Articles |A HIIRAGIYA TSUBA USED TO DEPICT JAPANESE HISTORY
Read moreToward the end of the Gempei War between the armies of the Taira and Minamoto, a revolt occurred in the…
Articles |AWATAGUCHI KUNIYASU 粟田口国安
Read moreAwataguchi lies on the main road which goes from Kyôto to Ômi province. Many smiths settled there since the early…
Articles |SECOND GENERATION MURAMASA KATANA 二代村正 120124
Read moreAny study of nidai Muramasa Kei (二代村正系) would be remiss if it did not start with a bit of historical…
KO-BIZEN SUKEHIRA OF THE HEIAN ERA 助平古備前系 050124
Read moreThe Bizen Province, since ancient times, produced many fine swordsmiths who worked throughout all the periods of sword history from…
WAKASA NO KAMI UJIFUSA KATANA (若狭守氏房) Owned by DAIMYO HIRAOKA YORIKATSU (平岡頼勝)
Read moreHiraoka Yorikatsu (平岡頼勝) was born in Eiroku three (永禄1560) as son of Hiraoka Yoritoshi (平岡頼俊). Yorikatsu’s given name was Tōzō…
FUKUOKA ICHIMONJI YOSHIFUSA TACHI 福岡一文字吉房
Read moreThe Ichimonji School (一文字) in Bizen Province was a large school that was founded in the beginning of the Kamakura…
TACHI BY BIZEN OSAFUNE KAGEMITSU 備前長船景光
Read moreBizen Kagemitsu (備前景光) was the son of Bizen Nagamitsu (備前長光) who was, in turn, the son of the founder of…
Articles |THE NAKAI TOKUBETSU JÛYÔ KOSHIRAE
Read moreIn the middle of the 19th century (1851), a man named Nakai Genzaemon ordered the custom fabrication of a koshirae…
Articles |DEWA-DAIJÔ KUNIMICHI 出羽大掾國路
Read moreWhile it is firmly established in many reference books that Kunimichi(國路) was a student of Horikawa Kunihiro (堀川國廣), no records…
Articles |MUTSU NO KAMI TACHIBANA TAMEYASU & THE ISHIDÔ SCHOOL 陸奥守橘為廉 & 石堂系
Read moreThe Ishidô (石堂) school originated at the Sekido Temple in Ômi Province around the Kanei period (1624). From there the…
Articles |NIHONTÔ, THE JAPANESE SWORD, A SHORT HISTORY.
Read moreMost experts agree that the first forged steel swords came to Japan in the same way as many other cultural…
Articles |ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS AND RULES OF KINZÔGAN-SETSUDAN-MEI WITH A FOCUS ON THE YAMANO FAMILY
Read moreA variety of different information can be transmitted via gold inlays on sword tangs, the so-called "kinzôgan-mei" (金象嵌銘). For example,…
