Kyōhō Sword Revival: Yoshimune and Forging at Hama-goten

Historical Background

As the Edo period maintained peace for more than 200 years, swords were no longer practical weapons of war but increasingly took on the character of symbols and crafts displaying the authority of the warrior houses. At the same time, however, the technical standard of sword smithing gradually declined, and the output of famous blades had decreased markedly compared with earlier times.

Concerned about this situation, the 8th shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune sought to promote sword smithing as part of the Kyōhō Reforms (1716–1745). Valuing the significance of swords as symbols of the Tokugawa warrior culture, Yoshimune pursued an active sword policy.

Forging at Hama-goten

In the first month of Kyōhō 6 (1721), swordsmiths forged blades at the shogun's Hama-goten at the mouth of the Sumida River, under Yoshimune's orders. The four smiths selected as masters on the basis of their work were as follows.

- Mondo-no-shō Masakiyo: A swordsmith of Satsuma. Permitted to inscribe the single hollyhock-leaf (aoi) crest on the tang, and received the title Mondo-no-shō in the same year - Ichinohira Yasuyo: A swordsmith of Satsuma. Permitted to inscribe the single hollyhock-leaf (aoi) crest on the tang, and later received the title Shume-no-kami - the 4th-generation Nanki Shigekuni: A line of smiths in the service of the Kishū Tokugawa house - Nobukuni Shigekane: A swordsmith of the Fukuoka Domain in Chikuzen. Son of Nobukuni Yoshikane

Linkage with the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō

Alongside the forging, Yoshimune also advanced the compilation of the "Kyōhō Meibutsuchō," in which he had Hon'ami Kōchū and others survey and register famous blades. The Meibutsuchō was a register recording ancient famous blades, and became a guide to famous swords in the warrior society of the Edo period.

The encouragement of active smiths through forging at Hama-goten and the recording of past famous blades through the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō functioned as two sides of a single policy.

Historical Positioning

The Kyōhō sword revival policy is positioned as an example of the bakufu systematically involving itself in promoting sword smithing. Although Yoshimune's undertaking did not directly trigger a rising momentum for sword revival leading into the Shinshintō era (after the Tenmei and Kansei eras), its significance lies in officially honoring swordsmiths and encouraging the transmission of smithing techniques. The blades made by the four smiths selected as masters at that time survive and are the subject of appreciation and study.