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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchIt has appeared, it has appeared; a yoroitoshi tanto by Bushu Shimohara Terushige, handed down as a Sanada family heirloom, has appeared. Terushige was the head smith of the Shimohara smiths in Bushu Hachioji. His real name was Yamamoto Genjiro. He was the second son of the first generation Bushu Shimohara Chikashige and originally used the mei Yamamoto Nagato Chikashige, but he received the character "Teru" from the Hachioji castle lord Hojo Ujiteru of the Hojo clan and changed his name to Terushige. The period is the Muromachi era around Eiroku (1560) (464 years ago); it is a work from exactly the time of the Battle of Okehazama, when Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and set out to take control of the country. This tanto displays a sharp yoroitoshi tanto sugata with a thick motokasane and thin sakikasane, the jigane is forged in ko-itame hada with faint o-itame hada in a zorin-moku style appearing at the moto, and the hamon is a skillfully baked gunome-midare in nioi-deki with ko-nie. The elegant koshirae featuring menuki of the musubi-karigane family crest, said to be handed down from the Sanada family, adds further splendor to this Terushige tanto. On this occasion, an elderly collector stated that since they have also grown old, they would like to pass on this work, which was handed down as a Terushige tanto of Sanada family lineage, to a successor at a low price as it has not undergone shinsa, and thus we have taken it on consignment. We are offering it at a specially discounted price; please by all means enjoy it.
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As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
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.
For 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.