Kantei
A tantō in its mounting: a light braided hilt and a gold and orange lacquered scabbard with golden leaf crests, and a purple cord.

Kyoto National Museum, via ColBase · ColBase terms of use

Important Cultural Properties · museums

Famous works

Two Important Cultural Properties, a tantō in the Tokyo National Museum and a wakizashi given away by a shōgun: his works with their names and places.

On this page
  1. Documented works
  2. In the lists and the treatises
  3. The mounting of the 1376 tantō

Documented works

  • Tantō signed 相州住秋広 (Sōshū-jū Akihiro) and dated 永和二 (Eiwa ni), 1376. Important Cultural Property (重要文化財, jūyō bunkazai) since 22 June 1955, in the Kyoto National Museum, with its mounting of a 金梨地 (kin-nashiji) lacquered scabbard and the paulownia crest (金梨地桐紋蒔絵鞘短刀拵, kin-nashiji kirimon makie saya tantō koshirae). For the museum, it is the only signed tantō by Akihiro with that designation.
  • Tantō signed 相州住秋広 (Sōshū-jū Akihiro) and dated 応安三 (Ōan san), 1370. In the Tokyo National Museum, with an 赤胴変り塗合口拵 (akagane kawari-nuri aikuchi koshirae) mounting with fittings by Gotō Ichijō. Its record gives no designation.
  • Wakizashi signed 相州住秋広 (Sōshū-jū Akihiro) and dated 応永五年 (Ōei gonen), 1398. 重要刀剣 (jūyō tōken), with a certificate by Hon'ami Kōyū of Kyōhō 14 (1729). According to the Tokugawa Jikki, the shōgun Yoshimune gave it on 28 September 1729 to Naomatsu (Munenobu), son of the sixth lord of Kii. It has belonged to the NBTHK since it was donated in June 2025.
  • Unsigned katana attributed to Akihiro (刀 無銘伝秋広, katana mumei den Akihiro). Important Cultural Property since 1961, in a private collection.
  • A wakizashi of 1 shaku 7 sun in the Tokyo National Museum, which the NBTHK cites without further details.
  • A wakizashi, 重要美術品 (jūyō bijutsuhin) since 1941, from the Shimazu house, lost in 1945; it is said to have returned to Japan from the United States. No official source confirms it.

In the lists and the treatises

No work of his has been found in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō (享保名物帳), nor his name in the wazamono lists, nor any National Treasure (国宝, kokuhō) of his. His rank is the one given him by the NBTHK and the encyclopaedias: with Hiromitsu, the head of the Sōshū forge of the Nanbokuchō.