0-timeline - size 24 Middle Kamakura                          The circle indicates the time we discuss in this section

The characteristics of Yamashiro Den swords

Sugata (shape)—– Generally, the blade is narrow, especially near the yokote line.  The bottom of the blade has funbari (an A-line shape).  Kasane is thick, and the curvature type is usually kyo-zori (the deepest curvature is around the middle).  It has a small kissaki with fukura.   Shinogi is thick, with gyo-no-mune or shin-no-mune.  Please refer to the three illustrations below for sugata.

13 Mune drawing

9 鎌倉中期刀姿

8 Fukura

Horimono (Engraving)—– The tip of a Hi (樋, groove) follows the exact shape of the Ko-shinogi line.  Sometimes you may see Bonj (Sanscrit) and Suken (see the illustration).

9 Hi, Suken, Bonji

Nakago (hilt: 中心) ——————–Long and thin with a slight curve.                                  Hamon (tempered line: 刃文) —————-Mostly suguha (straight line), niju-ba (double hamon), or suguha with an irregular wavy line.  Sometimes, a thin gold lightning-like line called inazuma appears faintly.  The tempered line is mostly nie.  Below is suguha.

 
豊後国行平(Bungo-no-Kuni-Yukihira)  Sano Museum Catalog permission granted

   * Bungo-no-Kuni-Yukihira was a Yamashiro Den swordsmith from the Bungo region.

Boshi(鋩子)——– Komaru-boshi (small round)   Omaru-boshi (large round)                    Ji-hada (地肌) ——-Well forged fine surface.  Small burl pattern.  Jinie (地沸) on the surface.

Names of the swordsmiths during the middle Kamakura period

  • Ayano-Koji group ———————————– Ayano-Koji Sadatoshi (綾小路 定利 )
  • Awataguchi group ————————————- Awataguchi kunitsuna (粟田口国綱)
  • Rai group ————————-Rai kuniyuki (来国行) Rai Nijikunitoshi (来ニ字国俊)

Rai Kunitoshi (来国俊)       Sano Museum Catalogue, Permission granted

 

 

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Published by Yurie Endo 遠藤由利江

I was born and raised in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, and then moved to Kamakura. Now I live in Los Angeles. I graduated from Meiji University and received a degree in literature and curatorship. I hold a curatorship license. I also graduated from California State University, Northridge, and earned an Economics degree. My father owned a manufacturing company related to metal. As his hobby, he had been collecting Japanese swords and other types of Japanese art objects. He was one of the administrators of Nihon Bijutu Token Hozon Kyokai(日本美術刀剣保存協会), which is a sword museum located in Tokyo. One of his friends (Mori Sensei), who was also the main administrator, used to hold a Japanese sword study group in his house. I joined his study group. Mori sensei’s group was very rare and valuable because he could bring top-quality swords as our study materials, due to his position in the museum. The kind of swords we could study were top-quality museum swords. Those are the kind of swords people could only see through the glass display cases. Also, I studied swords with my father since he kept many swords in our house. This is how I started to study Japanese swords.

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