* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Miyoshi Masamune
三好正宗
Also known as: Miyoshi Masamune; the tantō of Miyoshi Nagayoshi
Description
Overview
Miyoshi Masamune was a tantō signed "Masamune," measuring 8 sun 3 bu, said to have displayed a deep curvature. It was the treasured blade of Miyoshi Nagayoshi and is recorded in the Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō, but it was destroyed by fire during the Edo period and no longer survives.
The Origin of the Name
The name derives from its ownership by Miyoshi Nagayoshi, Shuri-no-daibu, who is said to have purchased the blade from Hon'ami Kōsatsu for sixteen pieces of gold.
Provenance
After Nagayoshi's death, the blade passed to his nephew Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, who presented it to Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga gave it to Hosokawa Yūsai, from whom it passed to his son Tadaoki, then via Toyotomi Hidetsugu to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Hideyoshi's death in 1598, it was distributed as a memento, together with three hundred pieces of gold, to Maeda Toshiie; it passed through Toshiie's son Toshinaga to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Hidetada regarded it as his foremost treasure and had it polished by Hon'ami Kōsa; upon Tokugawa Iemitsu's shogunal investiture in 1623, it was given by the retired shogun Hidetada to Iemitsu. Maeda Toshiie is said to have worn the blade when attending court and when paying New Year's respects to fellow daimyo, and an anecdote holds that Sassa Narimasa sought to purchase it for three thousand kan but was refused. A further legend attributes its forging to Mishima Tenzen of Echigo's Mishima district, made in Kamakura.
Designation and Present Location
The blade was burned in the Great Fire of Meireki (1657) and is listed in the Kyōhō Meibutsu-chō as a fire-damaged (yake) meibutsu. Its present whereabouts could not be confirmed.
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