* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Muromachi Period — Overview of Japanese Swords, 1336–1573
室町時代の刀剣（概観）
Roughly 240 years under Ashikaga shogunate rule, marked by the shift from tachi to uchigatana and, after the Onin War, the rise of mass-produced kazu-uchimono blades.
Description
Historical Background
The Muromachi period refers to the roughly 240 years from 1336, when Ashikaga Takauji established his shogunate in Kyoto, until 1573, when the 15th shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki was expelled by Oda Nobunaga. The early period was relatively stable after the unification of the Northern and Southern Courts (1392), but with the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467 as the dividing point, the shogunate's control rapidly waned, and Japan thereafter entered the Sengoku period. This period of political fragmentation and the sharp surge in demand for battlefield use greatly transformed the styles and modes of production of swords.
Characteristics of the Blades
In the early period, the tachi style that had continued since the Kamakura and Nanbokuchō periods persisted, but with the shift toward combat centered on fighting on foot, the uchigatana, worn at the waist with the edge facing up, gradually became mainstream. After the Ōnin War, mass-mobilization warfare centered on ashigaru became commonplace, and in production centers such as Bizen Osafune, standardized, mass-produced blades known as "kazu-uchimono" were actively made. Meanwhile, production centers such as the Seki smith community of Mino Province, which developed distinctive forging methods emphasizing durability in battle, also emerged, and strongly regional styles of work became established separately across the provinces.
Representative Smiths
In Japan–Ming trade, swords became one of the principal export goods, and the Bizen Osafune school, mass-producing kazu-uchimono through the late Muromachi period, consolidated its position as the foremost production center in western Japan. In Mino, First Kanesada, First Kanemoto, and others rose to prominence and established a lineage of battle-use swords that led on to the later "Seki no Magoroku." Sōshū tradition techniques also continued to influence smiths across the country, and throughout the Muromachi period they served as carriers of technical transmission.
Social Context
The Ashikaga shogunal house handed down famous blades such as "Two-Signature Norimune" and "Onimaru Kunitsuna" as treasured heirlooms, positioning swords as symbols of samurai authority. Meanwhile, during the warfare period following the Ōnin War, swords became essential not only to samurai but also to the mass-mobilized ashigaru class, and systems of production for practical swords were developed across the provinces. This mass production and expansion of battlefield demand shaped the premises of the sword culture of the ensuing Sengoku period and, further, of the sword administration of the Edo period.
Characteristics of This Era
- Tachi predominated in the early period; after the Ōnin War, uchigatana and kazu-uchimono became mainstream
- Large-scale export swords for Japan–Ming trade were produced in Yamato, Bizen, and other provinces
- Smith communities formed in provinces such as Mino and Bizen, and regional character grew stronger