Project Info
Project Description
The blade is signed Yoshu Matsuyama Jyu Nagakuni.
The date of the two body cutting test is Meiwa Year Six
(1768), September 5th. The body cutting test was conducted by Nagasaka KATSUHIDE.
A member of the Miyoshi Clan, Nagakuni, who was also known as Toshiro, was born in Hiroshima, Geishu in 1577 as the son of Geishu Jokei (or Tsuneyoshi), and was raised and trained by his uncle, Harima no Kami Teruhiro. He became the master sword maker of Kato Yoshiaki, Lord of Iyo Matsuyama Castle and moved to Matsuyama.
He also travelled to Korea during the Bunroku era (1567-1568) with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1627, he moved to Aizu with his son, Miyoshi Masanaga.
The blade is about 70 cm or 27 1/2 inches in length and is in good polish.
Saidan-Mei record is engraved is engraved on the tang.in Edo period “Jido Kiritoshi” (cut two people) referred to two consecutive (one after the other) full body cuts, not cuts to Dou (chest armour).
The body cutting test was conducted by Nagasaka KATSUHIDE in Meiwa six 1768. Katsuhide is recorded as having done a number of Saidan-Mei in the Oshu Aizu region.
Matsuyama Nagakuni was a notable Japanese swordsmith, particularly associated with the Edo period. He was known for his work in Matsuyama province, later moving to Aizu with the Kato clan. Nagakuni was a prominent figure in the Aizu school, and his swords are still highly regarded today, with some preserved by NBTHK.
Key Aspects of Matsuyama Nagakuni:
– Early Life and Training: Nagakuni, the son of Tsuneyoshi of Aki Province, studied under Harima no Kami Teruhiro.
– Matsuyama and Aizu: He was hired by Kato Yoshiaki, governor of Matsuyama Castle in Iyo, and later moved to Aizu province with him.
– Aizu School: Nagakuni’s style and work are considered part of the Aizu school of swordsmithing, which gained importance in the Edo period.
– Died in 1631: Nagakuni passed away in Aizu in 1631.
– Miyoshi School: His grandson, Nagamichi, established the Miyoshi school, which was a prominent school in Aizu during the Edo period.
Nagakuni was the son of Tsuneyoshi of Hiroshima in Aki Province, and had studied under Harima no Kami Teruhiro (see Christie’s, London, Important Swords from the Museum of Japanese Sword Fittings, Part I, 10 November, 2004, lot 65).
Nagakuni was retained as a swordsmith by Kato Yoshiaki, the governor of Matsuyama Castle in Iyo, and joined Yoshiaki on Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s 1592 expedition to Korea. When Yoshiaki was appointed to Aizu, Nagakuni went with him and worked there from 1627 until his death in 1631. From the inscription we know that this wakizashi dates from his days at Matsuyama Castle, and it is therefore a sword made in his early to mid years. Katō Yoshiaki was a Japanese daimyō of the late Sengoku period to early Edo period; he served as lord of the Aizu Domain. As a retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Katō fought in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583 and soon became known as one of the shichi-hon-yari, or Seven Spears of Shizugatake.
Yoshiaki first distinguished himself at the Battle of Shizugatake (1583), where he would be remembered as one of that struggle’s Seven Spears’. He went on to become a naval commander for Toyotomi Hideyoshi and commanded ships in the Kyushu and Odawara Campaigns, after which he was given a 100,000-koku fief in Ise province at Matsuzaki. He was involved in the bitter naval battles fought off the coast of southern Korea during the 1st and 2nd Korean Campaign, many of which went in favor of the Korean navy. Following the death of Hideyoshi (1598) Yoshiaki drifted in Tokugawa Ieyasu’s camp and fought for him during the Sekigahara Campaign (1600). At the Battle of Sekigahara he commanded 3,000 men in the Tokugawa vanguard and clashed with the forces of Shima Sakon . After the battle his fief was increased to 200,000 koku.
An Oshu Wakizashi
Signed Oshu Aizu ju Nagakuni, Edo period (17th century)
Sugata [configuration]: honzukuri, iori-mune, chu-kissaki,
toriizori
Kitae [forging pattern]: ko-itame with jinie
Hamon [tempering pattern]: wide gunome
midare of nie with ashi
Boshi [tip]: ko-maru
Horimono [carving]: bohi ni soehi on both sides
Nakago [tang]: ubu, two holes, katte-sagari file
marks, kurijiri
Habaki [collar]: double, gilt copper
In shirasaya [plain wood scabbard]
Koshirae [set of mounts]: comprising a black-
lacquer saya with a black shakudo nanako fuchi-
kashira with hawks in shakudo takazogan with gilt details,
signed Omori Terunaga and with kao (cursive
monogram); shakudo nanako kogai with a bird inlaid in
silver takazogan; shakudo nanako kozuka with a gilt
dragon; oval shakudo nanako tsuba chiseled with a grain
pattern in low relief with gilt details, the rim gilt, 19th
century, 70cm. long
Nagasa [length from tip to beginning of tang]: 48.2cm.
Sori [curvature]: 1cm.
Motohaba [width at start of tempered edge]: 3.1cm.
Sakihaba [width before tip] 3.1cm.
INDEX OF Japanese SWORDSMITHS – Markus Sesko
NAGAKUNI (長国), Genna (元和, 1615-1624), Iyo/Ōshū –“Nagakuni” (長国), “Yoshū Matsuyama-jū Nagakuni” (予州松山住長国), “Ōshū Aizu-jū Nagakuni” (奥州会津住長国), real name Miyoshi Sōzaemon (三好宗左衛門), he also bore the first name Tōshirō (藤四郎), he was born in the fifth year of Tenshō (天正, 1577) in Hiroshima (広島) in Aki province, he signed first
with Yasuhiro (安広), after the death of his father Tsuneyoshi (常慶, also read as Jōkei) he was raised by his uncle, the Hiroshima-smith Harima no Kami Teruhiro (播磨守輝広, the 2nd gen. Teruhiro), with the transfer of his lord Katō Yoshiaki (加藤嘉明, 1563-1631) also Nagakuni moved successively to the Matsuyama fief (松山藩) of Iyo and to the Aizu fief (会津藩) of Ōshū province, he died on the 18th day of the sixth month Kan´ei eight (寛永, 1631) at the age of 54, his blades have a wide mihaba and can either show a thin or a normal kasane, the jigane is an itame mixed with masame which tends to stand out, the hamon is a suguha or slightly undulating notare mixed with gunome in ko-nie-deki with a wide nioiguchi, but also works with a tight nioiguchi are extant, jō-saku
Reference material:
NIHONTO MEIKAN 日本刀名鑑 – Honma Kaoruyama; Ishii Akirakuni; NIHON SHINTO SHI – Markus Sesko; THE CONNOISSEUR’S BOOK OF Japanese SWORDS – Kokan Nagayama – Kenji Mishina; NIHONTO KOZA VOLUME IV – SHINTO; SHINTO SHU – Mitsuo Shibata 光男·柴田 – Yoshio Fujishiro 藤代 義雄; KANZAN OSHIGATA SHINTO JITEN 寒山押形 新刀事典 – Dr. Kanzan; NIHON TOKO JITEN – SHINTO VOLUME – Yoshio Fujishiro 藤代 義雄 – Matsuo Fujishiro 藤代松雄; SHINTO MEIKAN – Markus Sesko
