Kantei

Schools

Each school with its origin, style and history, its branches and related schools and its smiths. The five traditions come first; then the provincial schools, the shintō centres and the schools and groups of smiths.

In the guide: the five traditions (gokaden)

The five traditions (gokaden)

  • Bizen-den 備前伝 Late Heian – MuromachiBizen The Bizen tradition: the largest sword production in Japan, from twelfth-century Ko-Bizen to the Osafune of the age of war. 33 smiths
  • Mino-den 美濃伝 Nanbokuchō – EdoMino The tradition of Seki, in Mino: the latest of the five and the most influential on the sword of the Edo period. 31 smiths
  • Sōshū-den 相州伝 Late Kamakura – NanbokuchōSagami The Kamakura tradition of Sagami: the most nie-rich steel of the five and the school of Masamune. 22 smiths
  • Yamashiro-den 山城伝 Heian – NanbokuchōYamashiro The tradition of the capital: elegant Kyoto blades, from Munechika’s Sanjō to the Awataguchi and Rai schools. 8 smiths
  • Yamato-den 大和伝 Late Heian – NanbokuchōYamato The Nara tradition: the swords of the great temples, with masame and suguha as their marks. 3 smiths

Provincial schools (wakimono)

  • Echigo 越後の刀工 (Echigo no tōkō) Kamakura – presentEchigo The smiths of Echigo: a northern province with few old workshops and one great twentieth-century name, Amata Akitsugu. 1 smith
  • Etchū 越中の刀工 (Etchū no tōkō) Late Kamakura – BakumatsuEtchū The smiths of Etchū: Norishige and Gō Yoshihiro, two of the great names of the Sagami style, and the Uda school. 1 smith
  • Higo 肥後の刀工 (Higo no tōkō) Late Kamakura – presentHigo The smiths of Higo: the Enju school, heir to Rai, and the sturdy blades of Dōtanuki, plus the smiths of modern Kumamoto. 2 smiths
  • Ko-Hōki 伯耆の刀工 (Hōki no tōkō) Late Heian – presentHōki The smiths of Hōki: the iron-sand country of Chūgoku, where Yasutsuna forged some of the oldest surviving tachi. 4 smiths
  • Kaga 加賀の刀工 (Kaga no tōkō) Nanbokuchō – BakumatsuKaga The smiths of Kaga: from Fujishima and Kiyomitsu in the Muromachi period to Kanewaka and the smiths of the Maeda fief. 10 smiths
  • Kishū 紀州の刀工 (Kishū no tōkō) Nanbokuchō – EdoKii The smiths of Kii: from the medieval workshops of the province to Nanki Shigekuni, smith of the Tokugawa branch of Wakayama. 1 smith
  • Satsuma-tō 薩摩刀 Heian – BakumatsuSatsuma The swords of southern Kyūshū: from the old Naminohira blades to the violent nie of Satsuma shinshintō. 6 smiths
  • Tosa 土佐の刀工 (Tosa no tōkō) Late Kamakura – BakumatsuTosa The smiths of Tosa: a province that brought in its best smiths from outside, from Mutsu no Kami Yoshiyuki to Sa Yukihide. 3 smiths

Shintō and shinshintō centres

  • Aizu 会津の刀工 (Aizu no tōkō) Momoyama – MeijiMutsu The smiths of Aizu: the Kanesada house, which came from Seki, and that of Miyoshi Nagamichi, serving the domain until the Boshin war. 4 smiths
  • Echizen 越前の刀工 (Echizen no tōkō) Early Edo – Mid-EdoEchizen The smiths of Fukui: Yasutsugu’s Shimosaka school and the families who came from Seki, the so-called Echizen Seki. 8 smiths
  • Edo shintō 江戸新刀 Early Edo – Mid-EdoMusashi The swords of the shogun’s capital: the practical, keen shintō of Kotetsu, Yasusada and the Edo schools. 6 smiths
  • Hizen-tō 肥前刀 Momoyama – BakumatsuHizen The swords of Saga: the house of Tadayoshi and its branches, smiths to the Nabeshima throughout the Edo period. 16 smiths
  • Ōsaka shintō 大坂新刀 Early Edo – Mid-EdoSettsu The swords of the merchants’ city: the finest jigane and the showiest hamon of the Edo period, from Sukehiro and Shinkai. 16 smiths
  • Sendai Kunikane 仙台国包一門 (Sendai Kunikane ichimon) Early Edo – MeijiMutsu The house of Kunikane in Sendai: smiths to the Date who kept the masame of the Hōshō school alive throughout the Edo period. 1 smith
  • Shinano 信濃の刀工 (Shinano no tōkō) Late Edo – presentShinano The smiths of Shinano: the Yamaura brothers in the Bakumatsu and, in the twentieth century, the Miyairi family of Sakaki. 5 smiths

