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THE SÔSHÛ SCHOOL OF THE NANBOKUCHÔ ERA –SÔSHÛ AKIHIRO 相州秋広
In the year 1185 after his victory at the battle of Dan-no-ura, Minamoto Yoritomo decided to move the center of…
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Articles |HORIKAWA KUNITAKE 堀川国武
Kunitake (国武) was a student of the famous Shinto sword maker, Horikawa Kunihiro (堀川国廣). Kunitake (国武) lived around the first…
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Articles |ISHIDÔ MITSUHIRA 石堂光平
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 |THE CHÔGI SCHOOL and BIZEN NAGAMORI 長義系 と 備前長守
Chogi (長義), also known as Nagayoshi (長義), along with Kanemitsu (兼光) are thought to be two of the truly great…
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Articles |THE TANTÔ 短刀
A tantô is traditionally described as being a Japanese sword of less than one shaku in length. This equates to…
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Articles |AWATAGUCHI KUNIYOSHI 粟田口国吉
The Awataguchi School (粟田口) was founded by Kuniie (国家), whose father Kuniyoshi (国吉) went to Kyoto from Yamato Province where…
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Articles |GODAI TADAYOSHI 五代忠吉
Godai Tadayoshi (五代忠吉), the fifth generation, was born in 1696. He was the son of the Omi Daijo Tadayoshi (近江大掾忠吉). …
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Articles |THE HOSHÔ SCHOOL 保昌
The Hoshô (保昌) school is one of the five schools of the Yamato Den (大和伝) They are said to have…
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Articles |THE BITCHU AOE SCHOOL 備中青江
To properly understand the foundation and beginnings of the Bitchu Aoe School (備中青江) we must first study geography and history. …
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Articles |THE BUNGO TAKADA SCHOOL 豊後高田
The province of Bungo (豊後) in Kyushu produced such excellent sword smiths as Yukihira (行平) in the Koto times. Tomoyuki…
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Articles |ROKUDAI TADAYOSHI 六代忠吉
Rokudai Tadayoshi (六代忠吉), the sixth generation, was born in 1736. The fifth generation Tadayoshi (忠吉) had two sons and the…
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Articles |THE UCHIGATANA KOSHIRAE 打刀拵
The term, uchigatana (打刀), is made up of two Japanese words. The word, uchi (打), comes from the verb, utsu,…
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Articles |THE ICHIMONJI SCHOOL 一文字派
THE ICHIMONJI SCHôOL 一文字派 The Ichimonji School (一文字) in Bizen Province was a large school that was founded in the…
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Articles |KANABO MASATSUGU 金房政次
The latter part of the Muromachi Era was a time of constant warfare. Prior to this time, the large Buddhist…
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Articles |THE CHIKUZEN SA SCHOOL 筑前左系
The founder of the Chikuzen Sa School (筑前左系) is known as O-Sa. (大 左) Although he signed his blades with…
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Articles |THE NAOE SHIZU KEI 直江志津系
The end of the Kamakura era brought two important sword smiths to Mino Province, Kaneuji (兼氏) and Kinjû (金重). Kaneuji…
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Articles |GOJO KUNINAGA 五条国永
The founder of the Sanjo School was Sanjo Munechika. (三条宗近). He worked around the Eien era (987-989). Exact records from…
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Articles |KOYAMA MUNETSUGU 固山宗次
Munetsugu’s (宗次) given name was Koyama Sobei (固山宗兵衛) and he was born in 1802 in Shirakawa province in Oshu Prefecture. …
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Articles |HORIKAWA KUNIHIRO 堀川国広
Kunihiro (国広) is considered by many to be the foremost master of all Shinto sword makers in terms of both…
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Articles |THE HIZEN MUNETSUGU SMITHS 肥前宗次
The first generation Hizen Munetsugu (肥前宗次) was originally called Sakai Mitsuemon or Sakai Sanuemon (境三右衛門). His first residence was in…
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Articles |BIZEN KAGEHIDE 備前景秀
Bizen Kagehide (備前景秀) worked around the Bunei period (1265). He was said to be the younger brother of Bizen Mitsutada…
