from the first generation Hachioji Shimohara-ju Yasushige who received the character "Yasu" from Hojo Ujiyasu around the Tenbun era (1543) (482 years ago) of the Muromachi period and renamed himself Yasushige. The first generation Yasushige learned sword-making from Muramasa of Ise, and the style inherited from Muramasa, such as the tanagobara nakago, is a characteristic of Shimohara swords. Since ancient times, the Shimohara smiths, like the swords of the Higo Dotanuki school in Kyushu or the Bungo Takada smiths, forged wazamono swords and were greatly favored by Sengoku military commanders as practical swords. This wakizashi shows a hira-zukuri wakizashi sugata with a difference between the moto-mihaba and saki-mihaba, the nakago shows the tanagobara shape of Muramasa, and the jigane is forged in itame hada; although the ji cannot be seen well due to the old togi, it faintly shows the gyorin-moku spiral-shaped kitae-hada characteristic of Shimohara smiths. The hamon is a notare style blade in nioi-deki with konie, fired as a blade that looks as if it would cut very well. This time, as the owners have grown old and light rust has appeared, we received this on consignment with the request to pass it on cheaply so that a successor may care for it; as a local sword of Tokyo where they have resided since the Muromachi period, not just Hachioji, this sword by Bushu-ju Yasushige is a precious work that must be cherished, and we offer it at a super bargain price this time, so please enjoy it.
Offered by Nipponto
Yasushige is a name with Jūyō-designated work, and we couldn’t find current papers for this piece. Treat the name as unproven until papers say otherwise. It is also priced far below papered work by makers of this standing. Its older green papers are largely disavowed by the NBTHK today. — Hoshi Ask me first
1 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Shinto · Musashi · around 1558-1570
Tōken Taikan top 60%
1 piece on the market now
Where Yasushige stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
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Shinto · Musashi
7 pieces on the market now
The Shitahara group (下原) worked at Hachiōji in Bushū, the old province of Musashi, from the end of the Muromachi period and carried its forge on into the Edo period. The setsumei place the lineage among the swordmakers of Musashi in the kotō age and name Terushige, Yasushige, Hiroshige, and Chikashige as its leading hands, with the meikan recording Terushige across three generations: a shodai in Kyōroku, a nidai in Eiroku, and a sandai in Tenshō. " That same blade was made to order, in this case from Hagiwara Kaminao of Kōshū, marking the group as a working provincial forge serving its region. In the forging the setsumei return repeatedly to an itame-hada freely mixed with mokume that stands up rather than lying flat, the grain described as hada-datsu, often running to nagare near the edge and taking on an ayasugi-like, whorled or vortex-like cast in the jigane. The temper is a moderately undulating notare into which gunome enter, frequently in regular paired sequences, with pointed togariba, a chōji-like feeling at times, and ko-nie clinging along a nioiguchi that can settle into a subdued shizumi tone; sunagashi and ashi appear within the ha, and the bōshi tends to run midare-komi and turn back in maru. One katana sets gunome, ō-midare and angular elements into a notare, its bōshi sweeping off in hakikake.
The setsumei read this hand as a synthesis drawing on late Sōshū and the Muramasa line together with late Mino tendencies, which together account for the standing grain and the paired gunome. For kantei the markers are consistent: the risen mokume with its ayasugi turn, the regularly paired gunome, and a build suited to the uchigatana of the closing Muromachi years, often with pronounced sakizori and an extended chū-kissaki. Carving recurs, including bō-hi, bonji, gomabashi, and a deeply cut kurikara-ryū whose coiling tail the NBTHK singles out as characteristic. Named and dated pieces anchor the group: the Yamamoto Genjirō Terushige naginata, uncommon as a double-edged ryōba form, and a Terushige katana appraised between Eiroku and Tenshō that the register calls the hakubi of the school. The setsumei note that Shitahara work survives in number into the shintō period while outstanding examples remain few, which sets these designated blades apart within the lineage. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Terushige照重 | 1558-1570 | 2 |
| Terushige照重 | 1596-1615 | 1 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1558-1570 | 1 |
| Morishige盛重 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Yasushige康重 | 1661-1704 | 0 |
The Muromachi period (1392 to 1573)
Muromachi turned sword making into an industry: the uchigatana rose with massed infantry warfare, Osafune and Seki produced bundle swords beside custom orders, and the Ming trade carried Japanese blades abroad by the tens of thousands.
This work carries older NBTHK “Kichō”-era papers, which the NBTHK no longer issues and largely disavows today. To confirm the attribution, submission to an official Japanese examination body (such as the NBTHK or NTHK) for modern certification could be considered.
For returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.
¥190,000
Certificate reading — 銘 武州住康重