After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchOrdering Number: 25616Wakizashi in Shirasaya (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)Signature: Bushu ju Terushige saku 武州住照重作(We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku).The workmanship of this piece is ranked as Jyojyo Saku for Bushu ju Terushige.Habaki: silver single habakiBlade Length: 45.9 cm (18.07 in)Curvature: 1.2 cm (0.47 in)Mekugi Hole: 1Width at Base (Motohaba): 2.94 cm (1.16 in)Thickness (Kasane): 0.4 cm (0.16 in)Sword Weight: 460 gEra: Late Muromachi period.Shape: wide and thibk Hirazukuri WakizashiJigane: Unique Jigane called JyorinmokuHamon: Nie-deki, ko-gunome-midare mixed with gunome-midare, with a rounded boshi that turns back.Features:Sue-Koto: Chu Saku: MusashiBushū Terushige was a representative swordsmith of the Shitahara school and worked in Musashi Province during the late Muromachi period.Regarding Bushū Shitahara swords, Mr. Yasutaka Gotō, who formerly worked at the Japanese Sword Museum, has written a book on the subject. The school is characterized by a distinctive jigane known as Jorin-moku.This work is particularly appealing for its unique jigane, in which chikei are vividly active in a style reminiscent of Jorin-moku.AoiArt estimation paper: Whole Oshigata.Overseas shipping fee not includedPlease note: The price does not include the international shipping fees.Price:550,000JPY商談中 HOLDRelated Items:Wakizashi: Shoji Jirotaro Naokatsu Saku Kore(NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)Wakizashi:: Chikuzen Daijo Fujiwara NaoTane (Kao) (Engraved with “Oshiteru”) Date: February, Koka 4 (1847) (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)Wakizashi:Oite Bushu Efu Enju Taro Muneyoshi(judged as Tamba)(NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)(NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho Token)Wakizashi : (Orikaeshi-mei) Yoshimitsu (Province unknown, late Muromachi period).(NBTHK Hozon Token)Wakizashi: Motte Namban Tetsu Omi Kami Fujiwara Tsuguhiro Echizen Ju Shimosaka(NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)Wakizashi:Tajima Kami Hōjōji Tachibana Sadakuni (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)
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Shinto · Musashi · around 1558-1570
Fujishiro Jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 49%
1 piece on the market now
Where Terushige 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)
After the Ōnin War broke the Ashikaga order, a century of Sengoku warfare armed nearly every province in Japan. The era rewards a discriminating eye: routine work exists in quantity, and beside it stand custom blades of the first rank.
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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