Kitano-Gō

北野江

Also known as: Kitano-Gō; attributed to Gō Yoshihiro

Smith

Attributed to Gō Yoshihiro (Etchū Province)

Era

Nanbokuchō period (14th century)

Type

Uchigatana

Designation

Unranked (no formal cultural-property designation)

Location

Tokyo National Museum

Description

An Uchigatana Attributed to Gō Yoshihiro

Kitano-Gō is an uchigatana attributed to Gō Yoshihiro, a swordsmith of Etchū Province active in the Nanbokuchō period. No signed work by Yoshihiro survives, and this blade too is mumei after having its tang shortened (ō-suriage); the tang bears a gold-inlaid inscription reading "Gō, shortened — Kōtoku [monogram]." The blade measures 69.8 cm with a curvature of 1.8 cm.

Provenance: From the Honami Family to the Maeda of Kaga

The blade was purchased in Sakai by Honami Kōsa, a pupil of the appraiser Honami Kōtoku, who is said to have later shortened it himself. In 1614, Maeda Toshitsune, the second lord of the Kaga domain, is said to have bought the sword from Kōsa while traveling to Edo. It was thereafter handed down as a treasured heirloom through successive generations of the Maeda family.

The Origin of the Name

The name is said to derive from an episode in which Toshitsune test-cut with the blade at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto.

Designation and Present Location

The sword has never received a formal government cultural-property designation. After the Meiji Restoration it was presented by the Maeda family to Emperor Meiji and became imperial property; it is now held by the Tokyo National Museum.

Legends & Stories

The name is said to originate from an episode in which the Kaga domain lord Maeda Toshitsune test-cut with this blade at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto.