* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Fukuoka Ichimonji Yoshifusa Tachi
福岡一文字吉房の太刀
Also known as: Fukuoka Ichimonji — National Treasure Tachi by Yoshifusa, Ichimonji School, Mid-Kamakura Period
Description
The Fukuoka Ichimonji Yoshifusa Tachi is a National Treasure tachi forged in the mid-Kamakura period by Yoshifusa (dates unknown), a swordsmith of the Ichimonji school based in Fukuoka (present-day Osafune-chō, Setouchi City, Okayama Prefecture), Bizen Province. The Ichimonji school was a group of swordsmiths who flourished from the mid to late Kamakura period in Fukuoka and Nishiyama in Bizen Province, known as the "Ichimonji school" from their practice of inscribing the character "一" (one) on their blades. The tachi of Yoshifusa, a foremost smith of the Fukuoka Ichimonji group, embody the ideal combination of grandeur and elegance sought by Kamakura warriors, and multiple examples are preserved as National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties.
This tachi—a National Treasure held at the Tokyo National Museum—is known as an outstanding work even among Ichimonji Yoshifusa's blades for the exceptional beauty of its form. The blade silhouette, with deep curvature and a refined, slender profile, represents the mid-Kamakura ideal, and the ko-kissaki tip preserves the classic Kamakura tachi form. The jigane, primarily refined itame with mokume intermixed within the flowing surface, shows vivid utsuri—the quintessence of Bizen-den.
The hamon unfolds the complex, floral chōji-form characteristic of the Ichimonji school—called "fusa-chōji" (clustered clove blossoms)—in which nie and nioi are exquisitely balanced to create a richly expressive blade interior. The fine ashi flowing into each section of the chōji-midare, creating lively variation at the hamon boundary, is a feature common to the finest masterpieces of the Ichimonji school, and this work is a textbook example. Yoshifusa is regarded as the supreme practitioner of chōji hamon among his contemporaries, and he stands in Japanese sword history as one of the founding sources of "the beauty of chōji hamon" pursued by all subsequent Bizen swordsmiths.
Legends & Stories
Fukuoka Ichimonji Yoshifusa Tachi is associated with a mystical tradition concerning its creation. It is said that when Yoshifusa was forging a particularly exceptional tachi, he always followed the custom of drawing the shape of a sword in the sand at the Bizen seashore and reading the tides to divine auspicious and inauspicious signs. One night, while Yoshifusa was tracing the form of a blade in the sand at the water's edge, a pillar of light is said to have risen over the distant sea and illuminated the sand-drawn form of the sword. Taking this as a revelation from the god of swords, Yoshifusa is said to have transcribed the shape of the light he saw that night into the chōji forms of his hamon — and the legend holds that the particular shapes of the chōji in this tachi's hamon were born from that nocturnal revelation. A court noble's diary from the Kamakura period is said to contain the observation that "one who views a Yoshifusa sword is captivated by the ichimonji and falls silent" — evidence that the belief in the power of Ichimonji hamon to transform the consciousness of its viewers was deeply rooted in Kamakura culture.