* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Atakigiri
安宅切
Also known as: Ataki-giri / The late-Bizen blade of the Kuroda house
Description
A late-Bizen blade of the Kuroda house
The Atakigiri is an uchigatana forged by Sukesada of Osafune in Bizen province, dated the eighth month of Daiei 2 (1522). It measures 61.2 cm with a curvature of 2.4 cm. It is a well-preserved example of the group of practical fighting blades known as "late Bizen," produced in large numbers after the Ōnin War, and it was handed down in the Kuroda house of Fukuoka domain.
The name: the battle for Yura Castle
The name comes from the sword's use in battle. In 1581, in the run-up to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign against Shikoku, Kuroda Josui (Kanbei Yoshitaka) crossed to Awaji province and attacked Yura Castle, held by Ataki Kawachi-no-kami Takayasu of the Miyoshi clan. Josui is said to have cut down Ataki with this very blade, and the sword has been known as Atakigiri ever since. The tang bears a gold-inlaid cutting-test inscription reading "Ataki-giri / wakige otoshi." Wakige denotes a cut made through the armpit region, considered more demanding than severing a torso, and the inscription stands as testimony to the blade's sharpness.
A Momoyama masterpiece of mounting
The sword is equally celebrated for its mounting. The kin-arare-zame ao-urushi uchigatana koshirae has a scabbard wrapped in a hail-pattern gold ground finished in blue lacquer, with a hilt of vermilion-lacquered ray skin — a vivid expression of Momoyama taste. Its solid-gold double habaki is attributed to the master metalworker Umetada Myōju. The Important Cultural Property designation was made for the mounting, with the blade designated as an attached component. It is held today by the Fukuoka City Museum, home to the Kuroda family collection.
The age of late Bizen
Sukesada was a hereditary name at Osafune, borne through the Sengoku period by many smiths including Yosazaemon-no-jō Sukesada and Hikobei-no-jō Sukesada. The Bizen blades of this era, made to meet the surge in demand for practical weapons after the Ōnin War, are known collectively as "late Bizen" and divide between mass-produced kazuuchimono and carefully forged blades made to order for daimyo and senior samurai. Dated, named, inscribed with a cutting test and preserved with its Momoyama mounting, the Atakigiri is a fine example of the latter and a benchmark for the quality late Bizen could achieve.
Legends & Stories
A strategist who wielded the blade himself
Kuroda Josui is usually remembered as the strategist behind Hideyoshi's campaigns rather than as a swordsman. The tradition that he personally cut down the enemy commander Ataki Kawachi-no-kami has therefore always been told with relish, as evidence that the great tactician was no mere armchair planner. That the sword takes its name directly from the man it killed is itself a reminder of how plainly Sengoku sword culture recorded such deeds.
The "wakige otoshi" inscription
The gold-inlaid characters on the tang record the result of an Edo-period cutting test. Such tests commonly involved stacking torsos — futatsu-dō, mitsu-dō and so on — but wakige, a cut passing through the armpit where bone and sinew gather, was regarded as far more difficult, testing the skill of the cutter as much as the sharpness of the blade. The Atakigiri thus combines the pedigree of a celebrated name with documented proof of its cutting power.