Chapter 60 is a detailed part of Chapter 26, Overview of Shinto (新刀概要).  Please read Chapter 26 before reading this section.

0-timeline - size 24 edo Period

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

The difficulty of Shin-to Kantei

Regarding swords from the ko-to period, you can estimate when they were made by analyzing their style and shape.  Several factors indicate which period and which Gokaden (五ヶ伝) created the sword by examining several points, such as the appearance of the hamon or the appearance of the ji-gane.  However, swords from the shin-to period do not follow this method.     

Although there are differences among shin-to swords made during the early Edo period, around the Keicho (慶長: 1596 ~) era, the middle Edo period, that is around the Kanbun (寛文: 1661 ~) era, and the late Edo period, that is the Genroku era (元禄: 1688 ~), these differences are not much. 

The same applies to the Gokaden (五ヶ伝) during the shin-to period.  In the ko-to time, Bizen swordsmiths forged swords with Bizen characteristics.  Swords made by Yamato swordsmiths usually showed the Yamato-den features.  However, during the shin-to period, a swordsmith from one specific den sometimes forged blades in the style of another den’s features.  As a result, it is difficult to determine the maker of a particular sword. 

For shin-to, we will study the characteristics of the seven main locations, which will be discussed in the following chapters.

Picturesque Hamon

During and after the Genroku era (元禄1688 – 1704), some picturesque hamon style became trendy.  Several swordsmiths created picturesque hamon on wakizashi and short swords.  As it gained popularity, especially among foreigners, most of these swords were exported from Japan during the Meiji Restoration.  Today, very few remain in Japan.

The swordsmiths who made picturesque  Hamon 

Yamashiro (山城) area ———————————-Iga-no-kami Kinmichi (伊賀守金道),                                                                                       Omi-no-kami Hisamichi (近江守久道)

Settsu (摂津) area ———————————Tanba-no-Kami Yoshimichi  (丹波守吉道)                                                                                 Yamato-no-Kami Yoshimichi (大和守吉道)

Below are examples.  Fuji is the Mount Fuji design.  Kikusui is a chrysanthemum in the water.

63 fuji sakura hamon

　　　　　　　　Fuji                                　     Kikusui

Unknown's avatar

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.

One thought on “60|Part 2 of – – 26 Overview of Shin-To　(新刀概要）”

  1. Domo arigatou sensei Shitsureishimasu Sasha

    On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 at 3:14 am Study of Japanese Sword wrote:

    > Yurie Endo 遠藤由利江 posted: “The difficulty of Shin-To Kantei During Ko-To > time, one could tell the approximate time when the sword was made by the > style and the shape. The condition of the Hamon, how the Jigane appears > indicates the approximate Gokaden (五ヶ伝) of Ko-To time. But ” >

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to consultengineering Cancel reply