* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Manji Era
万治（まんじ）
The Manji era (1658–1661) fell between Meireki and Kanbun, an era change attributed to the calamities including the previous year's Great Fire of Meireki. Emperor Go-Sai reigned while Tokugawa Ietsuna held the Edo shogunate. A wakizashi by the celebrated Edo shinto smith Nagasone Okisato (Kotetsu), dated "Manji 3rd year, 12th month" and bearing his own self-carved Urashima engraving, survives as the so-called "Urashima Kotetsu." In the same period, Mutsu-no-kami Tadayoshi (3rd-generation Hizen Tadayoshi) was active and ranked at the shinto saijo-saku / saijo-owazamono grade.
Description
Manji as an Era Name
The Manji era (Manji) fell between Meireki and Kanbun, running from August 21, 1658 (Meireki 4, 7th month, 23rd day) to May 23, 1661 (Manji 4, 4th month, 25th day). The era change is attributed to calamities including the Great Fire of Meireki, which had burned much of Edo the previous year. During this span, Emperor Go-Sai reigned while Tokugawa Ietsuna held the Edo shogunate.
Kotetsu's Dated Signature and Urashima Engraving
A wakizashi survives by Nagasone Okisato (Nagasone Okisato, art-name Kotetsu), a leading smith of Edo shintō, bearing the dated inscription "Manji 3rd year, 12th month, day" together with the notation "dōsaku horu no" (carved by the same hand), indicating Urashima-bori (a carving of a figure long regarded as Urashima Tarō) executed by Kotetsu himself. This blade is known by the popular name "Urashima Kotetsu" and is positioned as a dated work that confirms both Kotetsu's production chronology and his engraving craftsmanship. Kotetsu was a swordsmith who had left Echizen for Edo and established his reputation there, and the Manji era falls within his period of activity in Edo.
The Activity of Mutsu-no-kami Tadayoshi
During the same Manji era, the smith Mutsu-no-kami Tadayoshi (the third-generation Hizen Tadayoshi), a swordsmith of Saga in Hizen Province, was active. In the shintō ranking records, the first and third-generation Tadayoshi are placed in the highest classes of saijō saku and saijō ōwazamono, and they formed the pinnacle of shintō smithing in Kyushu.
Parallel Shintō Activity, East and West
The dated inscriptions and ranking records together confirm that leading shintō smiths were active in parallel during the Manji era: Kotetsu in Edo and the Hizen Tadayoshi in Hizen. Falling immediately after the calamity of the Great Fire of Meireki, the Manji era was a period in which Kotetsu was consolidating his position in a rebuilding Edo, while in western Japan the Tadayoshi lineage in Hizen continued stable, high-quality production. It is an era name that shows the contemporaneity of shintō sword production in regions apart from one another.
The Great Fire of Meireki and the Background of the Era Change
The Great Fire of Meireki (Meireki 3, 1657), cited as the reason for the change to Manji, was a catastrophic conflagration that burned most of central Edo, destroying the castle's main keep along with many samurai residences and townsman districts. The era change followed the period's customary practice of renaming an era in response to calamities, but it also fell at a time when Edo itself was in the midst of reconstruction. It was precisely in this period of rebuilding that Kotetsu inscribed the date "Manji 3rd year, 12th month, day" on his Urashima-carved wakizashi, which suggests that the activity of swordsmiths continued in parallel with the reconstruction of the city.
Characteristics of This Era
- Manji (1658–1661), between Meireki and Kanbun in the early Edo period, is traditionally attributed to a calamity-driven era change following the Great Fire of Meireki
- Falls under the reign of Emperor Go-Sai and shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, during Edo's rebuilding period after the prior year's great fire
- A wakizashi by Nagasone Okisato (Kotetsu) bears the dated inscription "Manji 3, 12th month" with his own Urashima engraving, known as "Urashima Kotetsu"
- In the same period, Mutsu-no-kami Tadayoshi (3rd-gen Hizen Tadayoshi) was active and ranked at the shinto saijo-saku / saijo-owazamono grade
- Dated works and ranking sources confirm parallel high-level shinto production in Edo (Kotetsu) and Hizen (Tadayoshi lineage) during the Manji era