Kantei
A whole wakizashi blade on a black background, with the tang on the left and the point on the right.

Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History · © Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History

Important Cultural Properties · museums

Famous works

Two designations as an Important Cultural Property, one of them covering three tachi, a katana at the Tokyo National Museum and two wakizashi at the Miyazaki prefectural museum.

On this page
  1. Documented works
  2. The tachi of the Yasaka shrine
  3. In the museums
  4. In the lists and the treatises

Documented works

WorkDesignationWhere it is
Three tachi signed 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi), of 1654, with their itomaki-tachi mountingsImportant Cultural Property (1950)Yasaka shrine (八坂神社, Yasaka Jinja), Kyoto
Katana signed 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi)Important Cultural Property (1959)Private collection, Aichi Prefecture
Katana signed 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi)No designationTokyo National Museum (F-19946)
Wakizashi signed 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi), 39.3 cmNo designationMiyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History
Wakizashi signed 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi), 51.1 cm, one of the 赤羽刀 (Akabane-tō)No designationMiyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History

The tachi of the Yasaka shrine

The three tachi were designated an Important Cultural Property on 29 August 1950, with their tachi mountings with a cord-wrapped hilt (糸巻太刀拵, itomaki-tachi-goshirae). Their fittings bear the name of 躰阿弥 (Taiami), with the title of 金具御大工 (kanagu go-daiku), master craftsman of the metal fittings, and the blades bear the date of the ninth month of 1654 (Jōō 3) and the dedication 祇園社御太刀 (Gion-sha on-tachi), “tachi of the Gion shrine”, the shrine that is now called Yasaka. The shrine’s main building is from the same year, 1654, and has been a National Treasure since 2020.

In the museums

  • The Tokyo National Museum has a katana of his; its record says that it is a typical piece, sturdy and with a shallow curve.
  • The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History keeps two wakizashi signed 出羽大掾藤原国路 (Dewa Daijō Fujiwara Kunimichi), of 39.3 and 51.1 cm. The second is one of the 赤羽刀 (Akabane-tō), the swords confiscated after the war and returned.

In the lists and the treatises

YearList or treatiseRank
1797懐宝剣尺 (Kaihō Kenjaku), by Yamada Asaemon業物 (wazamono), the fourth of four grades
1933 (published in 1935)Tomita Kiyama’s ranking of shintō swordsmiths, in the manner of sumōEast maegashira