Chapter 58 is a Continued part of chapter 24|Sengoku Period Tanto (戦国時代).  Please read chapter 24|Sengoku Period Tanto (戦国時代)  before reading this section.

0-timeline - size 24 Sengoku Period

　　　　　      The red circle above indicates the time we discuss in this section  

Muramasa (村正)

The discussion of this chapter is about the famous Muramasa (村正).  Usually, many well-known swordsmiths were from one of the Goka Den (五家伝: The primary five schools: Yamashiro Den, Bizen Den, Soshu Den, Yamato Den, and Mino Den).  However, Muramasa was not from the Goka Den but Ise Province.  The first generation Muramasa was known as a student of He’ian-jo Nagayoshi (平安城長吉) of Yamashiro Den.  The Muramasa family lived through the mid-Muromachi period.  They had three generations from the mid-Muromachi period to the Sengoku period. 

61 Ise map

Here is one of Muramasa’s Tanto that was made during the Sengoku period.  Since this is the Sengoku period Tanto, the blade shows the Sengoku period sword style.  It shows Mino Den characteristics, with the Soshu Den Characteristics added. 

61 Muramasa photo  61 Muramasa illustration                                                                                                                                                            Muramasa (村正) from Sano Museum Catalogue (permission granted)

Characteristics  on this Tanto

Muramasa’s Tantos are often 10 inches ± half inches or so.  Hirazukuri (平作り). Thin blade with a sharp look.  Nioi base with small Nie and Sunagashi (brushed sand-like patterns, the illustration below) appears.  Boshi (the top part of Hamon) is Jizo (a side view of a human’s head).  The tempered line has wide areas and narrow areas.  Some areas are so narrow, close to the edge of the blade, while others are broad.  Hako midare (box-like shape) and Gunome (lined-up beads pattern) appear.  O-notare (large gentle waviness) is a Muramasa’s signature characteristic.  The pointed tempered line is a typical Mino Den characteristic (Sanbon-sugi).  Refer to 23| Sengoku Period Sword(戦国時代刀）and 24| Sengoku Period Tanto (戦国時代短刀).

61 Sunagashi 2

Sunagashi (Brushed sand-like trace.  My drawing is exaggerated)

Published by Yurie Endo 遠藤由利江

I was born and raised in Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan then moved to Kamakura. Now I live in Los Angeles. Graduated from Meiji University and received a degree in literature and curatorship. I hold a curatorship license. Also, I graduated from the California State University of Northridge and received a degree in Economics. 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), that 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 a very rare and valuable kind because he could bring top-quality swords as our study materials because of 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 get into Japanese sword study.

One thought on “58|Part 2 of — 24 Sengoku Period Tanto (戦国時代短刀)”

  1. Domo arigatou gozaimashta sensei

    On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 at 2:41 am Study of Japanese Sword wrote:

    > Yurie Endo 遠藤由利江 posted: “Chapter 61 is a detailed part of chapter > 25|Sengoku Period Tanto (戦国時代). Please read chapter 25|Sengoku Period > Tanto (戦国時代) before start reading this chapter. Muramasa (村正) The > discussion in this section is about the famous Muramasa (村正 ). Many well-” >

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment