Sword Smiths and Sword Fittings of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period — The Sword Craft Fostered by Horikawa Kunihiro, Umetada Meihisa, and the Unifiers of the Realm

The Unification of the Realm and the Transformation of Sword Culture

The Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1603) spans thirty-five tumultuous years from Oda Nobunaga's campaign to unify the realm through Toyotomi Hideyoshi's achievement of national consolidation and invasion of Korea, culminating in Tokugawa Ieyasu's establishment of hegemony at the Battle of Sekigahara. During this era, two major transformations in sword culture unfolded simultaneously.

The first was the "ornamentation and luxuriation of swords." As the overwhelmingly powerful warlords Nobunaga and Hideyoshi competed to acquire lavish hilts and sumptuous sword fittings, the sword transcended its status as a mere weapon, becoming instead a symbol of power, an instrument of diplomatic gift-giving, and a means of displaying wealth. The second transformation was the "complete establishment of the katana (uchigatana)." As warfare during the Sengoku period evolved from cavalry-dominated engagements to large-scale infantry battles on foot, the katana—worn thrust through the sash while walking—proved far more practical in actual combat than the tachi, which hung suspended from the sash of a mounted warrior. This shift would fundamentally determine the nature of Japanese swords for centuries to come.

Nobunaga's Swords — "The Hunting of Masterpieces" and the Collection of Renowned Blades

Oda Nobunaga occupies a singular position in the history of Japanese swordsmanship. In the process of bringing the realm under his rule, he systematically engaged in what became known as "meibotsu-gari" (the hunting of masterpieces), actively requisitioning and collecting renowned swords from daimyo houses, nobles, and temples and shrines. His uniqueness lay not merely in being a collector, but in instrumentalizing the possession of renowned blades as a visible manifestation of power itself.

The most celebrated of Nobunaga's blades is the "Yoshimoto Samoniji." This tachi, forged by the Samoniji school of sword smiths during the Nanboku-chō period, had been the personal sword of Imagawa Yoshimoto, whom Nobunaga defeated and slew at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560 (Eiroku 3). Nobunaga renamed it the "Sōza Samoniji" and treasured it dearly; it later passed into the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Today it is held by the Kenun Shrine in Kyoto (designated as an Important Cultural Property and on deposit at the Kyoto National Museum), transmitting through the lineage of realm-unifiers to the present day.

Any account of Nobunaga's sword collection must confront the tragedy of the Honnō-ji Incident (1582, Tenshō 10), when Akechi Mitsuhide launched a surprise attack. The majority of Nobunaga's prized swords that had been brought to Honnō-ji perished in the flames. Among what later scholars would call the "Honnō-ji Burned Blades," there were said to be masterpieces by renowned smiths of every age—Masamune, Noroshige, Raiden, and others. This single night's conflagration would be remembered as one of the greatest losses in the history of Japanese swordsmanship.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Golden Age of Sword Fittings

The era of Toyotomi Hideyoshi marked the zenith of the artistic standards of sword fittings—the tsuba, kōgai, kanzashi, fuchigane, and menuki. Renowned for his taste for gold, Hideyoshi commissioned national metalworkers to create increasingly lavish and ornate fittings, employing gold, silver, shakudō (patinated copper), and suaka (pure copper) in profusion.

The metalworker who achieved the greatest renown as Hideyoshi's official artisan was "Umetada Meihisa" and his workshop. The Umetada school was a rare collective that possessed mastery of both sword-smithing and precious metalwork, producing the finest sword fittings of the Azuchi-Momoyama era through diverse techniques including rust-patterning, inlay work, and high relief carving. The tsubas executed by Meihisa combined thin-walled relief carving, truncation techniques, hair-line engraving, and gold inlay in complex compositions. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that these fittings effectively established the aesthetic standards that would govern subsequent schools during the Edo period.

The "Gotō family" was equally significant in the development of sword-fitting metalwork. From the time of the founder Gotō Yūjō onward, this prestigious house served the Toyotomi and Tokugawa dynasties through successive generations. Their works—known as "Gotō-mono"—featured depictions of flora and fauna in gold high relief against a shakudō ground, exemplifying an elegant style that became the standard for metalworking throughout the Edo period. Together with the Umetada school, they exemplified the apex that sword fittings achieved as fine art during the Azuchi-Momoyama era.

