Katana Attributed to Fuyuhiro (Late Muromachi, ca. 1500s)
Koto Period — Soshu Tradition Influence
This is a highly interesting koto katana in the Soshu style, attributed to Fuyuhiro of the late Muromachi period. The sword is in good polish, showing an impressive shape with a cutting edge over 27 inches. The blade remains ubu and mumei, a common feature of koto works where the artistry of the blade itself speaks louder than the presence of a mei.
Workmanship
The hamon is a lively midare-ba, based in suguha with gunome elements, and is filled with activity. It displays abundant nie, with sunagashi and kinsuji running throughout, along with areas of tobiyaki. The hada is well-forged, with a smooth, almost “milky” appearance, combining itame-nagare with some areas of ō-hada and flowing masame. Subtle ji-nie, chikei, and profuse ara-nie further enrich the surface.
The boshi is a bold hakikake, adding strength and character to the kissaki. The tang (nakago) remains ubu and is of an unusual shape, sometimes associated with Soshu-influenced schools, further supporting the attribution.
Attribution to Fuyuhiro
The workmanship strongly recalls the Fuyuhiro line, particularly the third generation, known for exuberant activity in the hamon. His works often display midare, notare-midare, and gunome-midare, with frequent tobiyaki, mune-yaki, and even hitatsura in ko-nie. The hada known as “Fuyuhiro-hada” shows a flowing mixture of masame and itame, enriched with ji-nie. This sword’s abundant hataraki and powerful Soshu flavor support the attribution to this important line of smiths.
Condition & Mounting
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Polish: Good, reveals hada and hamon activities clearly.
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Mounting: In shirasaya with ebony inserts, fitted with an ebony wooden habaki.
Conclusion
This is a beautiful and dynamic Soshu-influenced katana, attributed to Fuyuhiro of the late Muromachi era. Its energetic hamon, rich hada, and abundance of hataraki make it both a study piece and a highly desirable sword for any serious collector of koto-period works. With its size, quality, and striking activity, this blade stands as a fine representative of the Soshu tradition as interpreted by the Fuyuhiro line.
- Mei: Mumei
- Date: koto (1500’s muromachi)
- Nagasa: 27.1/8 inches
- Sori: 24.0 mm
- Width at the ha-machi: 28.7 mm
- Width at the yokote: 19.7 mm
- Thickness at the mune-machi: 7.7 mm
- Construction: Shinogi zukuri
- Mune: Iori
- Nakago: Ubu
- Kitae: Itame masame
- Hamon: Midare Gunome
- Boshi: maru
- Condition: Good polish
Click to Enlarge Image
Click to Enlarge Image
Please note that the color of these images are not what the sword looks like in hand.
High power lighting was used to bring out the details of this sword, making the hamon and hada more visible.
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kantei-sho (鑑定書) No 381702 katana, mumei: Fuyuhiro (冬広)
nagasa 2 shaku 2 sun 8 bu han Migi wa tô-kyôkai ni oite shinsa no kekka, hozon-tôken to kantei-shi kore o shô-suru.
(右は當協會に於て審査の結果保存刀剣と鑑定しこれを証する)
Heisei nijûichinen ichigatsu nijûkunichi (平成二十一年一月二十久日)
zaidan-hôjin (財團法人): Nihon Bijutsu Tôken Hozon Kyôkai (日本美術刀劍保存協會)
Appraisal
katana, unsigned: Fuyuhiro
nagasa ~ 69.3 cm According to the result of the shinsa committee of our society we judged this work as authentic and designate
it as hozon-tôken. January 29th 2009 [Foundation] NBTHK
FUYUHIRO school information:
FUYU (冬)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 1st gen., Kōshō (康正, 1455-1457), Wakasa – “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), “Fuyuhiro” (冬広), according to tradition the son of the 2nd gen. Sōshū Hirotsugu (広次) who had moved later in his career from Sagami to Obama (小浜) in Wakasa province, there he founded the quite successful Fuyuhiro school which gave rise to many smiths, he worked in an itame-nagare mixed with masame and ji-nie and the hada can either stand out or is finely forged, the hamon is a suguha or a notare mixed with gunome, tantō show mostly a hoso-suguha and a jihada that tends somewhat to ayasugi, chūjō-saku
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 2nd gen., Chōkyō (長享, 1487-1489), Wakasa – “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro saku” (若州住冬広作), “Fuyuhiro saku” (冬広作), “Hakushū-jū Fuyuhiro saku” (伯州住冬広作), he lived in Obama (小浜) in Wakasa province but worked also in Bizen and Hōki, there exists a date signature of the 13th year of Eishō (永正, 1516) in combination with the information made at the age of 53, this calculates his year of birth as Kyōtoku two (享徳, 1453), suguha, notare, gunome-midare, chū-saku
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 3rd gen., Daiei (大永, 1521-1528), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro saku” (冬広作), “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), “Kyū ́emon no Jō Fuyuhiro” (久右衛門尉冬広), first name Kyū ́emon (久右衛門), most of the today known Fuyuhiro works of this lineage go back to the hand of this generation, mostly a standing-out itame-nagare with masame and ji-nie, the hamon is a suguha, notare or gunome-midare in ko-nie-deki, whereas also works with tobiyaki and muneyaki can be found that tend to hitatsura, interpretations in midareba have a wide mihaba and plenty of nie, sometimes the yakiba is narrow and has a tight nioiguchi, his tang has a Sōshū-typical funagata-like shape, the tip of the tang is a pronounced ha- agari kurijiri
