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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
7 events
c. 1656 (Meireki 2)
In Meireki 2 (1656), Nagasone Kotetsu, a 50-year-old armorer, moved to Edo and shifted from armor-making to sword-smithing. It was a historic turning point that would later earn him recognition as the foremost swordsmith of the shintō period.
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April 1, 1772 (Meiwa 9, 2nd month, 29th day)
On April 1, 1772 (Meiwa 9/2/29), a fire broke out at Daien-ji temple on the Gyōninzaka slope in Meguro, Edo. Dying down and flaring up again, it spread until the 1st day of the 3rd month and burned a wide area of Edo. The Great Meiwa Fire (also called the Meguro Gyōninzaka Fire), one of the largest fires in Edo's history with 14,700 dead, is thought to have dealt a blow to the swordsmiths working in Edo as well, and it occurred as the shintō period was giving way to the shinshintō period.
12th day of the 2nd month, Keichō 8 (1603)
On the 12th day of the 2nd month of Keichō 8 (March 24, 1603), Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed Sei-i Taishōgun and established the shogunate in Edo. The consolidation of power, achieved about two years after the Battle of Sekigahara, laid the foundation for the Edo period, which lasted more than 260 years. Through the organization of the bakuhan system, the enactment of the Buke Shohatto, and the legalization of the sankin-kōtai system, the warrior status and sword-fitting culture became highly institutionalized, and the Japanese sword evolved from a weapon into a symbol of samurai authority and beauty.
c. 1606 (Keichō 11)
First-generation Yasutsugu receives the name "Yasutsugu" and permission to use the triple hollyhock crest from Tokugawa Ieyasu, establishing the symbolic status of Edo sword craftsmanship.
December 26, 1634 (Kan'ei 11, 11th month, 7th day)
On the 7th day of the 11th month of Kan'ei 11 (1634), at Kagiya no Tsuji in Ueno in Iga Province (present-day Iga City, Mie Prefecture), the swordsman Araki Mataemon assisted his brother-in-law Watanabe Kazuma against the party of Kawai Matagorō, the enemy of Kazuma, and Kazuma cut down Matagorō. Counted among the Three Great Vendettas of Japan, it was the largest duel of the Edo period, and Araki Mataemon's outstanding swordsmanship and courage became legend.
An'ei 3 (1774) – Bunsei 8 (1825)
Suishinshi Masahide (1750–1825), who was taken into service by the Akimoto family, lords of Yamagata domain, in An'ei 3 (1774) and forged swords in Edo, criticized the ostentation and formalism of the sword world of his time. He proposed the fukkotō-ron (the doctrine of reviving the swords of old), which held that Japanese swords should return to the ways of the kotō era. Through works such as Tōken Jitsuyōron and Kenkō Hidenshi, he called for a return to the Kamakura and Nanboku-chō styles of kotō, and more than 100 disciples from across the country gathered at his workshop. His theories were carried on by his disciple Taikei Naotane and others, and Masahide, Naotane and Minamoto Kiyomaro are together called the 'Edo Sansaku' (Three Masters of Edo). The movement dramatically revived the declining culture of Japanese swords. Positioned as the watershed between shintō (new swords) and shinshintō (new-new swords) in sword history, it combined with the sharp rise in sword demand of the bakumatsu period to produce a golden age of swords that lasted until the eve of the Haitōrei (Sword Abolishment Edict).
11th month, Kyōhō 4 (1719)
In the 11th month of Kyōhō 4 (1719), Honami Kōchū (?–1725), acting on the orders of Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684–1751), the eighth shogun of the Edo shogunate, compiled and presented the Kyōhō Meibutsuchō. This catalogue of famous blades systematically recorded 274 blades from the Heian period onward (168 extant blades, 80 lost blades, and 26 supplementary entries), together with their inscriptions, provenance, dimensions, and valuations. It was compiled during the Kyōhō Reforms of the Edo shogunate. It is still consulted today as an essential reference for sword research and remains a landmark project in the systematization of Japanese sword culture.