A whole katana on a black background, with the short tang on the left.

Kyoto National Museum, via ColBase (photo: 岡田愛, Okada Ai) · ColBase terms of use

National Treasures · meibutsu · museums

Famous works

Twenty-two pieces in the Kyōhō meibutsuchō, two National Treasures and a list of meibutsu bearing the names of their owners.

On this page
  1. In the Kyōhō meibutsuchō
  2. His designated works and those in museums
  3. The Inaba-gō
  4. The others, by their owners
  5. Gallery

In the Kyōhō meibutsuchō

  • The 享保名物帳 (Kyōhō meibutsuchō) records twenty-two pieces of his, eleven surviving and eleven burned, against fifty-nine by Masamune and thirty-four by Awataguchi Yoshimitsu: they are the three greats (meibutsu sansaku).
  • Neither he, nor Masamune, nor Yoshimitsu are in the wazamono lists from the cutting tests of Yamada Asaemon; the reason put forward is that their blades were treasures of daimyō and could not be tested.

His designated works and those in museums

WorkDesignationWhere it is
稲葉江 (Inaba-gō)National Treasure, 1951Kashiwabara Museum, Iwakuni
富田江 (Tomita-gō)National TreasureMaeda Ikutokukai foundation
桑名江 (Kuwana-gō)Important Cultural Property, 29 August 1950Kyoto National Museum
松井江 (Matsui-gō)Important Cultural Property, 20 March 1954Sano Museum, Mishima
村雲江 (Murakumo-gō)Important Cultural Property, 29 March 1952Private collection, Osaka
五月雨江 (Samidare-gō)Important Cultural PropertyTokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya
豊前江 (Buzen-gō)Important Cultural PropertyWhereabouts unknown since the State survey of 2014 and 2015
Katana 無銘 伝義弘 (mumei, den Yoshihiro), 71.5 cmImportant Cultural PropertyTokugawa Art Museum
Katana 郷義弘 (Gō Yoshihiro)Important Art ObjectTokyo National Museum
名物 北野江 (meibutsu Kitano-gō)Not listed in ColBaseTokyo National Museum
Katana 金象嵌銘 義弘 薫山 (kinzōgan-mei Yoshihiro, Kunzan)Not listed in ColBaseKyoto National Museum

The whereabouts of the Buzen-gō and the Murakumo-gō have not been confirmed, and it is not known whether the attributed katana at the Tokugawa Art Museum is the Samidare-gō.

The Inaba-gō

  • Hon'ami Kōtoku shortened and attributed it in 1585. It passed to Inaba Shigemichi, although Fukunaga Suiken thinks rather of his son Michimichi; then to Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1600 to Yūki Hideyasu and to the Matsudaira of Tsuyama until 1945.
  • It became an Important Art Object in 1933, a National Treasure under the old law in 1936 and under the new one on 9 June 1951. In 2015 the Agency for Cultural Affairs listed it as lost; it reappeared in May 2016, when its owner reported it, and in March 2019 it was bought by Kashiwabara Corporation, which donated it to the Kashiwabara Museum in Iwakuni.
  • Very tight ko-itame with fine, dense ji-nie; ko-notare with gunome, ashi, deep nioi with ko-nie, sunagashi and hotsure; an almost ichimai bōshi; bōhi.
Old black-and-white photo: two shots of a tang with an inscription and, on the right, a whole curved blade.
The Inaba-gō in a 1952 catalogue photo. Cultural Properties Association (文化財協会, Bunkazai Kyōkai), 1952, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · source

The others, by their owners

  • Kuwana-gō. After Honda Mino no Kami Tadamasa, lord of Kuwana. Hon'ami Kōtoku attributed it in gold; 69.3 cm, wide suguha with thick chōji-ashi and an ichimai bōshi. It was shortened by Umetada Myōju, according to tradition.
  • Matsui-gō. After Matsui Okinaga. Hon'ami Kōjō appraised it in red lacquer; in 1685 it was Tsuruhime’s wedding gift to Tokugawa Tsunanori, of Kii. Its tight suguha is rare in him; the State record sees his hand in the fine steel and the deep, clear nioi. Today it is at the Sano Museum.
  • Samidare-gō. Hon'ami Kōshitsu attributed it; it passed through Kuroda Nagamasa, Tokugawa Hidetada and Iemitsu to the Tokugawa of Owari, and was donated to the Tokugawa Art Museum in 1944. 71.8 cm, notare with ko-midare.
  • Murakumo-gō. After a phrase attributed to Hideyoshi: its nie looks like billowing clouds.
  • Kitano-gō. After a cutting test by Maeda Toshitsune at Kitano, in Kyoto; the Maeda gave it to the Emperor Meiji in 1910 and today it is at the Tokyo National Museum, which describes its wide notare with plenty of nie, influenced by Sagami.
  • The katana 郷義弘 (Gō Yoshihiro) of the Tokyo National Museum. It belonged to the Tokugawa of Kii and, according to tradition, was the everyday sword of their second lord, Mitsusada.