Oda Nobunaga's Beloved Sword

Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) was a warlord who came closest to achieving the unification of Japan during the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods, and he possessed extraordinary interest and connoisseurial acumen regarding swords. Nobunaga valued celebrated blades not merely as weapons, but as symbols of authority and prestige, and as gifts through which to confirm the bonds between lord and retainer. Four representative swords associated with him, passed down through history as his treasured blades, are the Yaken Toshirō, Sōza Samonji, Fudō Yukimitsu, and Heshikiri Hasebe.

Yaken Toshirō—The Phantom Celebrated Short Sword

The Yaken Toshirō is a tantō attributed to Awataguchi Toshirō Yoshimitsu, a swordsmith of the late Kamakura period, and is counted among the masterwork short swords of Awataguchi Yoshimitsu. It is said to derive its name from its slender form, resembling a mortar used for grinding medicine. Nobunaga is said to have personally possessed and used it as his personal protective sword. During the Honnō-ji Incident of 1582, it is said that when Nobunaga attempted ritual suicide, the blade of the Yaken Toshirō failed to bite, and he died by another sword. Its whereabouts thereafter remain unknown, earning it the epithet "the phantom celebrated sword," though multiple blades claiming to have "resurfaced" have appeared since the early modern period, and authenticity disputes continue. In recent years, multiple swords claiming to have been "rediscovered" have emerged, but none bear definitive proof of being the Yaken Toshirō once in Nobunaga's possession, and its location remains unknown.

Sōza Samonji—The Celebrated Blade Sought After by Rulers of All Japan

The Sōza Samonji is a tachi attributed to Samonji, a celebrated swordsmith of Chikuzen Province (present-day Fukuoka Prefecture) in the Nanbokuchō period, also called the "Yoshimoto Samonji." It acquired its name from having been in the possession of Imagawa Yoshimoto, a great daimyo who was defeated and killed by Nobunaga at the Battle of Okehazama. Following the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, Nobunaga obtained it as a spoil of war. Nobunaga had the blade inscribed in gold inlay with the signature: "On the nineteenth day of the fifth month of Eiroku three, Yoshimoto defeated, his sword—Oda Nobunaga," and accorded it special treatment, presenting it for imperial viewing. It subsequently passed to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and then to Tokugawa Ieyasu, becoming a celebrated blade known in history as one that traveled between successive unifiers of Japan. It is now housed at Kenkun Shrine in Kita Ward, Kyoto City (on deposit at the Kyoto National Museum) and is designated as an Important Cultural Property.

Fudō Yukimitsu—The Celebrated Blade Lost in the Flames of Honnō-ji

The Fudō Yukimitsu is a tantō attributed to Yukimitsu, a celebrated swordsmith of Sagami Province (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture) in the late Kamakura period, deriving its name from the carved image of Kurikara Fudō Myōō that it bears. It was a blade that Nobunaga deeply treasured, and it is said that during the Honnō-ji Incident, Nobunaga himself performed ritual suicide with this very sword. Alternatively, it is said to have vanished in the flames, its location shrouded in mystery. As the blade Nobunaga refused to release even in his final moments when faced with Akechi Mitsuhide's rebellion, it has been invested with a tragic aura—"the sword that disappeared with its master's death."

Heshikiri Hasebe—The Celebrated Blade of the Kuroda

The Heshikiri Hasebe is a tachi (or katana) attributed to Hasebe Kunishige, a celebrated swordsmith of Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture) in the Nanbokuchō period, acquiring its name from the anecdote in which Nobunaga crush-cut through a tea attendant together with his serving stand. As a blade possessing "the keenness to crush-cut through objects," it symbolized Nobunaga's authority, and was later granted to Kuroda Kanbe (also known as Kuroda Jōsui). It became a treasured heirloom of the Kuroda family and is now housed in the Fukuoka City Museum, where it is designated as a National Treasure. While the blade length is relatively short, the quality of its hamon and the elegance of its koshirae are preeminent among all surviving swords associated with Nobunaga.

Nobunaga's View of Swords—Celebrated Blades as Instruments of Authority

What unites these four swords is their character as "political instruments" transcending mere weapons. Nobunaga employed celebrated blades as proof of his unification of Japan, and valued them alongside tea implements—the prized utensils of the tea ceremony—as symbols of authority. The collection of celebrated blades and utensils, sometimes termed "the hunting of famous objects," was a crucial demonstration of the capacity and judgment of a unifier of Japan. Though many of Nobunaga's sword collection were lost in the burning of Azuchi Castle and during the Honnō-ji Incident, the surviving pieces remain precious legacies bearing witness to the aesthetic sensibility and ambitions of the greatest wielder of power in the Sengoku period.