* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Naraya Sadamune
奈良屋貞宗
Also known as: Naraya Sōetsu's blade / listed in the Kyōhō Meibutsu Chō / Owari Tokugawa heirloom
- Smith
- Sadamune (Sōshū tradition)
- Era
- Late Kamakura – Nanbokuchō period
- Type
- Tantō (dagger)
- Designation
- Not designated
- Location
- Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture
Description
A Sadamune once owned by a merchant of Sakai
The Naraya Sadamune is a tantō by the master Sadamune of the Sōshū tradition. Reliably signed Sadamune blades are almost nonexistent, and this blade is unsigned but has been attributed to Sadamune based on its Sōshū-tradition workmanship. It is hira-zukuri, with a finely forged ko-itame grain and a shallow notare hamon mixed with small irregular patterns, its point rounded and deeply returning. Both faces bear carvings of a sword representing Fudō Myōō, Sanskrit characters, and a goma hashi. Blade length is 29.4 cm and curvature is 0.3 cm. It is named after Naraya Sōetsu, a merchant of Sakai who once owned it.
From Hideyoshi to the Owari Tokugawa
Around the Bunroku era (1592–96), the blade is said to have been purchased and presented to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Hideyoshi's death it passed to Toyotomi Hideyori, and on 3 July 1608 (Keichō 13, 5th month, 21st day) it was presented to the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada. It later passed through the Kii Tokugawa family to the Owari Tokugawa family, and it is recorded in the Kyōhō Meibutsu Chō as one of the celebrated blades.
Designation and current status
The blade has not been designated as a National Treasure or Important Cultural Property. It is currently held by the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
Legends & Stories
From a merchant's storehouse to the hands of the unifiers
Unusually for a meibutsu, the Naraya Sadamune's first recorded owner was not a warlord but Naraya Sōetsu, a merchant of Sakai — the self-governing port city whose wealthy merchants were known for collecting celebrated tea utensils and swords. That a blade once kept in a merchant's storehouse should pass, through presentation, into the hands of Hideyoshi and then the Tokugawa shogunal house, finally coming to rest as a treasure of the senior Owari branch, illustrates how sword culture moved between merchant and warrior worlds in the transition from the Sengoku to the early Edo period.
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