A rare and exciting sword, this blade was awarded Tokubetsu Hozon papers from the NBTHK and attributed to the Enju school of swordsmiths. (This blade has not been submitted to Juyo Shinsa) A late Kamakura era sword this blade has all the finer attributes found in this school. The hada is a beautiful mix of itame with masame and utsuri appears. The hamon is loaded with hataraki it is ko-midare with hotsure, nijuba and sunagashi. The blade has bohi engraved and is mounted in shirasaya with gold foiled 2-piece habaki.  This sword is a true tachi in shape and balance.  The curvature is strong and this blade was made for one handed slashing from horseback.

The Enju School in Higo province is famous as
the supplier of swords to the Kikuchi family they were loyal retainers
of a divided Emperor family in the Namboku-cho period.
The founder of Enju School Kunimura was a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi
in Yamashiro province. The School had prospered following
the Kikuchi family and came to an end in the Age of Provincial Wars.
The representative swordsmiths were Kunimura,
Kuniyoshi, Kuniyasu and Kuninobu.
Around the end of the Kamakura era, a smith by the name of Hiromura left the Yamato area and went to Yamashiro where he studied under the famous Yamashiro smith, Rai Kuniyuki. He is said to have married the daughter of Rai Kuniyuki. Around Gen-o (1319-1321), he moved to the Kikuchi area in the Higo province of Kyushu and founded the Higo school of sword making. There are no existing works of Hiromura so his son, Kunimura, is credited with the actual founding of the Enju school.� In fact the name of the school originated from Kunimura’s, full name, Enju Taro Kunimura.

Examples of work by the Enju smiths span the period from the end of the Kamakura to the Muromachi eras. The works are commonly divided into one of three periods: Ko-Enju from the late Kamakura period; Chu-Enju during the Nanbokucho period; and Sue-Enju during the Muromachi period.

Note: Many Enju blades of this quality have reached JUYO Papers from the NBTHK.  This sword should be sent to JUYO shinsa in the future.