Horikawa Kunihiro's Tachi

堀川国広の太刀

Also known as: Kunihiro Tachi

Smith

Horikawa Kunihiro

Era

Momoyama to Early Edo period (late 16th to early 17th century)

Type

Tachi

Designation

Important Cultural Property

Location

Kongōbu-ji (Wakayama Prefecture)

Description

Horikawa Kunihiro was a master smith of the Momoyama period who came to the capital from Hyūga (present-day Miyazaki Prefecture) and opened a forge on the Horikawa in Kyoto. He may be called the founder of the shintō period. He is ranked alongside Umetada Myōju, who is regarded as the founder of shintō. This tachi is the tachi signed "Kunihiro" transmitted at Kongōbu-ji on Mount Kōya. As a work of the Momoyama period, it was designated an Important Cultural Property in Shōwa 25 (1950). Among Kunihiro's tachi designated as Important Cultural Properties, there is also the "Yamabushi Kunihiro" (privately owned), which carries a dated inscription of Tenshō 12 (1584). Kunihiro produced many outstanding disciples, and their lineage formed the Horikawa school, representative of the early Edo period, including Dewa-daijō Kunimichi, Kuniyasu, Ōsumi-no-jō Masahiro, and Izumi-no-kami Kunisada.

Legends & Stories

Kunihiro first served the Sengoku daimyō of Hyūga, the Itō clan, but when his lord's house fell in Tenshō 5 (1577), he continued making swords while wandering through various provinces, including undertaking yamabushi training. The tachi of Tenshō 12 (1584) inscribed "Yamabushi no toki kore o tsukuru" ("made while a yamabushi") is a work from around this time. In Tenshō 18 (1590), at Ashikaga in Shimotsuke Province, he forged the "Yamanbagiri Kunihiro" for the castle lord Nagao Akinaga. It was a copy of a sword by Osafune Chōgi that Akinaga had received from the Hōjō clan. From around Keichō 4 (1599), he settled at Ichijō-Horikawa in Kyoto, and produced many accomplished smiths among his disciples, greatly prospering the Horikawa school.