NihontoWatch(Famous from Touken Ranbu) It has appeared, it has appeared; a miracle, the phantom sword Yoshiyuki (Mutsu no Kami), the beloved sword of Sakamoto Ryoma, has appeared. Having successfully brokered the Satcho Alliance and proposed the Taiseihokan, the Bakumatsu patriot Sakamoto Ryoma has been the number one most popular figure as a Bakumatsu hero since ancient times. In the Bakumatsu period, Keio 3 (1867) (158 years ago), he was unfortunately assassinated along with Nakaoka Shintaro at the Omiya in Kyoto by the Kyoto Mimawarigumi. The sword Ryoma held as his beloved blade until the very end was the famous authentic Mutsu no Kami Yoshiyuki. In a letter addressed to his elder brother Sakamoto Gonpei in December of Keio 2 (1866), Ryoma stated, "When a samurai faces a national crisis, he must always carry a treasure sword inherited from his ancestors," and requested, "Please grant me a share of the Sakamoto family heirlooms." That Sakamoto family heirloom was indeed the ancestral authentic Yoshiyuki sword. When Saigo Takamori of the Satsuma Clan visited Tosa, the elder brother Sakamoto Gonpei entrusted the authentic Yoshiyuki sword to Saigo Takamori to be given to Sakamoto Ryoma, and it was handed over to Sakamoto Ryoma in Nagasaki. The real name of the maker of this sword, Yoshiyuki, was Morishita Heisuke, and he was the younger brother of Kozuke no Kami Yoshikuni. His home province was Nakamura in Oshu. He went to Osaka with his father and elder brother and became a student of Yamato no Kami Yoshimichi; later, during the Genroku era, he was invited to Tosa and became a retained smith of the Tosa Clan, even serving as the Kaji Bugyo. The sugata of this sword shows a slightly shallow sori, and the jigane is forged in itame hada, showing some ohada from changes over the years, but that too is a charming point of its important age. The hamon is a very spirited gunome midare with an Osaka yakidashi well-covered in nie within the nioiguchi. Despite being famous since ancient times as the beloved sword of Sakamoto Ryoma, extant works are extremely few and Yoshiyuki's works are rarely seen, making this sword very precious. The koshirae, a Higo koshirae with an Edo period Musashi tsuba, adds further splendor to this Yoshiyuki sword. In the Meiji era, Sakamoto Ryoma's Yoshiyuki sword passed into the hands of his nephew, a relative of Sakamoto Ryoma; the nephew moved to Kushiro in Hokkaido, and unfortunately, the blade of Sakamoto Ryoma's Yoshiyuki was caught in the great Kushiro fire of recent years. It was recently located and entrusted to a swordsmith by the Kyoto National Museum for yaki-naoshi, and is currently kept under strict guard at the Kyoto National Museum. Because this Yoshiyuki sword, which had been cherished by a family of Tosa Clan samurai, has now appeared, we are offering it at a special bargain price. If placed in the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum in Kochi, this Yoshiyuki sword alone is so precious that tens of thousands of visitors, including fans of Sakamoto Ryoma and fans of Saigo Takamori, would come to see it. Please by all means enjoy this phantom beloved sword of Sakamoto Ryoma, the Mutsu no Kami Yoshiyuki.
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Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Tosa · around 1661-1673
Tōken Taikan top 60%
2 pieces on the market now
Where Yoshiyuki 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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The Edo period (1615 to 1868)
Under the Tokugawa peace the daishō became a regulated uniform, and demand gathered in the castle towns, above all Edo itself. The craft split two ways: brilliant display work for connoisseurs, and tested blades whose cutting results were sometimes inlaid in gold.
Certifies a genuine blade worth preserving: a signature confirmed correct, or, if unsigned, an era, province, and school that the NBTHK can reliably identify.
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.
NBTHK official siteFor returns due to customer circumstances, the cost is the customer's responsibility. For returns due to our mis-shipment or a defective item, we bear the cost.