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WAKASA NO KAMI UJIFUSA KATANA (若狭守氏房) Owned by DAIMYO HIRAOKA YORIKATSU (平岡頼勝)
Hiraoka 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…
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TACHI BY BIZEN OSAFUNE KAGEMITSU 備前長船景光
Bizen 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…
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FUKUOKA ICHIMONJI YOSHIFUSA TACHI 福岡一文字吉房
The Ichimonji School (一文字) in Bizen Province was a large school that was founded in the beginning of the Kamakura…
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Articles |THE NAKAI KOSHIRAE
In the middle of the 19th century (1851), a man named Nakai Genzaemon ordered the custom fabrication of a koshirae…
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Articles |DEWA-DAIJÔ KUNIMICHI 出羽大掾國路
While it is firmly established in many reference books that Kunimichi(國路) was a student of Horikawa Kunihiro (堀川國廣), no records…
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Articles |MUTSU NO KAMI TACHIBANA TAMEYASU & THE ISHIDÔ SCHOOL 陸奥守橘為廉 & 石堂系
The Ishidô (石堂) school originated at the Sekido Temple in Ômi Province around the Kanei period (1624). From there the…
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Articles |NIHONTÔ, THE JAPANESE SWORD, A SHORT HISTORY.
Most experts agree that the first forged steel swords came to Japan in the same way as many other cultural…
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Articles |ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS AND RULES OF KINZÔGAN-SETSUDAN-MEI WITH A FOCUS ON THE YAMANO FAMILY
A variety of different information can be transmitted via gold inlays on sword tangs, the so-called "kinzôgan-mei" (金象嵌銘). For example,…
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Articles |THE KO-BIZEN SCHOOL 古備前系
The Bizen Province, since ancient times, produced many fine swordsmiths who worked throughout all the periods of sword history from…
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Articles |NIDAI KAWACHI NO KAMI KUNISUKE 二代河内守国助
The second generation Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke (河内守国助) is popularly known as Naka-Kawachi (中河内). The word, “naka”, in Japanese means…
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Articles |THE HASEBE SCHOOL 長谷部系
Hasebe Kunishige (長谷部国重) has long been considered to be a pupil of Masamune (正宗) (Masamune Juttetsu). His oldest remaining dated…
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Articles |YOKOYAMA KÔZUKE NO DAIJÔ SUKESADA 横山上野大掾祐定
Bizen Province has been acknowledged to be the kuni which has produced the most master swordsmiths since ancient times, creating…
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Articles |Who Made the Tonbo-giri Yari? By Gordon Robson 11/19
The Tonbo-giri Yari or the Dragonfly Slicer Lance treasured by Honda Heihachirô Tadakatsu (1548-1610)is signed “Fujiwara Masazane saku” .…
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Articles |BIZEN YOSAZAEMONJÔ SUKESADA 備前与三左衛門尉佐定
With the onset of the Onin War in Kyoto (1467-1477) and the breakdown of the Ashikaga Shogunate system, the Sengoku…
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Articles |Sword Prices, Origami, and Samurai Income by Markus Sesko
To understand the financial situation of a samurai during the Edo period, we first have to go into the contemporary…
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Articles |KIYONDO 清人
Kiyondo’s (清人) family name was Saitô (斎藤)and he was the adopted son of yakaji Saitô Koichirô and was first called…
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Articles |NIDAI MURAMASA 二代村正
Any study of nidai Muramasa Kei (二代村正) would be somewhat remiss if it did not start with a bit of…
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Articles |OSAKA SHODAI TANBA (no) KAMI YOSHIMICHI 大坂初代丹波守吉道
The founder of the Mishina (三品) school was Kanemichi (兼道) who lived in Seki (関), Mino (美濃) province, at the…
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Articles |The Beauty of the Japanese Sword by Michihiro Tanobe 田野邉道宏
Japanese swords are often perceived to be formidable and inaccessible objects that some people find objectionable or even abhorrent and…
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Articles |SEKISHÛ NAOTSUNA 石州直綱
The swordsmith Sekishû Naotsuna (石州 直 綱) was from Iwami Province (present day Shimane Prefecture) on Honshu. He is considered…
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Articles |IZUMI (no) KAMI KANESHIGE 和泉守兼重
For many years Izumi (no) Kami Kaneshige (和泉守兼重) was thought to be the same smith as Kazusa (no) Suke Kaneshige…
