The Ōnin War and the Transformation of the Sword Industry

Ōnin War — The Destruction of Kyoto and the Collapse of the Sword Industry

In Ōnin 1 (1467), as the authority of the Muromachi shogunate declined sharply, a dispute over the shogunal succession led to a confrontation between the Eastern Army, led by Hosokawa Katsumoto, and the Western Army, led by Yamana Sōzen. This escalated into the Ōnin-Bunmei War (Ōnin War). Kyoto, the battlefield, was reduced to a devastated ruin by more than ten years of fighting, and many temples and shrines were destroyed by fire.

The impact of this war on the Japanese sword industry was immense. The smiths of the Yamashiro tradition, who had been concentrated in Kyoto, along with master craftsmen who had workshops in the surrounding regions, scattered to the provinces to escape the fighting. For many years Kyoto had been the center of sword culture, but with the Ōnin War a structural change occurred: that center was dispersed across several regions. Over the long term, the dispersal of smiths had an ironic result that enriched Japanese sword culture. Forging techniques diversified across the regions, and local sword cultures developed.

The Rise of Kazuuchi-mono — Mass-Produced Blades for Mass Demand

The Ōnin War set off a spirit of gekokujō (the low overthrowing the high) across Japan, and the Sengoku period began. It became an age in which every armed force, from samurai and ashigaru foot soldiers up to daimyō, needed swords, and demand for blades arose on a scale never seen before.

To meet this mass demand, there arose mass-produced swords known as kazuuchi-mono. Unlike chūmon-uchi, blades carefully made to individual orders, kazuuchi-mono are produced in large numbers to a single standard. Although inferior in quality to jōsaku, they had a certain practical utility and could be supplied in bulk at low prices, which matched the demands of the Sengoku period perfectly.

The mass-production system of kazuuchi-mono prompted a shift from the craftsmanship of individual master smiths to a division-of-labor system in which several craftsmen shared the stages of production. This change can be described as a kind of 'factorization' of the sword industry, and it can also be read as the budding of modern manufacturing.

Bizen's Rise — The Giants of Mass Production

The sword industry of Bizen Province (present-day Okayama Prefecture) rose most dramatically after the Ōnin War. Many smiths were concentrated around Osafune along the Yoshii River. Taking advantage of geographical conditions that made it easy to secure good iron sand, fuel (charcoal and firewood), and water, they had put in place a sword production system that combined quality with mass-producibility.

Sengoku-period Bizen blades are called Sue-Bizen. Although their range of expression fell short of the Bizen works of the Kamakura and Nanboku-chō periods, they retained the characteristics of the Bizen tradition in both hamon and jigane while being mass-produced, and they circulated widely as high-quality practical swords. The Sukesada school was the representative group of Bizen smiths of this era. Many signatures reading 'Yosozaemon-no-jō Sukesada,' 'Genbei-no-jō Sukesada,' and others are seen, and even today they often appear in the collectors' market at relatively affordable prices.

Mino's Rise — The Pursuit of Functional Beauty and Practicality

Mino Province (present-day Seki City, Gifu Prefecture) was also a sword-producing region that developed rapidly after the Ōnin War. Mino-den began with the transmission of Sōshū-den techniques by Shizu Saburō Kaneuji, one of the Ten Disciples of Masamune. During the Sengoku period after the Ōnin War, it achieved its own distinct development as the Seki smiths.

The hallmark of Mino-den is the togari-gunome hamon, which is high in both practicality and mass-producibility. Master smiths such as Kanesada and Kanemoto were active, and Mino blades were favored by Sengoku daimyō across the country. In particular, Kanemoto, known as Seki no Magoroku, is renowned for a cutting performance that places his blades among the saijō ō-wazamono.

Decline and Revival of Kyoto's Yamashiro-den

Yamashiro-den, based in Kyoto, was the tradition hit hardest by the Ōnin War. As many smiths left Kyoto amid the fighting, the delicate and elegant style unique to Yamashiro-den temporarily receded significantly. However, as the war subsided, some smiths returned to Kyoto and new smiths moved in. In the late Sengoku period and the Azuchi-Momoyama period, Yamashiro-den saw partial revival.

It is noteworthy that the chaos of this era paradoxically brought about the development of sword culture across the country. Because the smiths dispersed to the provinces, advanced forging techniques that had previously existed only in the center spread to the regions. This laid the foundation on which each region could nurture its own sword culture.

Implications for Collectors

Sue-Bizen and Sue-Mino blades circulate in the market in greater numbers than works of Ko-Bizen and the koto period, and they may sometimes be obtained at relatively affordable prices. As practical swords that survived the Sengoku period, they hold historical value. They also offer an option for entering collecting, as a way to enjoy the stylistic beauty of the Bizen and Mino traditions at modest cost.