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.
NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis blade is attributed to Nioh (二王), which is the group of swordsmiths (school) that flourished from the mid-Kamakura period to the late Muromachi period (500-750 years ago) and lasted until the Edo period(150—400 years ago). Based on the characteristics of this blade, we believe the attribution was given to an early work of Nioh school (late Kamakura period: approx. 700 years ago). The school was founded by Nioh Taro Kiyotsuna (二王太郎清綱) in Suo Province(today’s Yamaguchi prefecture). According to his remaining work, the oldest blade was forged in 1265. It is currently enshrined in Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima. It is said that he started to forge swords in around 1205 (early Kamakura period). The Nioh swordsmiths inherited the part of its founder’s name 清(Kiyo) such as 清房(Kiyofusa), 清長(Kiyonaga). There were a lot of lands in Suo Province controlled by the Todaiji temple in the Kamakura-Muromachi period. It is said that Nioh school and Yamato swordsmiths from Nara prefecture had a strong relationship and technological exchange. That is why the blades forged by Nioh swordsmiths had a strong influence from YAMATO-DEN. *Todaiji temple is located in Nara prefecture. Before the Edo period, temples and shrines gained strong political influence. The name Nioh came from the legend that the Tachi blade forged by Kiyotsuna(the founder of Nioh school) was able to save the Nioh statue by cutting the chain connected to it when Nioh temple was on fire. Another theory was that Nioh swordsmiths lived in a village called Nioh no Sho(二保庄) and started to call themselves Nioh swordsmiths. This blade is appraised as a Hozon Token (保存刀剣) issued by NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Touken Hozon Kyokai:日本美術刀剣保存協会). *Please keep in mind that there are a couple of Kitae Kizu on the blade. Fuchi-Kashira The motif of this Fuchi-Kashira is Kiku-Karakusa (菊唐草), which is the combination of Kiku (菊, chrysanthemum) and Karakusa (唐草, arabesque) pattern. Chrysanthemum is one of the flowers that symbolize fall, and people have appreciated it very much since ancient times. A long time ago, the chrysanthemum was used as a medicine to obtain a long life in China, and it was brought to Japan with this thought in the Nara period (648-781). As its petals form radially, the chrysanthemum has been likened to the sun. That is why this flower pattern is treated as the symbol of perpetual youth and longevity or good health. “Kiku no Gomon (菊の御紋)” is a kind of chrysanthemum pattern, and it has been used as the crest of the Emperor and the royal family in Japan, so it is well-known as a noble pattern. Karakusa is a pattern in which stems and leaves of vines are twined and make curves. Since ivy has a strong vitality and grows up without interruption, people regarded this design as a symbol of prosperity and longevity. Vine is called Tsuru (蔓) in Japanese, and it has another pronunciation; “Man.” There is a word 万 (it is also read Man), which means ten thousand. In the Karakusa pattern, leaves and vines are connected like Obi (帯, belt). The word “帯” can also be read “Tai.” Due to its pronunciation, the term “代 (Tai)” is associated. From this word-association game, an idiom 万代 is associated, and it means a thousand generations. In other words, we could imagine that people used this design wishing prosperity and longevity for their clans for a long time. Tsuka and Menuki The motif of these Menuki is the menpō (面頬), a type of facial armor worn by samurai. This particular type is known as a ressēmen (烈勢面), literally meaning “fierce-expression mask.” As its name suggests, it was designed to give the wearer a fearsome appearance on the battlefield. In addition to protecting the face, the ressēmen served a psychological purpose by intimidating opponents and embodying the warrior’s fighting spirit. Tsuba and Habaki The motif of this circular iron Tsuba is a clock-themed Tsuba, known as tokei-tsuba (時計鐔). Tokei-tsuba were produced during the Edo period and feature openwork designs inspired by mechanical components such as gears and clock dials. Like many examples of tokei-tsuba, this piece displays saw-toothed openwork resembling the teeth of a clock gear, together with geometric patterns around the central opening. A particularly unusual feature appears in the upper-right section: a claw-like component resembling the pallet that controls the movement of an escape wheel and prevents it from rotating freely. The history of tokei-tsuba is associated with the Tsuda family, hereditary clockmakers employed by the Owari branch of the Tokugawa clan. Some members of this lineage later adopted Tokei (時計, clock) as their family name. They are believed to have produced clock-inspired Tsuba alongside their clockmaking activities, while other sword-fitting artisans subsequently imitated and developed the style. These innovative designs reflected contemporary fascination with wadokei—Japanese clocks developed from mechanical technology introduced from Europe—and became popular for their technical novelty and distinctive geometric appearance. Saya This saya features raden(螺鈿) craftsmanship, a traditional Japanese decorative technique. Raden involves inlaying or embedding thin pieces of shell, such as mother-of-pearl or abalone, into lacquer or other materials. The shimmering, iridescent quality of the shells creates a striking visual effect, reflecting light in a play of colors that range from soft pastels to vivid hues. This technique has been used in Japan for centuries, adorning everything from furniture to accessories and weapons, showcasing the skill and artistry of the craftsman. Authentication Paper They authenticated the blade on May 28th in the 21st year of Heisei (2009). They appraised it as Hozon Touken, the blade worth preserving for Japanese society.
