Tōshirō Yoshimitsu
藤四郎吉光 (Tōshirō Yoshimitsu)
An Awataguchi smith in Kyoto of the Kamakura period, called Tōshirō; the great master of the tantō and one of the three greats of the Kyōhō meibutsuchō.
Profile
Yoshimitsu, called Tōshirō, worked at Awataguchi in Kyoto; there are no dated blades, and his family places him in the Kamakura period. He is the great master of the tantō: almost all his work is tantō of balanced shape, with a ko-itame so dense it is called nashiji, abundant ji-nie and a nie suguha with some midare, often with a row of gunome at the base. He signed «Yoshimitsu» with two characters. Toyotomi Hideyoshi ranked him with Masamune and Gō Yoshihiro among the three greats, as the Kyōhō meibutsuchō records. Many of his blades, collected by Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, burned at Honnō-ji or in the fall of Osaka, and the first Echizen Yasutsugu retempered several. Daimyō houses made a custom of keeping a tantō by him.
Monograph
Tōshirō Yoshimitsu (藤四郎吉光)
His quick profile, what is documented as against tradition, and the essentials.
Read the monograph
Notable works
- Atsu Tōshirō: tantō with a very thick blade, national treasure, Tokyo National Museum.
- Gotō Tōshirō: tantō, national treasure, Tokugawa Art Museum.
- Ichigo Hitofuri: his only known signed tachi, shortened and retempered, in the imperial collection.
Famous swords
- Mōri Tōshirō 毛利藤四郎
- Okayama Tōshirō 岡山藤四郎