Official Swordsmith System of the Edo Shogunate

The Establishment of the Goyō Tōkō System

The goyō tōkō system established by the Edo bakufu systematized and institutionalized the practice of daimyō goyō tōkō (domain-retained swordsmiths) that had continued since the Sengoku period. The Shōgun family and the Go-sanke (Owari, Kii, and Mito) each retained their own exclusive goyō tōkō, who were tasked with producing, storing, and repairing swords for ceremonial use.

The status of goyō tōkō was the highest honor a swordsmith could receive, and their titles were inscribed on the signature (mei) as "Bō-han goyō" or "Bō-ke okakae." Smiths directly under the bakufu were called bakufu okakae-kaji and were granted special stipends and privileges.

Major Goyō Tōkō and Schools

The lineage that handled the transmission of smiths' appointments to the court was the Mishina-ke family. The main line of the Mishina family descended from Iga-no-kami Kinmichi, the son of Kanemichi, who had moved from Mino to Kyoto. His brothers Tanba-no-kami Yoshimichi and Etchū-no-kami Masatoshi, and later Ōmi-no-kami Hisamichi, each branched off into separate houses. These smiths were collectively called "Mishina" and came to represent the Kyō-shintō school.

The Horikawa school (Horikawa ichimon) was the largest group of smiths in the early shintō period. Horikawa Kunihiro settled at Ichijō Horikawa in Kyoto and built up the school. His disciples Horikawa Kuniyasu and Dewa Daijō Kunimichi were active in the early Edo period.

In Ōsaka, Inoue Shinkai and Tsuda Echizen-no-kami Sukehiro served daimyō as Ōsaka-jōdai goyō and in other capacities, displaying the excellence of Ōsaka shintō.

Privileges and Obligations of Goyō Tōkō

Smiths appointed as goyō tōkō held the following privileges and obligations.

Privileges: - Guaranteed stipend (chigyō or fuchi) - Permission to enter castles and residences - Right to use specific titles (such as "kami" and "daijō") that correspond to court ranks - Priority supply of materials (tamahagane and charcoal)

Obligations: - Production of swords ordered by the master household (the Shōgun family or daimyō houses) - Production and management of ceremonial swords (including koshirae) - Appraisal of stored swords and assistance with their repair - Training of successors and transmission of techniques

Children of goyō tōkō were basically expected to inherit their parents' status, and this hereditary system (seshū-sei) was institutionally supported. While it allowed excellent techniques to be passed down within the family, it also made it difficult for talented smiths without blood ties to attain goyō positions.

Titles and Ranking of Smiths

In the Edo period it became customary for smiths to use titles modeled on court ranks. The kami titles such as Iga-no-kami, Echizen-no-kami, and Izumi-no-kami, and titles such as daijō and jō, were zuryō titles granted by the court, and they indicated a smith's ranking.

These zuryō titles were received from the court through the mediation of the Mishina family (the Iga-no-kami Kinmichi house). The acquisition of a title itself functioned to publicly indicate a smith's status as a goyō tōkō. Swords whose signatures were inscribed as "bō-kami bō" showed that the smith held a certain standard of rank, and this also affected the commercial value of the sword.

Spread of the Goyō Tōkō System to the Provinces

The goyō tōkō system of the bakufu and the Go-sanke was imitated by the various daimyō. Each domain retained smiths as han goyō and granted them the title "○○ han goyō." Major domains such as Kaga han (Maeda family), Sendai han (Date family), and Saga han (Nabeshima family) kept okakae-kaji and nurtured regional sword cultures unique to each domain.

Kaga Maeda's "Kanewaka," Sendai Date's "Kunikane," and Saga Nabeshima's "Tadayoshi" are representative examples of regional goyō tōkō. Each reflected the cultural character of its domain in its swords.

The End of the Goyō Tōkō System

The abolition of the han and establishment of prefectures (haihan chiken) and the Edict Banning Swords (haitōrei, 1876), both following the Meiji Restoration (1868), fundamentally undermined the foundations on which the goyō tōkō system stood. Losing their stipends and rations and the protection of their master households, smiths were forced to become independent operators and to shift toward crafts and fine art. Some smiths continued to produce swords for official ceremonial use by the Meiji government as Kunaishō goyō, but the goyō tōkō system as an institution effectively disappeared.