* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Aizu Shintogo
会津新藤五
Also known as: Tanto Mei Kunimitsu (Meibotsu Aizu Shintogo)
Description
Aizu Shintogo is a tanto created by master swordsmith Shintogo Kunimitsu, who was active in Kamakura during the Kamakura period in Sagami Province (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture), and is designated as a National Treasure. Its official designation name is "Tanto Mei Kunimitsu (Meibotsu Aizu Shintogo)."
Shintogo Kunimitsu is considered the founder of the Soshu tradition (a swordsmithing school originating from Kamakura in Sagami), standing at the pinnacle of the lineage of Soshu swordsmiths that would later produce master craftsmen such as Masamune and Sadamune. Renowned as a master of tanto craftsmanship, this tanto is one of his representative works, exemplifying his exceptional skill without reserve.
The blade has a length of 25.5 cm with a base width of 2.48 cm, featuring a flat construction (hiradzukuri) with three ridges (mitsutsumine) and an inward curve (uchizori). The forging exhibits fine ko-itame with mokume mixed in, and ji-nie particles are evenly distributed throughout with delicate ji-kei flowing patterns. The hamon is primarily characterized by a bright, direct edge (suguha) with gradually widening yakidashi (temper line) in the upper section. Golden linear patterns (kinsuji) run throughout the blade, and the hataraki (activity) within the ha is considered splendid.
Its provenance traces back to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Gamo Ujisato, as the daimyo lord of Aizu Wakamatsu and ruler of Mutsu Aizu, possessed this tanto, and the prefix "Aizu" was given in honor of this connection. After Ujisato's death, it was passed to his legitimate son Ujiyuki and grandson Tadago. Following Tadago's death, it came into the collection of Maeda Toshitsune, the lord of Kaga Domain. In 1702 (Genroku 15), it was presented by the Maeda family to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun. The blade subsequently remained in the shogunate's possession, with records showing that Tokugawa Ietsugu, the fourth daimyo of the Owari Tokugawa family, received it as a ceremonial gift from the sixth shogun Tokugawa Ienobu. Following the modern era, it passed through the hands of private collectors and was donated to Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture in 2018 by the wife of collector Kommatsu Yasuhiro, where it is now housed at the Fukuyama Art Museum.
It was designated as an old National Treasure under the Old Law for the Preservation of National Treasures in 1933 (Showa 8). With the enforcement of the Cultural Properties Protection Law in 1951 (Showa 26), it was certified as a current National Treasure. Known as a masterwork among tanto, it is positioned as an important reference example in the study of the Soshu tradition.
Legends & Stories
One of the famous legends associated with Aizu Shintogo is a mystical account of the forging tradition: that Shintogo Kunimitsu imbued his blades with the spiritual essence of Kamakura's sacred sites during the forging process. It is said that on the night when the slurry from the whetstones used in Kunimitsu's blade-forging flowed into a river, all the fish in the river swam upstream. An interpretation recorded in Edo-period sword treatises holds that the spiritual qi residing in the blade prevented living creatures from approaching. There is also an anecdote from the period when Gamo Ujisato ruled Aizu: when Ujisato slept with the tanto placed at his pillow, the blade would emit a faint groaning sound during the night. The following morning, it is said, when the chamberlain attending the pillow took up the tanto, the blade glowed with pale blue light. Ujisato interpreted this as a manifestation of the blade's spiritual power to repel northern barbarians, and thereafter treated this tanto with particular reverence. Furthermore, during the period when the blade had come into the possession of the Tokugawa shogunate and was kept as a treasured item in a storehouse, a record by retainers documents that on one night, a thin beam of light leaked from within the blade's box. When examined the following day, no abnormality was found on the blade, and the phenomenon never occurred again afterward. This account has been passed down among early modern sword enthusiasts as corroborating evidence of the blade's sacred nature.