Two courts, sixty years of war, and the most dramatic silhouettes in the sword’s history: broad blades, extended points, true ōdachi later cut down into the majestic katana collectors prize. The Sōshū manner was the style of the age.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatch本作は、大磨り上げ無銘ながら、『後代宝寿』と極められた一振り、無銘極めの場合、南北朝期を下らない作を『宝寿』、室町期以降の作を『後代宝寿』とします。 寸法二尺七寸四分弱、反り深く、鋭い大切っ先の堂々たる姿で、このスタイルから薙刀直しを思わせますが、鑑定では『刀』としています。 宝寿一派は、奥州平泉の軍備を担った鍛冶集団で、現在の宮城県大崎市付近で鍛刀したと伝わり、蝦夷地の豪族の抱え鍛冶としても活躍しました。またその縁起の良い名前から、江戸時代には、武家の間で祝儀贈答用として大変重宝されました。 作風は、大板目に綾杉肌風の流れ肌、白け映り立つ地鉄、刃縁潤み勝ちな直調、小乱れ調の刃等々、奥州鍛冶に共通した出来が多く見られ、年紀作としては、南北朝初期建武(一三三四~三六)から室町初期応永(一三九四~一四二八)期のものが残されています。 本作は、板目流れ心で、所々波状となり、一部強く肌立ち、地色やや黒み勝ち、湾れ乱れ調で互の目、小互の目交じりの刃は、刃縁総体的にやや潤み勝ちとなり、刃中所々金筋、砂流しが掛かっています。 地刃にやや鍛え肌等も目立ちますが、古作奥州物の伝統を墨守した真面目な作です。
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Wakimono · Oshu
Among the swordsmiths said by old transmitted records to have worked in Ōshū (Mutsu and the wider northeast) from the Nara and Heian periods through the Kamakura age, the setsumei repeatedly observe that, of works actually surviving today, almost the only name that can be confirmed is Hōju (宝寿). The line is set within the Maikusa (Mokusa) sphere of Ōshū smiths, a group transmitted from the early Kamakura period onward; one tachi is described as a branch of the Maikusa smiths of Mutsu, and a Nanbokuchō entry pairs Hōju with Maikusa and, after Nanbokuchō, the Gassan group. The name itself was carried across a long span, from Kamakura through Nanbokuchō and into the Muromachi Ōei era, so that "Hōju" denotes a lineage rather than a single hand. A complicating thread runs through the corpus: one blade dated Enkyō 4 (1311) is signed Yamato-kuni-jū Tōmoto Hōju, raising the question of movement between Ōshū and Yamato, with the setsumei suggesting exchange of smiths through Shugendō mountain practice. Dated survivors anchor the chronology firmly, with inscriptions of Shōchū 2 (1325), Eiwa 2 (1376), Eitoku 2 (1382), and a run of Ōei years (5, 6, 12, 14, 22, 25). The shared hand the setsumei describe is an archaic northern one. The forging is itame mixed with mokume and nagare-hada, frequently with ō-itame, the grain standing up (hada-dachi) and at times an ayasugi-like or, near the edge, masame tendency; thick ji-nie gathers and bold chikei enter, the steel inclining to a blackish tone with a whitish cast, and shirake-utsuri rising in the ground. The temper is built on suguha and suguha-chō passing into ko-midare, or a shallow notare joined with ko-gunome and ko-notare; the habuchi shows frequent hotsure, kinsuji and sunagashi run vigorously, and a yaki-otoshi often drops the hardened edge at the machi.
The nioiguchi tends to shizumi and urumi, subdued and moist rather than bright, though certain pieces run brighter. The bōshi enters midare-komi or yakizume with hakikake, and the carvings, bonji over a sankō-tsuka-ken, are rustic yet carry an elegant taste. To recognize the hand, read the standing large-grained hada, the dark steel with whitish utsuri, and the quiet nioiguchi, set against the heroic koshizori tachi form. For kantei, the diagnostic cluster is the combination of standing ō-itame with bold chikei, blackish steel under whitish utsuri, yaki-otoshi at the base, and the subdued nioiguchi with hotsure, kinsuji, and sunagashi, the whole carrying a frankly provincial character that the setsumei treat as the lineage's signature. Signature study is itself a kantei tool: the two-character Hōju mei of the Eitoku-era tachi recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection is read against an orikaeshi-mei example dated Eitoku, certified an Important Art Object, to date later works by the same chisel. Named survivors map the standing: two signed tachi recorded in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection, the kinzōgan-mei katana carrying a Hon'ami Kōchū origami of Kyōhō 7 (1722), the Shōchū 2 tachi held by Mitake Shrine, and an ubu mumei ōdachi transmitted as a hereditary treasure of the Murakami, the maritime warriors of the Seto Inland Sea. Ubu, signed, and dated Hōju, especially those not descending past early Nanbokuchō, the setsumei prize as reference material for an Ōshū tradition otherwise known largely through this one enduring name. Learn more →
The Nanbokuchō period (1333 to 1392)
Two courts, sixty years of war, and the most dramatic silhouettes in the sword’s history: broad blades, extended points, true ōdachi later cut down into the majestic katana collectors prize. The Sōshū manner was the style of the age.
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