In the Sengoku era the school served a second warrior court: the Later Hōjō at Odawara, whose patronage kept the Tsunahiro line forging hitatsura for the uchigatana age until the castle fell to Hideyoshi in 1590.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchItem description: This fine quality katana was made by the second generation Soshu Tunahiro. It has many classic details in the blade of the soshu school and more importantly of the smith. The Tunahiro line of smiths is very famous and it can be said that their swords and daggers are highly regarded by collects. This katana has an abundance of activity in the hamon. The hada is pronounced and rich looking. This is a koto era sword with NBTHK pares and a beautiful Sayagaki by Tanobe-San of the sword museum. This sword is also large and stout, with a extended Kissaki adding to its quality and beauty. It also has a spectacular silver foiled tachi styes habaki. A wonderful sword for any collector. TSUNAHIRO SÔSHÛ NIDAI [EIROKU 1558 SAGAMI] SUEKOTÔ JÔSAKU His family name is Yamamura, he is called Taima, legal name was the Gô of Munemoto. His works are predominantly wakizashi, hamon has midareba, hitatsura, suguba nado, and has horimono of kenmakiryû and kusa no kurikara. Signature: SÔSHÛ JÛ TSUNAHIRO According to a genealogy chart of the house of Yamamura and old documents, a change of ownership between the first and second generations can be seen between Tenmon 7 to 10 and there is a theory that these old documents are not accurate, and that the first and second generation are the same person, but they are written according to an outline of Yamamura family documents. Information on The Sue-Soshu School Entering the Muromachi Period, Soshu smiths were descendants of Masamune, who is one of the greatest smiths in the history. They made tanto and wakizashi with wide mi-haba and saki-zori that had not been seen before. Sue-Soshu smiths temper hitatsura in nioi-deki like Shimada smiths. Hamon consisting of brilliant nie by the great Soshu smiths of the Kamakura and Nambokucho Periods are not seen anymore in this period. The smith names of Hiromitsu, Akihiro, Masahiro and Hiromasa are succeeded up to in this period. In addition, Hirotsugu, Fuyuhiro, Sukehiro and Takahiro are active in this period. There appear to be a few generations of these smiths except Takahiro. ‘Kokon Mei Zukushi’ says that Hirotsugu and Sukehiro are related to a smith named Yoshihiro who moved from Yamato Province in the late Nambokucho Period, but I think it is too early to confirm their lineage. Tsunahiro who is said to have been a student of Tsunaie, who was himself a student of the 1st Shimada Yoshisuke, was a skilful smith amongst them and demonstrates a Soshu-den that reminds one somewhat of the workmanship of old Soshu smiths. Sue-Soshu smiths liked to carve horimono on their tanto and wakizashi. Tsunahiro was the most skilful engraver and the smith name is succeeded up to the Edo Period. There are three smiths called Yasukuni, Yasuharu and Yasuharu who were active around the same time and are related to the Shimada school. Yasuharu favours to make small tanto with horimono. They were retained by the Go-Hojo family and lived in Odawara which was the castle town of the Go-Hojo family, and so were called ‘Odawara-Soshu’. Horimono is often seen on the blades of Sue-Soshu smiths Amongst them, Fusamune was good at elaborate horimono and it is said that he collaborated with Tsunaie. Sue-Soshu smiths normally tempered midare-ba but Kunitsugu who was active around the Eisho Era tempered sugu-ha and also hoso-sugu-ha on his tanto. The lineage of Kunitsugu is uncertain. This sword is on consignment. Kantei-Sho (鑑定書) – Appraisal No 360911 katana, signed: Sōshū-jū Tsuna (相州住綱) (ika-kire, 以下切) (Tsunahiro, 綱広) “Sōshū-jū Tsuna…” (rest cut off, attributed to Tsunahiro) nagasa ~ 68.1 cm According to the result of the shinsa committee of our society, we judge this work as authentic and rank it as Hozon Tōken. February 8, 2002 [Foundation] Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, NBTHK (日本美術刀劍保存協會)
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Soshu-den · Sagami · around 1558-1570