Schools and groups of smiths

  • Aoe 青江派 (Aoe-ha) Late Heian – Early MuromachiBitchū The Aoe school, in Bitchū: dark steel with sumigane and suguha, for three centuries across the river from Bizen. 4 smiths
  • Awataguchi 粟田口派 (Awataguchi-ha) Early Kamakura – Late KamakuraYamashiro The Awataguchi school, in Kyoto: the most beautiful jigane of the Kamakura period and the tantō of Tōshirō Yoshimitsu. 6 smiths
  • Dōtanuki 同田貫 Late Muromachi – BakumatsuHigo The unadorned swords of Higo: wide, thick and heavy, forged for Katō Kiyomasa at the end of the sixteenth century. 1 smith
  • Enju 延寿派 (Enju-ha) Late Kamakura – NanbokuchōHigo The Higo school born of Rai: the soft suguha of Kyoto carried to Kikuchi, in the service of the Kikuchi clan.
  • Fukuoka Ichimonji 福岡一文字派 (Fukuoka Ichimonji-ha) Mid-KamakuraBizen The height of the Ichimonji: wide, magnificent tachi of the mid-Kamakura period, with the richest chōji and the liveliest midare-utsuri of Bizen. 6 smiths
  • Gassan 月山派 (Gassan-ha) Kamakura – presentDewa The school of Mount Gassan: the wavy ayasugi-hada, from medieval Dewa to the Ōsaka house that keeps it alive today. 5 smiths
  • Hokke 法華派 (Hokke-ha) Nanbokuchō – MuromachiBingo The Bingo school named after its smiths’ faith: sober suguha blades, close to Mihara. 1 smith
  • Horii 堀井 Bakumatsu – presentŌmi, Musashi The Horii family: from Taneyoshi, a Bakumatsu smith of Ōmi, to Toshihide and the Zuisen forge in Muroran, with a stint in the workshop of Takase Ukō's library in Tokyo. 5 smiths
  • Horikawa 堀川派 (Horikawa-ha) Momoyama – Early EdoYamashiro Horikawa Kunihiro’s school in Kyoto: the beginning of shintō and the training ground of its best smiths. 7 smiths
  • Hōshō 保昌派 (Hōshō-ha) Mid-Kamakura – MuromachiYamato The only Yamato school with a full masame: a straight, orderly grain from end to end, with a nie suguha. 1 smith
  • Ichimonji 一文字派 (Ichimonji-ha) Kamakura – NanbokuchōBizen The smiths who signed with a single stroke, «one»: the most lavish chōji of Bizen, from Norimune to the Yoshioka of the Nanbokuchō period. 3 smiths
  • Ikkansai Shōwa – presentMusashi A line of Tokyo smiths whose first masters signed Ikkansai; its central figure, Kasama Shigetsugu, taught at Kurihara Akihide's centre, and the Yoshihara descend from his school. 3 smiths
  • Ishidō 石堂派 (Ishidō-ha) Late Muromachi – BakumatsuŌmi The school that set out to revive Ichimonji in the Edo period: a nioi chōji with utsuri, spread across Edo, Kii, Ōsaka and Chikuzen. 8 smiths
  • Kanewaka 加州兼若 (Kashū Kanewaka) Early Edo – BakumatsuKaga, Mino The Tsujimura family of Kanazawa: smiths of Mino origin who settled in Kaga in the early 17th century and signed Kanewaka throughout the Edo period. 4 smiths
  • Mihara 三原派 (Mihara-ha) Late Kamakura – Late MuromachiBingo The Bingo school of Yamato roots: sober blades with masame and suguha, from the Ko-Mihara of the Kamakura period to the Mihara of the Muromachi.
  • Miike 三池派 (Miike-ha) Late Heian – Late MuromachiChikugo One of the oldest schools of Kyūshū: Mitsuyo, maker of the Ōdenta, one of the tenka goken. 1 smith
  • Mishina 三品派 (Mishina-ha) Momoyama – EdoYamashiro The other great school of Kyoto shintō: the Mishina family, from Seki, with Kinmichi, Yoshimichi and Masatoshi. 10 smiths
  • Mizuta 水田派 (Mizuta-ha) Late Muromachi – Late EdoBitchū The Mizuta school, in Bitchū: the name Kunishige, borne by dozens of smiths, with sturdy working blades. 2 smiths
