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: 25211Tanto in Shirasaya with Koshirae (NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token) (NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho Token)Signature: Hiromasa (Sagami, Late Muromachi Period)廣正(相模・室町後期)(We divide 4 sections for each sword as Saijyo Saku, Jyojyo Saku, Jyo Saku and Regular Saku).This blade is ranked as Jyojyo Saku among the works of Hiromasa.Habaki: Double gold-foiled habaki.Blade Length: 26.0 cm (10.24 in).Curvature: 0.0 cm (0.00 in).Mekugi Hole: 1.Width at Base (Motohaba): 2.44 cm (0.96 in).Thickness of rim (Kasane): 0.46 cm (0.18 in).Sword Weight: 130 g.Era: Late Muromachi period.Shape: Mitsu-mune tanto carved with a Bonji inscription and Gomabashi grooves.Jigane: Prominent itame hada with visible utsuri.Hamon: Ko-nie-deki suguha mixed with ko-gunome. The boshi is rounded, becoming slightly pointed before returning with hakikake. Sunagashi is active within the hamon.Features: It is believed that several generations of swordsmiths bearing the name Hiromasa were active from the Nanbokucho period through the Muromachi period. This blade displays the characteristic features of the Soshu tradition, including a standing itame hada, nie activity with kinsuji and sunagashi, and finely executed horimono. It is a well-made and highly attractive example.Koshirae:Tsuba: Brass hamidashi tsuba.Fuchikashira: Polished shakudo.Menuki: Chrysanthemum motif.Saya (Scabbard): Black lacquered saya decorated with patterns.Kozuka: Silver ground engraved with decorative designs.With kogatana.NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon CertificateNBTHK Tokubetus Kicho CertificateAoi-Art estimation Paperwhole OshigataPlease note: the price does not include the shipping fees.Price:700,000JPYOrder FormRelated Items:Tanto: Mumei(Unsigned)(Taima scnool)(Late Nanbokucho period to Oei era(NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Token)Tanto: Mumei(Unsigned) (Sue Seki)(NBTHK Hozon Token)Tanto: Bicchu Ju Kunishige Saku (Ko-mizuta)(NBTHK Hozon Token)Tanto: Munetsugu (Province unknown, Shinshinto period)(NBTHK Hozon Token)Tanto:Nobukuni (Chikushi) (NB
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Soshu-den · Sagami · around 1469-1487
Tōken Taikan top 37%
2 pieces on the market now
Where Hiromasa 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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