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 4th gen., Eiroku (永禄, 1558-1570), Wakasa – “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), “Wakasa no Kami Fuyuhiro” (若狭守冬広), “Bizen no Kuni-jū Fuyuhiro” (備前国住冬広), “Fuyuhiro Tōzaemon no Jō” (冬広藤左衛門尉), “Bitchū no Kuni Matsuyama ni oite Jakushū-jūnin Fuyuhiro saku” (備中国於松山若州住人 冬広作), he bore the first names Matajirō (又次郎) and Tōzaemon (藤左衛門), the honorary title Wakasa no Kami was granted to him on the eleventh day of the eighth month Eiroku seven (1564), he moved later to Matsuyama (松山) in Bitchū province to work there on the invitation of Mimura Motochika (三村元親, ?-1575), the castellan of Matsuyama Castle, it is said that he also worked during the Tenshō era (天正, 1573-1592) in Bingo province, quasi on the way to Bitchū he also worked during the early years of the Daiei era (大永, 1521-1528) in Bizen province, the above mentioned signature with the prefix “Bizen no Kuni” is found on a blade with the date signature of Daiei two (1522)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 5th gen., Keichō (慶長, 1596-1615), Wakasa – “Jakushū Obama-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州小浜住 冬広), “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), “Wakasa no Daijō Fujiwara Fuyuhiro” (若狭大掾藤原冬広), “Wakasa no Kami Fuyuhiro” (若狭守冬広), real name Takahashi Gorōzaemon (高橋五郎左衛門), according to tradition the son of Sōshū Hirotsugu (広次) who later took over the Fuyihiro school when their 4th generation moved to Bitchū, the honorary title Wakasa no Kami was granted to him on the tenth day of the twelfth month Keichō three (1598), because
– 77 –
Kyōgoku Takatsugu (京極高次, 1563-1609) – the lord of the Obama fief (小浜藩) – bore the honorary title Wakasa no Kami too, Fuyuhiro later refrained out of respect from using this title and switched to the lower Wakasa no Daijō, chū-
saku, chūjō-saku
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 6th gen., Kan ́ei (寛永, 1624-1644), Wakasa – “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), “Wakasa no Daijō Fujiwara Fuyuhiro” (若狭大掾藤原冬広), real name Takahashi Gorō ́emon (高橋五郎右衛門), from this period onwards the Fuyuhiro mainline did not bear the honorary title of Wakasa no Daijō in the strict sense, i.e. being granted with that title, but used it as a kind of “trademark”
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 7th gen., Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673), Wakasa – “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), first name Magosaburō (孫三郎)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 8th gen., Genroku (元禄, 1688-1704), Wakasa – “Wakasa no Daijō Fujiwara Fuyuhiro” (若狭大掾藤原冬広), “Wakasa no Daijō Fujiwara Fuyuhiro nanban-tetsu o motte kore o saku” (若狭大掾藤原冬広以南蛮鉄作, “made by Wakasa no Daijō Fujiwara Fuyuhiro by using nanban-tetsu”), first name Jinbei (甚兵衛)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 9th gen., Kyōhō (享保, 1716-1736), Wakasa- “Jakushū Obama-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州小浜住冬広), “Jakushū Unpinjō Fuyuhiro tsukuru” (若州雲浜城冬広造), “Wakasa Obama-jōhen Fuyuhiro tsukuru” (若狭小浜城辺冬広造), first name Jinbei (甚兵衛), Unpin (雲浜) is another name for Obama Castle
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 10th gen., Kanpō (寛保, 1741-1744), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro” (冬広), first name Jinbei (甚兵衛) FUYUHIRO (冬広), 11th gen., Meiwa (明和, 1764-1772), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro” (冬広), “Wakasa no Daijō Fujiwara Fuyuhiro Chōzaemon no Jō Masateru” (若狭大掾藤原冬広長左衛門尉正照), first name Jinbei (甚兵衛), it is unclear if this Fuyuhiro changed his name to Masateru (正照) or if the above mentioned signature goes back to a joint work of him and a Masateru
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 12th gen., Kansei (寛政, 1789-1801), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro Saburōbei” (冬広三郎兵衛), “Fuyu- hiro” (冬広), first name Saburōbei (三郎兵衛)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 13th gen., Bunsei (文政, 1818-1830), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro” (冬広)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), 14th gen., Ansei (安政, 1854-1860), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro” (冬広), first name Saburōbei (三郎兵衛) FUYUHIRO (冬広), 15th gen., Genji (元治, 1864-1865), Wakasa – “Fuyuhiro” (冬広), first name Chōsei ́emon (長正衛門)
FUYUHIRO (冬広), Genroku (元禄, 1688-1704), Wakasa – “Jakushū-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州住冬広), first name Saburōbei (三郎兵衛), he was the younger brother of the 8th gen. Fuyuhiro
FUYUHIRO (冬広), Kyōhō (享保, 1716-1736), Wakasa – “Jakushū Obama-jū Fuyuhiro” (若州小浜住冬広), “Fuyuhiro” (冬広), first name Chōzaemon (長左衛門), student of Saburōbei Fuyuhiro who was active around Genroku (元禄, 1688-1704)
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