Muromachi Shogunate and Sword Ritual

The Political Role of Swords in the Muromachi Shogunate

The Muromachi shogunate inherited the traditions of the warrior governments since the Kamakura bakufu while more elaborately systematizing the ritual and political functions of swords. For the Ashikaga shoguns, swords transcended their role as weapons to become "material symbols of governing authority," and their management and distribution was an exercise of shogunal power itself.

The sword ritual system developed by the Muromachi shogunate can be summarized in three core functions:

1. **Visualization of authority**: The display and presentation of celebrated swords as a demonstration of the Ashikaga shogun's cultural prestige 2. **Confirmation of lord-vassal relationships**: The periodic reaffirmation of bonds between the shogun and the shugo daimyo through bestowal and presentation of swords 3. **Transmission of political messages**: The expression of political will through the giving or confiscation of specific famous swords

The Shogunal Investiture Ceremony and Swords

The investiture of a new shogun (shōgun-senge) was the greatest political ceremony of the Muromachi shogunate. At the shōgun-senge, together with the imperial rescript (senji) from the emperor or retired emperor, specific swords were transferred as "proof of the shogunal house."

The role of swords in this ceremony was not merely symbolic; they provided a material basis for authority — "the one who controls the specific famous sword is the shogun." The collection of celebrated objects that the Ashikaga shogunal house collectively called the "Higashiyama Gomotsu" was precisely an accumulation of this "material basis of shogunal power."

New Year's Audience and the "Kenzan" (Sword-Presentation) Rite

At the Muromachi shogunate's New Year (first month) ceremonies, the shugo daimyo and hōkōshū (personal retainers) performed their New Year's audience before the shogun. The "kenzan" (audience rite) on these occasions formalized the presentation and receipt of swords, and detailed records were kept of which daimyo presented which swords to the shogun.

The quality and number of swords presented at kenzan directly reflected the daimyo's rank and the closeness of his relationship with the shogun. Presenting a celebrated sword was the highest expression of loyalty; a decline in the quality of the presented sword was received as a signal of political estrangement. This political communication through swords is preserved in detailed documentation (gosei-baijo, buke-kojitsu records).

Sword Ritual in Coming-of-Age and Marriage Ceremonies

In Muromachi warrior coming-of-age ceremonies (genpuku — the male rite of passage to adulthood), the granting of a sword played a central role as the proof of adulthood. At the genpuku of the heir of the shogunate or a shugo daimyo house, a famous sword was granted by the shogun or lord, symbolizing the "starting point as a warrior." The sword granted at genpuku was specially recorded and preserved as a "genpuku sword."

In marriage ceremonies, swords functioned as "hikidono" (betrothal gifts), and the presentation of swords from the groom's side to the bride's side was formalized as material confirmation of the marriage alliance. In political marriages between shugo daimyo houses, the quality of the sword presented served as an indicator of the strength of the alliance being formed.

The Higashiyama Gomotsu and Ashikaga Yoshimasa's Sword Connoisseurship

Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490, eighth shogun) stood at the apex of cultural authority in the Muromachi shogunate, and under his leadership the collection known as the Higashiyama Gomotsu reached its completion. In addition to swords, the Higashiyama Gomotsu included ink paintings, ceramics, incense woods, and inkstones, forming a collection that embodied the highest levels of Muromachi culture as a whole.

The standards for sword appreciation and evaluation that Yoshimasa developed formed the foundation of later sword appraisal culture. Around Yoshimasa gathered specialists skilled in sword connoisseurship (mekiki), and a framework for "ranking" swords emerged. This prepared the ground for the subsequent institutionalization of sword appraisal by the Hon'ami family.

The Ōnin War and the Dispersal of the Higashiyama Gomotsu

The Ōnin War (1467–1477) shook the Muromachi shogunate to its foundations and became the trigger for the dispersal of much of the Higashiyama Gomotsu. Through evacuation, sale, and pillage of valuables to avoid the fighting, the sword collection accumulated by the shogunal house scattered throughout the country.

This "dispersal of the Higashiyama Gomotsu" became the trigger for the fierce competition among Sengoku warlords over celebrated swords as the Sengoku period commenced. The process by which swords from the Higashiyama Gomotsu that scattered after the Ōnin War reappeared in Sengoku warlords' gift-sword diplomacy and were ultimately registered in the Edo-period Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō is itself one of the great epics of Japanese sword culture history.

The Legacy of Muromachi Sword Ritual

Much of the sword ritual system established by the Muromachi shogunate was inherited and developed by the Edo shogunate. The positioning of swords in Edo shogunal investiture ceremonies, New Year's audiences, and coming-of-age rituals drew on the precedents of the Muromachi shogunate. The institutionalization of sword appraisal by the Hon'ami family also lay on a continuum from the system for managing the Higashiyama Gomotsu that originated with the Muromachi shogunal house.