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 37%
1 piece on the market now
Where Tsunahiro 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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Soshu-den · Sagami
Phase: Sue-Sōshū末相州· 1356–1868
21 pieces on the market now
When the great Kamakura masters had passed and the country slid into the wars of the late Muromachi, a residual Soshu-den held on in Sagami under a new patron. The Later Hojo, ruling from Odawara castle, kept smiths at hand, and it was from this orbit that the leading name of the window emerged: Tsunahiro, transmitted as a retained smith of the Odawara Hojo who took the character tsuna from Hojo Ujitsuna. The first generation's earliest dated works fall in the Tenbun era, and the line runs forward in the conventional reckoning through Tensho, Keicho, Kan'ei, and Manji, the third generation drawn west to Tsugaru by Tamenobu to forge daisho before returning home. Around him stood a wider Sagami population working the same idiom: Hirotsugu of Kamakura, whose strongest hands cluster near the Meio and Tenbun years; Hiromasa and Soso, names carried across several indistinct generations; Masahiro, reaching back toward Joji; and the Odawara group of Yasuharu, Yasukuni, and Fusamune, the last praised above all for his carving. These smiths inherited the manner of the Nanbokucho apex at a remove of generations rather than by direct descent from the mainline of Masamune and Sadamune. The signature of the phase is the open declaration of the full temper. The forging stays itame mixed with mokume, the grain inclined to stand (hadadachi-gokoro), with ji-nie and chikei; over it the smiths ran a notare-and-gunome ground that climbs the upper half into hitatsura, tobiyaki and muneyaki firing across ji and mune, sunagashi and kinsuji threading the ha. This is the hitatsura and o-midare learned from Hiromitsu and Akihiro, but pushed toward display: the Hirotsugu katana of the 61st Juyo runs its temper so high it reaches the shinogi, mixing choji, togariba, and yahazu-gata into a demonstrative yakidaka pattern.
The contrast with the classic apex is precise and the appraisers mark it. Where Masamune raised nie to its deepest refinement over a bright, clear steel, the Sue-Soshu ji tends to shirake, a whitish cast standing in for that clarity, and the nioiguchi inclines to shizumi, a sunken or subdued quality rather than depth. The 238th Jubi record states the point plainly for the first-generation Tsunahiro: the ji and ha carry abundant nie, yet the very shape of the hamon departs from that of Hiromitsu and Akihiro. The temper is broader and busier across the surface, but it lacks the quiet command and the leaping interior activity of the original. To kantei the window is to separate this demonstrative late temper from the classic Soshu-den it imitates: a standing itame with shirake, a wide hitatsura worked with yahazu and crescent tobiyaki, a nioiguchi that sinks rather than deepens, and signatures reading Soshu-ju with full given names rather than the o-suriage mumei of the great forebears. The named hands carry the distinctions, Fusamune through his dense, precise horimono of kurikara and bonji, Tsunahiro through his crescent tobiyaki and high monouchi fire, Hirotsugu through a hitatsura vigorous enough to recall Hasebe. Provenance keeps these blades close to power: several are recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, one bearing the ownership inscription of Akimoto Yoshihide of Kozuke, another the Hachiman Daibosatsu invocation of a Sengoku warrior, the Tsunahiro commission tied by its dated nakago to the Tsugaru house. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Fusamune總宗 | 1504-1521 | 5 |
| Tsunahiro綱廣 | 1532-1555 | 14 |
| Hiromasa廣正 | 1444-1456 | 4 |
| Hirotsugu廣次 | 1492-1501 | 4 |
| Tsunaie綱家 | 1532-1555 | 3 |
Sōshū in the Muromachi period
In the Sengoku era the school served a second warrior court: the Later Hōjō at Odawara, whose patronage kept the Tsunahiro line forging hitatsura for the uchigatana age until the castle fell to Hideyoshi in 1590.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
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