Yamada Asaemon—Edo's Official Test-Cutting Retainer and the Cultural History of the Wazamono (業物) Ranking

What was the trial-cutting official of the Edo period?

Yamada Asaemon was a prestigious name within a specialized hereditary occupational family that was granted the "trial-cutting duty" by the Edo shogunate. The formal family name was "Yoshichika," and successive generations bore the name "Asaemon." In official shogunal records, this role was called "otameshi goyou," and was a system unique to the Edo period in which the cutting ability of Japanese swords was tested on the bodies of executed criminals.

The first Yamada Sadatake (1657-1717) lived during the Genroku to Hoei periods, and the otameshi goyou is believed to have been established as a formal system from the Genroku period (1690s) onward. Thereafter, for eight generations until the prohibition of trial-cutting in Meiji 3 (1870), the Yamada family continued to hold this position. The primary location for trial-cutting was the execution ground at Edo Kotsukahaara (present-day Arakawa Ward), and this was inseparably linked to its function as a site for "funwake" (anatomical dissection).

What makes the Yamada family's position interesting is that they were not official bakufu retainers. Unlike samurai who received stipends and held official positions, they were ronin who had been granted the right to use a family name and carry swords, yet maintained their household business primarily through fees for trial-cutting requests and charges for issuing certificates of testing. In short, while backed by the authority of the shogunate, they were specialists who built their reputation through actual skill and accomplishment.

The Birth of the Wazamono Ranking—An Attempt to Hierarchize Sword Sharpness

The greatest achievement the Yamada family left to history was the compilation and publication of the "wazamono ranking." In Kansei 9 (1797), the fifth Yamada Asaemon Yoshichika authored a work called "Kaihō Kenjaku" and published the first systematic ranking of Japanese swords by cutting ability in grades.

This ranking borrowed the format of sumo rankings, with categories of ozeki, sekiwake, komusubi, and maegashira, devised so that people of the time could easily understand sword classifications in a visually comprehensible format. The ranking structure was as follows.

• Saijou oo-wazamono: The highest rank. Twelve smiths were listed, including Kotetsu, Mago-Roku Kanemoto, Hizen Tadayoshi, Sendai Kunitsugu, and Miyoshi Nagamichi
• Wazamono
• Ryo-wazamono

What made this ranking system revolutionary was that it claimed objectivity based on data—actual cutting tests performed on bodies—rather than subjective evaluations based on smith schools or legends. The number of stacked bodies cut—referred to as "hitotsu-dou," "futatsu-dou," "mitsu-dou"—became the standard for evaluating cutting ability and had a profound influence on subsequent sword values and aesthetics.

The wazamono ranking was not completed in a single publication; rather, successive editions were revised and added to by the Yamada family. It should be noted that even swords by the same smith could have different cutting abilities depending on the period of manufacture and individual variations, so the ranking only indicated trends by school or smith, and did not individually guarantee the performance of each extant sword.

The Reality of Trial-Cutting—Between System and Ethics

Trial-cutting appears cruel by today's standards, but in the Edo period there was a cultural foundation that viewed capital punishment and the use of executed bodies as an integrated practice. The bodies of executed criminals were half-officially permitted to be used for medical dissection (funwake) and trial-cutting, and the Yamada family monopolized this practice.

Swords subject to trial-cutting were typically brought to the Yamada family by sword merchants or samurai families who requested their testing. The Yamada family would test the requested sword and issue a "test certificate" documenting the results. Swords accompanied by this certificate gained market value, and the phrase "Asaemon's seal of approval" became recognized as a mark of trust in sword transactions.

However, the reliability of certificates was sometimes questioned. During periods when bodies were difficult to obtain, it is said that tests were conducted on green wood and substitute materials, and by the late Edo period, forgeries of "Asaemon certificates" were rampant, becoming a significant problem in authentication.

Relationship with Sword Merchants—Function as Recognized Appraisers

The role of Yamada Asaemon went beyond mere trial-cutting and came to occupy a position close to that of "recognized appraiser" in the Edo sword market. Sword merchants enhanced the added value of their products by attaching Yamada certificates, and samurai and daimyo families made it customary to request Yamada evaluations before purchase.

In particular, the seventh Asaemon energetically published materials documenting information on sword smiths, sword price ranges, and regional characteristics. These writings were later systematized as "sword treatises" and are still referenced as primary sources in modern sword research.

From the perspective of the sword industry, the Yamada family functioned as a "sword performance certification authority" in the Edo period, and their role can be said to correspond to modern NBTHK (Japanese Sword and Art Museum Association) certification documents. Despite using the primitive means of cutting tests rather than scientific methods, they had already anticipated the essential qualities of an evaluation institution: objectivity, systematization, and documentation.

Abolishment and Its Aftermath—Wazamono Ranking Culture After Meiji

By proclamation of the Grand Council of State in Meiji 3 (1870), trial-cutting using bodies was prohibited. Under the eighth Asaemon Yoshitoyoshi, the Yamada family's official role came to an end, and this unique occupational culture disappeared as an institution.

However, the influence of the wazamono ranking did not disappear; through reprints and citations of sword treatises after Meiji, the classification concepts of "wazamono" and "dai-wazamono" continued to live on. In modern sword appraisal, the framework of the wazamono ranking is sometimes referenced as an evaluation standard for late-Edo smiths.

The existence of Yamada Asaemon reflects the uniquely Japanese spirit of classification—the systematic recording and evaluation of a single criterion, the sword's cutting ability—and the intelligence of Edo society that combined economic and cultural value with swords as weapons, making him a rare case in the history of the sword industry. While his achievements and ethical issues cannot be evaluated separately, the influence the wazamono ranking exerted on the market value system of Japanese swords remains as an undeniable and significant footprint to this day.

How the Wazamono Ranking Aids Modern Sword Selection

Today, when purchasing or collecting Japanese swords, emphasis is placed on certificates of appraisal by the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Japanese Sword and Art Museum Association (NBTHK), where the value of swords is judged from aesthetic perspectives such as ground steel, blade pattern, form, and condition of preservation. This is a different standard from the evaluation of "cutting ability," the practical performance that the Yamada family assessed, and it is important first to understand that the two are originally different measures.

Works by smiths such as Kotetsu and Mago-Roku Kanemoto, who appear in the wazamono ranking, are highly valued not only for their cutting ability but also as works of art, and consequently tend to remain popular and in high demand today. However, the wazamono ranking itself is purely a record of works by smiths who existed in the Edo period and whose swords were actually subjected to trial-cutting.

Works by master smiths from earlier periods could not have been subject to testing and therefore are not included in the ranking, and the absence of a smith's name in the ranking does not necessarily mean that smith's skill was inferior. By keeping this premise in mind, one can more accurately understand the nature of the wazamono ranking as a historical document.

When selecting a sword, the wazamono ranking's evaluation should be regarded as merely one piece of historical reference information, and in actual transactions, it is practically important to comprehensively verify the NBTHK certification and other appraisals attached to individual swords, their condition of preservation, and their provenance. Understanding how the standard of evaluation has shifted from the era of practical testing through trial-cutting to the modern certification system based on aesthetic value will help one grasp the depth of Japanese swords as works of craftsmanship.