The invasions of Korea (the Bunroku and Keichō campaigns, 1592–1598) also brought unexpected consequences for sword culture. Korean and Ming metalwork brought back by expeditionary commanders sparked a fashion for foreign aesthetic sensibilities, epitomized in the "Nanban tsuba" (Southern Barbarian tsubas), introducing new design vocabulary to Japanese sword fittings. Furthermore, Korean blacksmiths who migrated to Japan—the so-called Kōma-kajishi—settled in various regions and are said to have stimulated sword-smithing communities in Kyushu, particularly in Satsuma and Hizen, with new forging techniques.

Another masterpiece treasured by Hideyoshi was the "Honebami Tōshirō," a wakizashi forged by Asutaguchi Yoshimitsu, now held at the Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto. At the Grand Tea Gathering at Kitano in 1587 (Tenshō 15), Hideyoshi publicly displayed tea utensils alongside renowned swords and fittings, presenting both tea and blades as dual symbols of his power and authority to the realm.

The Sword Smiths of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period — The Rise of New Powers

An indispensable figure among the sword smiths of this era was "Horikawa Kunihiro." Originally a warrior in the service of the Itō clan of Hyūga (Miyazaki), Kunihiro followed an unconventional path: after losing his master in the turmoil of the Sengoku period, he chose to make his living as a sword smith. During the Tenshō and Bunroku eras, he moved to Kyoto and established a workshop in the Horikawa district, creating a distinctive sword style that fused the bold grain patterns of the Sōshū tradition with the refined steel of the Yamashiro tradition.

Among Kunihiro's works, the group known as "Kijin-maru Kunishige copies" (restored versions of ancient works) achieved particular renown, and his revitalization of classical forging techniques through the restoration of old masterpieces earned high praise. His disciples—Horikawa Kuniyasu, Echigo-no-kami Kunitomo, Dewa-daijō Kuniji, Izumi-no-kami Kunisada, and Kawachi-no-kami Kunosuke—formed the "Horikawa school," which would become the driving force of the New Sword period in the Edo era. As a workshop directly connected to Sengoku warlords, several of their blades survive, including works forged at the command of Hosokawa Tadaoki (husband of the martyr Hosokawa Garasha), and these pieces vividly reflect the personal relationships between smiths and their patrons.

In Bizen (Okayama), the "Sukesada" family, representing the later phase of the Osafune school, functioned as major suppliers of mass-produced swords. The massive mobilizations required by Hideyoshi's campaigns demanded vast numbers of blades, and the Osafune smiths of Bizen—capable of supplying high-quality katanas in quantity and on short notice—served as the war-time "munitions factory" of the Sengoku period. Blades bearing the Sukesada signature circulated widely as "Bizen goods" throughout the Edo period as well, and the large number of surviving examples testifies to the scale of the production system of that era.

The Momoyama Hilt — An Aesthetic of Splendor and Magnificence

The hilts of the Azuchi-Momoyama era possessed a distinctive style collectively termed the "Momoyama-koshirae" (Momoyama hilt). The defining characteristic was the lavish application of gold and silver leaf, polished-out maki-e, and regular maki-e (gold lacquer inlay) to lacquered scabbards, creating an ostentatiously ornate finish.

Of particular note is the "black lacquered gold pear-skin ground" scabbard, in which the contrast between black lacquer and gleaming gold powder established the prototype for the later "Daimyō hilt." The grip binding employed decorative cords of gold and silver thread, while the menuki—the ornamental guard fittings—featured exquisitely carved motifs of dragons, waves, pines, and other auspicious symbols. The opulence of these hilts directly embodied the aesthetic sensibilities of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi—a political will to "render overwhelming wealth and power visible."

Conclusion — The Legacy of Sword Culture Fostered by the Unifiers of the Realm

Nobunaga's hunting of masterpieces made visible the scarcity and value of renowned blades; Hideyoshi's taste for gold elevated sword fittings to the status of fine art; the reverberations of the Korean invasions brought new designs and techniques. The sword culture of the Azuchi-Momoyama period reached the apex of its transformation from "weapon of actual combat" to "symbol of power and work of artistic craft" through the convergence of these forces.

Horikawa Kunihiro laid the foundation for the New Sword period of the Edo era; the Umetada school established the aesthetic standards for sword-fitting metalwork; the Bizen Sukesada demonstrated models of mass production—all were legacies directly inherited by later generations. The intense aesthetic sensibilities and desire for power of the realm-unifiers paradoxically elevated Japanese swords to the apex of perfection not merely as weapons but as objects of fine artistic craftsmanship. This rich complexity—a quality full of contradictions—remains the fundamental reason why the sword culture of the Azuchi-Momoyama period continues to captivate us today.