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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchOrdering Number: 26123Wakizashi in Shirasaya (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)Signature: Soshu Ju Tsunahiro 相州住綱広Sayagaki: Sagami-no-kuni TsunahiroThe tang (Nakago) is ubu (original, unshortened) and bears a five-character signature. This sword was made by the third generation Tsunahiro, who was particularly skilled in producing Hitatsura hamon. The workmanship is representative of his style and of exceptionally high quality, while the carvings on the blade are also remarkably refined and skillfully executed.November, 2014Tanzan(We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku).This work is ranked as Jyojyo Saku among works by Soshu Ju Tsunahiro.Habaki: gold and shakudo plated habakiBlade Length: 48.7cm (19.17in)Curvature: 1.2cm (0.47in)Mekugi-ana: 1Motohaba: 3.12cm (1.23in)Kasane: 0.63cm (0.25in)Weight: 405gEra: the end of Muromachi period, circa 1600Shape: slightly wide and thin blade. The front side is carved with a So-no-kurikara (stylized dragon coiled around a sword)and bonji (sanskrit character), while the back side features bonji, gomabashi grooves, and a rendai(lotus pedestal) carving.Jigane: Koitame and Moku with fine Chikei.Hamon: Gunome , Notare and Yahazu-ba. The lower half of the hamon is dominated by nioi, while the upper half is rich in nie with abundant tobiyaki. The boshi turns back in midare style, and hardening is also applied along the mune side. The boshi turns back in midare style, and Hamon is applied along the mune side.Features: Sue-Koto: Ryo Wazamono: Jyo Saku: SagamiSoshu Tsunahiro was a swordsmith from Sagami active in the late Muromachi period. The first generation was invited to Odawara by Hojo Ujitsuna, where he was granted the character “Tsuna” and changed his name to Tsunahiro. The third-generation Tsunahiro worked from the end of Muromachi to the early Edo period, and was also invited by Tsugaru Tamenobu, lord of the Tsugaru domain, to forge swords in Mutsu Province.He was well known for produ
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Soshu-den · Sagami · around 1592-1605
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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Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
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.
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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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