Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThe blade's craftsmanship is a testament to the Osafune school's legacy, reflecting the intricate techniques and artistry synonymous with Bizen. Every detail, from the flamboyant Tōji Midare temper pattern to the fine grain structure, pays homage to the Fukuoka Ichimonji style. The sword beautifully captures the essence of the Kamakura period’s Ichimonji works and shines with a polish that accentuates its beauty and magnificence. Specifications : Omote (Front) : 横山上野大掾藤原祐定 - Yokoyama Kozuke Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada Ura (Back) : 備州長船住人 - Bishū Osafune Junin Province : Bizen (currently Okayama prefecture) Period : Edo Period, around 1660-1715 Blade Length : 69.4 cm (approximately 27.32 inches) Curvature (Sori) : 1.8 cm (approximately 0.71 inches) Mekugi-ana (peg hole) : 2 Moto-haba (Base width) : 32.5 mm (approximately 1.28 inches) Moto-kasane (Base thickness) : 6.8 mm (approximately 0.27 inches) Saki-haba (Tip width) : 22.5 mm (approximately 0.89 inches) Saki-kasane (Tip thickness) : 5.0 mm (approximately 0.20 inches) Blade Weight : 727 g (approximately 25.64 oz) Jihada : ko itame hada Hamon : Traditional choji pattern mixed with straight hamon, reminiscent of the Kamakura period. In the echelons of Japanese craftsmanship, where centuries-old traditions meet unparalleled skill, the swordsmith Yokoyama Ueno Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada stands as a testament to resilience, ingenuity, and artistic brilliance. This specific blade, gracefully crafted by his hands, embodies the pinnacle of the Bizen Osafune school's artistry during the early-mid Edo period. Historical Significance : The lineage of Yokoyama Ueno Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada is deeply entrenched in the annals of Japanese sword-making history. Born in the year 1633, during the Kan-Ei era, he was the progeny of the revered Shichibei no Jyo Sukesada. Born Yokoyama Heibe, he eventually came to be known as the 6th-generation Yosouzaemon no jyo Sukesada, an appellation that resonated powerfully across the landscape of Bizen
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Bizen-den · Bizen
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Sukesada (祐定) is the great name of late-Muromachi Osafune, the most prosperous of the Bizen forges that scholars group together as Sue-Bizen. The signature was carried by a body of smiths so large that the early-modern reference Hayami-dashi lists as many as twenty-one who appended a zokumyo (common name) to distinguish themselves, and the published commentary is blunt that of all the late-Osafune families the Sukesada line was the largest and most productive. Two registers of work issue from this single name. At the top stand the masters identified by their common-name titles, Yosozaemon-no-jo, Hikobei-no-jo, Genbei-no-jo, and Hikozaemon-no-jo, whose custom commissions (chumon-uchi) the sources distinguish sharply from the mass run; beneath them lies the great body of kazu-uchi-mono, the bulk production signed plainly Sukesada with no personal name, dated and placed to the house by era and quality. Hikobei-no-jo is recorded as the father of Yosozaemon-no-jo, who in turn heads the most distinguished branch, born in Onin 1 by back-count from a tanto inscribed at age seventy-one in Tenbun 6; the name then runs in same-signature generations down through the Eiroku and Tensho years. The shared vocabulary of the school is the temper the late Bizen workshops made their own. Over a jigane of tightly packed ko-itame, fine ji-nie settling like dust, chikei woven through, and a faint midare-utsuri rising near the shinogi (the thinned last trace of the bright reflection that filled the Osafune prime), the smiths build an open-waisted koshi-biraki gunome that develops into the doubled, compound fukushiki structure marking a Sue-Bizen blade above all else. Mixed into it run choji, ko-gunome, and pointed togariba, in places gathering into the double-flower juka and the crab's-claw formation called kani-no-tsume; the hamon is nioi-based with ko-nie adhering, ashi and yo entering richly, kinsuji and sunagashi trailing, the nioiguchi bright and clear. A second pole answers this flamboyance, the quiet hiro-suguha, broad and shallowly undulating with ko-gunome folded in, of which Genbei-no-jo in particular was the master, while a livelier hitatsura climbs the body with frequent tobiyaki and muneyaki on certain tanto, often in moroha-zukuri.
The blades take the robust late-Muromachi uchigatana form, wide in body with little taper, thick in kasane, deep in sori with sakizori and an extended chu-kissaki. The divergence between the masters and the general production is one of care rather than kind: Yosozaemon's bright, well-packed ko-itame and his command of all three registers, gunome, suguha, and hitatsura, set his typical work apart from the coarser bulk, and the commentary states plainly that it is precisely because such chumon-uchi exist that the Sue-Bizen name carries its high standing. To kantei a Sukesada blade is first to read the signature register, then the manner. A named master signs a long mei on the omote with the date on the ura, often over two columns and frequently with carving (bo-hi, a Kurikara dragon, a bonji, or the invocation Namu Hachiman Daibosatsu); the bulk kazu-uchi-mono sign Sukesada alone and are judged to the house by era and the Bizen-den keynote of koshi-biraki gunome on bright ko-itame. Yosozaemon-no-jo leads the name in renown and breadth, ranked beside the late-Osafune Kiyomitsu among the two great hands of the workshop's closing age, his blades transmitted in daimyo houses grounded in their own provenance, the Hachisuka, the Mori, and the Ii, with a wakizashi recorded to the warrior Yamanaka Shikanosuke and others in Honma's inventory of the Imperial collection. Genbei-no-jo and Hikobei-no-jo follow, their custom blades often carrying an owner inscription beside the date, and Hikozaemon-no-jo offers the approachable end of a famous name. The Sukesada cutting reputation runs through the whole body, the heavy sakizori uchigatana made to be worn and used two-handed as the tachi fell from use. For the collector this is the most attainable of the great Bizen names, never common at its summit yet, in a signed and dated example with the open-waisted gunome reading clearly down its edge, the surest single document of how Osafune worked in its last great generation. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Sukesada祐定 | 1504-1551 | 72 |
| Sukesada祐定 | 1532-1583 | 18 |
| Sukesada祐定 | 1547-1592 | 8 |
| Sukesada祐定 | 1487-1521 | 5 |
| Sukesada祐定 | 1532-1573 | 3 |
The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Edo was the sword’s age of connoisseurship: the Hon’ami appraisers, the shogunal register of famous blades of 1719, and a thriving literature turned the sword into an object of study even as it ceased to be drawn in war.
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