Mid-Edo (Late Shintō)

An Age of Stability

The mid-Edo period, from the Genroku era (1688–1704) through the Tenmei era (1781–1789), was the most stable phase of the Tokugawa bakuhan system, and an unprecedented peace lasted for more than a century. Following the Shimabara no Ran (1637), large-scale fighting ceased, and swords were almost never used in actual combat. For the samurai, the sword remained a spiritual symbol of the "soul of the samurai," and it gradually transformed into a ceremonial object that displayed rank and status.

Cultural Flourishing

Against this backdrop, blade making increasingly tended toward formalization and standardization. The creative passion that Shinkai, Sukehiro, Kotetsu, and others had shown in the early shintō period faded, and a technical stagnation settled over the sword world, in which smiths merely followed the forms transmitted by their masters. Domain smiths (hankō) across the country were obliged to forge regular presentation swords, but most of them remained ordinary works that followed prescribed forms. The exception was the Hizen-tō (Tadayoshi lineage), which maintained stable quality from the first through the fifth generation and continued to earn a measure of recognition for its refined style of straight-temper (suguha) blades on a dense ko-itame-hada jigane. However, even in Hizen-tō, the tension and dignity seen in the works of the first and second generations gradually became flatter with each succeeding generation.

Refined Styles

Meanwhile, the cultural environment surrounding swords matured greatly. The most notable example is the appraisal culture of the Hon'ami family. The Hon'ami family was a distinguished house that had made the polishing, cleaning, and appraisal of swords its hereditary occupation since the Muromachi period, and in the Edo period it established enormous authority as appraisers officially recognized by the bakufu. The "origami" issued by the Hon'ami family were documents that officially certified the authenticity and grading of swords, and whether a sword had origami, and its appraised value, greatly determined the sword's economic worth. Separately, the grades of "saijō ō-wazamono," "ō-wazamono," "yoki-wazamono," and "wazamono," based on cutting ability (proven through test cuts), were later systematized in the Kansei 9 (1797) publication Kaihō Kenjaku, drawing on the test cuts of Yamada Asaemon. For swords presented on occasions such as marriages, successions, and commendations for meritorious service among daimyō, a Hon'ami origami was considered indispensable, and the exchange of famous swords was an important means of diplomacy in samurai society.

Swordsmiths' Techniques

Another flower of this era was the dramatic rise in the artistry of sword fittings (tōsōgu). Sword fittings are groups of metal components that make up the exterior of a sword, including the tsuba, menuki, kozuka, kōgai, and fuchi-kashira, and in this era they reached the pinnacle of world metal craft.

Regional Characteristics

The most revolutionary figure in the history of sword fittings was Yokoya Sōmin (1670–1733). Sōmin established a new current called "machibori" in the world of sword-fitting production, which had until then been monopolized by the Gotō family. The Gotō family was a privileged lineage that had made sword fittings for the shōgun's house and the daimyō houses since the Muromachi period; it upheld a dignified style called "iebori," but its expression had become rigid and uniform. In response, Sōmin originated the machibori technique, which depicts natural flowers, grasses, animals, and landscapes realistically and with freedom and breadth. By employing a wide range of techniques such as takabori and iroe (inlay of different metals), he dramatically expanded the expressive power of metalwork.

The Pursuit of Artistry

Stimulated by Sōmin's innovations, many outstanding groups of metalworkers emerged, including the Nara school (the "Nara Sansaku" of Nara Toshinaga, Sugiura Jōi, and Tsuchiya Yasuchika), the Ishiguro-ha, the Iwamoto-ha, and the Hamano-ha. The works of these metalworkers have independent aesthetic value as miniature sculptures, and today they are highly regarded as Japanese metalwork art even in Western museums.

Although innovation in the blade itself stagnated, it can be said that the image of the "Japanese sword as a total art" was perfected in this era through the dramatic maturation of the surrounding fields: the culture of appraisal, the culture of gift-giving, and the art of sword fittings. Swords of this period vary widely in quality and form a genre that demands discerning eyes, whereas sword fittings have firmly established their reputation as masterpieces of world metal craft, and the world of sword-fitting collecting has a profound appeal that is distinct from sword collecting.