-
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…
-
FUKUOKA ICHIMONJI YOSHIFUSA 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…
-
HEIAN ERA TACHI BY OHARA SANEMORI 大原真守 000049
One old account says that Hôki Yasutsuna (伯耆安綱), the founder of the Ko-Hôki school lived in the Daido era (806-810). …
-
Articles |THE NAKAI KOSHIRAE
In 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
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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” .…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