  • Naminohira 波平派 (Naminohira-ha) Heian – MeijiSatsuma One of the longest-lived schools in Japan: the smiths of Taniyama, in Satsuma, from the Heian period to Meiji. 2 smiths
  • Naoe Shizu 直江志津 NanbokuchōMino Kaneuji’s followers at Naoe: the Sagami style turned Mino in the Nanbokuchō period, with notare, gunome and deep nie. 1 smith
  • Nihontō Tanren Denshūjo ShōwaMusashi, Sagami Kurihara Akihide's swordsmith training centre in Tokyo (1933-1941); Miyairi Akihira and Amata Akitsugu, among others, came out of it. 4 smiths
  • Niō 二王派 (Niō-ha) Mid-Kamakura – BakumatsuSuō The Suō school of Yamato roots: Kiyotsuna and his successors, from the Kamakura period to the Chōshū domain in Edo times. 3 smiths
  • Osafune 長船派 (Osafune-ha) Mid-Kamakura – MomoyamaBizen The largest group of smiths in Japanese history: from Mitsutada and Nagamitsu to the Sukesada and Kiyomitsu of the Sengoku period. 28 smiths
  • Rai 来派 (Rai-ha) Mid-Kamakura – NanbokuchōYamashiro The Kyoto school that brought suguha to its classic form: Kuniyuki, Kunitoshi, Kunimitsu and Kunitsugu. 6 smiths
  • Samonji 左文字派 (Samonji-ha) Late Kamakura – Early MuromachiChikuzen The Chikuzen school that signed «Sa»: the Sagami style carried to Kyūshū by Ō-Sa and his pupils. 7 smiths
  • Sengo 千子派 (Sengo-ha) Late Muromachi – Early EdoIse Muramasa’s school in Kuwana: practical, keen blades, with a hamon identical on both sides. 1 smith
  • Senjuin 千手院派 (Senjuin-ha) Late Heian – NanbokuchōYamato The oldest of the five Yamato schools, at the foot of Mount Wakakusa, beside the Tōdai-ji.
  • Shikkake 尻懸派 (Shikkake-ha) Late Kamakura – MuromachiYamato One of the five Yamato schools, founded by Norihiro: suguha with small gunome and a jigane with much nagare. 1 smith
  • Shimada 島田派 (Shimada-ha) Mid-Muromachi – Mid-EdoSuruga The Shimada school, in Suruga: a Sagami style on the Tōkaidō, with the Yoshisuke and Sukemune for generations. 1 smith
  • Shimosaka 下坂派 (Shimosaka-ha) Late Muromachi – BakumatsuŌmi The school of Shimosaka village, in Ōmi: from spear makers to the house of Yasutsugu, smith to the Tokugawa. 9 smiths
  • Sue-Aoe 末青江 Nanbokuchō – Early MuromachiBitchū The last stage of the Aoe school: large Nanbokuchō blades, with more nie and a suguha that opens into gunome. 2 smiths
  • Taima 当麻派 (Taima-ha) Late Kamakura – NanbokuchōYamato One of the five Yamato schools, linked to the Taima-dera temple: blades of intense nie that come close to the Sagami style.
  • Takada 高田派 (Takada-ha) Nanbokuchō – EdoBungo The Bungo school, in Kyūshū: practical blades in quantity for five centuries, in styles ranging from Sagami to Bizen and Mino. 10 smiths
  • Tegai 手掻派 (Tegai-ha) Late Kamakura – MuromachiYamato The largest of the five Yamato schools: the smiths of the Tegai gate of the Tōdai-ji, with Kanenaga as founder. 5 smiths
  • Uda 宇多派 (Uda-ha) Late Kamakura – BakumatsuEtchū The school that took the Yamato style to Etchū: Uda Kunimitsu and his line, active from the Nanbokuchō period to the end of Edo. 3 smiths
  • Ukai 鵜飼派 (Ukai-ha) Late Kamakura – Early MuromachiBizen A small Bizen school, from the late Kamakura to the Nanbokuchō period, whose smiths signed with the cloud character; its blades resemble those of Kyoto and Aoe more than those of Osafune. 2 smiths
  • Nihontō Tanrenkai (Yasukuni) 日本刀鍛錬会 (Nihontō Tanrenkai) ShōwaMusashi The forge of the Yasukuni shrine, in Tokyo (1933-1945): a foundation tied to the Army that forged some 8,100 blades with tamahagane and gave its smiths the character «yasu». 4 smiths