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Wakimono · Suo
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The Niō school (二王) worked in Suō Province along the San'yōdō, the western reach of the country where heavy concentrations of temple estates, including lands of Tōdai-ji, drew the province into exchange with the Yamato heartland. The members describe the line as beginning in tradition around the Hōen era (1135 to 1141) with a Kiyozane or Kiyohira, but they agree that no securely attributable work by either survives, so Kiyotsuna is regarded in effect as the school's founder. His oldest dated piece, a tachi signed in a written-out inscription, "Bun'ei 2, third month, Kiyotsuna" (1265)[[c:1]], is preserved at Itsukushima Shrine and serves as the touchstone against which the first generation is read; after it the same signature continues without interruption through the Muromachi period and into the shintō era, the name borne by generation after generation, with a tantō signed "Bōshū Kuga-shō Kiyotsuna" of Kenmu 2 (1335) marking the line's passage into the Nanbokuchō. The members tie the appellation most persuasively to residence in Niho-shō within the province, one tradition deriving it instead from a first Kiyotsuna who cut a chain to free the Niō Guardian Kings from a temple fire, a pun the name carries. Later hands continue the manner, the Ōei-era Kiyonaga representative of the sue-Niō generations and a Kiyosada recorded through Kakitsu, Daiei, and Tenbun. Across the generations the members converge on one coherent manner. The kitae is itame mixed with mokume and nagare, the grain flowing overall and in places strongly toward masame so that the hada stands finely; minute ji-nie adheres and fine chikei enter, the steel sometimes carrying a slightly whitish tone. The temper rests on a narrow suguha, often slender, mixed with ko-gunome, ko-midare, and a shallow ko-notare, with ko-ashi and ko-nie attached and kinsuji and sunagashi moving along it; along the habuchi the members note hotsure, uchi-noke, and kuichigai-ba, and the bōshi runs straight and turns back in a small ko-maru, the tip at times showing hakikake.
What the members single out as the school's own individuality, the features that separate Niō from the Yamashiro and Yamato suguha it otherwise resembles, are two paired effects: a shirake-utsuri, a whitish hazy reflection standing in the ji toward the mune, and an urumi, a moist softly clouded quality in the nioiguchi where the bright line of Rai and Tegai gives way to something more subdued. Divergences across the line are matters of degree rather than kind: the early signed work reads quiet and controlled with a brightened nioiguchi, the later sue-Niō hands lean toward gentle notare with active yo, and the late generations add kurikara and Niō-guardian carvings in ranma-sukashi and relief within hitsu recesses. To read Niō work the members return to the same tells. The tachi sugata is the elegant late-Kamakura form, slender and high in the shinogi, the kasane somewhat thick, with pronounced koshizori, a small or medium kissaki, and taka-no-ha file marks that confirm the Yamato connection; the tantō is hira-zukuri with slight uchizori. At a glance the workmanship is suggestive of Yamato proper, yet the members observe that the flowing grain is not as conspicuous as in Yamato blades and the nie is comparatively restrained, while the shirake-utsuri in the ji and the urumi in the ha, taken together and not either alone, are the pairing that fixes the attribution against both the Yamato heartland and the brighter Yamashiro suguha of Rai; this same moist, whitish register, paired with the masame-leaning standing hada, also sets the school apart from the clearer steel and jifu of Aoe. The best of the signed first-generation pieces are judged to express not only Kiyotsuna's own hand but the characteristic traits of the school, signed examples with ubu-nakago prized as documentary material given how few survive. Provenance, where recorded, is distinguished: an Important Art Object tachi now in the Sano Art Museum was held at its prewar recognition by Tokugawa Iesato, another signed tachi descends to the Seikadō from the Ōsaka collection of Kajima Isao, and the dated touchstone remains at Itsukushima. Most of what survives is held in shrine and institutional hands rather than traded, so a signed Kiyotsuna with its file marks and old two-character mei intact is among the rarer things a collector of provincial Kamakura work might encounter. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kiyotsuna清綱 | 1293-1299 | 10 |
| Masakiyo方清 | 1661-1673 | 0 |
| Naokuni直國 | 1848-1854 | 0 |
| Masakiyo方清 | 1688-1704 | 0 |
| Kazukiyo一清 | 1441-1444 | 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.
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 siteReturns/exchanges limited to defects caused by shipping (except willful misconduct or gross negligence by the company); customers must contact within 72 hours of receiving the product.