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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchNagayoshi Heianjo Tanto and Koshirae Yamashiro Eisho era about 1510年前 Edge length： 23.6㎝ Curvature:Minimal Engraving: Front[Suken inkoku] Back[Sen shu raku] Back of the edge called Mune [Bohi] Shirasaya:Sayagaki by Dr.Kanzan Sato Gold foil single Habaki Koshirae : Black Aikuchi Koshirae with Black Same Tsuka Fittings : Mumei Mukade Menuki ( Centipede ) and Mumei Mukade Kozuka from late Muromachi Period. Koshirae is in exceptional condition. Registered in 1951 in Tokyo NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Certificate Nagayoshi was a sword smith who was good at engraving works like Suken, Bonji, Japanese-characters etc. His home was Yamashiro province. It was said that there were some Nagayoshi generations from Ouei-era to Eisho-era. This Tanto is attributed to the fifth generation Nagayoshi. He forged a lot of pieces in Yamato province, Mikawa province and Ise province. You may know that the famous Sword Smith Muramasa in Ise province was trained under 5th generation Nagayoshi. This Tanto shape is really elegant and balanced well with 「千秋楽」Senshuraku engraving. And I have never seen the engraving ( groove ) on the back of edge ( Mune ). I am not sure why Nagayoshi did it on the Mune, but it might be the blood flowing channel, this is extremely rare. HEIANJO NAGAYOSHI 5th Generation Tanto are extremely rare. This Tanto has been preserved in perfect condition as is the Koshirae. I can feel the threatening atmosphere in this engraving. It was a Tanto which had a purpose to protect the owner. The Suken on the front-side is a perfect Yamashiro style Suken. You can find the top of Suken wider and it was positioned along the Mune-side. These are specific points of Yamashiro engraving. It has a Japanese calligraphy note by Kanzan Sato “It was forged by Heianjo Nagayoshi but it is the Nijimei Nagayoshi signed piece”. HEIANJO NAGAYOSHI Shirasaya explanation. へいあんじょうながよし ２じざいめいなり ながさ ７すん８ぶあり しょうわ38ねんしょとう (にじ) （ななすん）（はちぶ） かんざんしるす かおう ぎんむぎあいくちこしらえ Heianjo-Nagayoshi 2-Ji-Zaimei-Nari Nagasa- 7-Sun-8-Buari Syowa-38-Nen Syotou (Ni-Ji) （Nana-Sun）（Hachi-Bu） Kanzan-Shirusu Kaou Aikuchi-Koshirae
NihontoWatchHeianjo School平安城派
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Yamashiro-den · Kyoto
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The Heianjō school (平安城) of swordsmiths represents the principal lineage of Kyōto sword production during the Muromachi period. "Heianjō" is the classical name for Kyōto (Heian-kyō), and the school's smiths — resident in the Sanjō district of the capital — signed variously with the 平安城 (Heianjō) and 三条 (Sanjō) prefixes, a usage that has often caused them to be confused with the far earlier Sanjō school of Munechika. They are an entirely distinct, late group: its two representative masters, Heianjō Nagayoshi (平安城長吉, also read Chōkichi) and Sanjō Yoshinori (三条吉則, of the Fuse 布施 family), are counted as the leading makers of Muromachi-period Kyō-mono (Kyoto-made blades), carrying forward the capital's swordmaking after the Nanbokuchō-period Nobukuni and Hasebe lineages. Both names continued through several generations from the late Nanbokuchō era into the sixteenth century, and the smiths are known to have travelled to forge (desaku) in provinces such as Izumi, Mikawa, and Echizen during the late Muromachi period. The Heianjō style is dominated by a flamboyant hitatsura (full-temper) idiom adopted from Sōshū tradition: a foundation of large gunome-midare mixed with chōji, togariba, and yahazu-ba, with abundant tobiyaki and muneyaki spreading temper across the entire blade surface, nie adhering strongly, and sunagashi and kinsuji coursing through a bright, clear nioiguchi.
The finest examples are so accomplished that they are difficult to distinguish from late Sōshū (Sue-Sōshū) work. A quieter suguha- and ko-notare-based mode close to the Nobukuni tradition is also seen. High-quality horimono — kurikara, bonji, suken, and gomabashi — frequently accompany the blades. The school is not to be confused with the unrelated Heianjō-zōgan (平安城象嵌) inlay tradition of tōsōgu makers. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Nagayoshi長吉 | 1469-1492 | 15 |
| Yoshinori吉則 | 1469-1487 | 3 |
| Nagayoshi長吉 | 1449-1452 | 0 |
| Nobusada信貞 | 1346-1370 | 0 |
| Yoshinaga吉長 | 1381-1384 | 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.
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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